
The town of Piaski, some 23 kilometers southeast of Lublin, was home to 4,165 Jews on the eve of World War II.[1] The Wehrmacht occupied the town in October 1939, after a brief interlude of Soviet rule.[2] Under Nazi control, Piaski was assigned to the Lublin County (Kreis Lublin-Land) of the Lublin District of the General Government (Generalgouvernement) – German-occupied central Poland, which had not been annexed to the Reich. On October 4, 1939, Emil Ziegenmeyer was appointed Kreishauptmann [County Governor] of the Lublin County.[3]
Shortly afterward, the German authorities ordered the establishment of a Judenrat (Jewish Council) in the town, with Mendel Polisecki as its chairman.[4] Other known members of this body were Yosel Rosenblat, Yosel Ashman, and Moshe Drayblat.[5] On January 1, 1940, the Wehrmacht left Piaski, and the German Gendarmerie became responsible for maintaining the occupation regime in the town.[6]
In early 1940, the Germans set up the Piaski Ghetto in the area of the town's Jewish quarter.[7] ...