Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the entire Krzeszów area in southeastern Poland was subjected to heavy bombardment and many homes of Jews and Poles were set ablaze. After a brief occupation by Soviet forces, the region in which Krzeszów is situated fell under the control of Nazi Germany. Under the German occupation Krzeszów lay in Biłgoraj County (Landkreis) in the Lublin District (Distrikt) within the newly formed German administrative entity of the General Government (Generalgouvernement).

No official ghetto seems to have been established in Krzeszów, and the Jews were allowed to remain in their homes – those that were still intact after the bombardments. However, in the summer of 1941, their freedom of movement was restricted to Krzeszów itself, a curfew was introduced, and communication with local Poles was banned. As a result, information about what was happening to the Jews in other towns was very limited. For Krzeszów’s Jews forced labor became the daily routine, involving work of different kinds in various locales, including the Bełżec forced-labor camp (Bełżec labor camp was shut down in the fall of 1940. The construction of the Bełżec death camp began in November 1941). The daily existence of Jews in Krzeszów was extremely precarious. Though there was no Gestapo station in the town, personnel of the Biłgoraj Gestapo occasionally arrived and sporadically murdered individual Jews on one pretext or another. This situation continued until November 2, 1942, when the Jewish community of Krzeszów was rounded up for deportation. ...