On 9th February 1944, Tarnów was announced a ”Jew-free city” by the Germans. A city once inhabited by 25,000 citizens (1939), became non-existent. The German army invaded Tarnów on 7th September 1939. Soon after that, in November 1939, all synagogues and prayer homes were either burnt down or blasted. A cordoned off ghetto for 40,000 Jews was set up on 19th June 1942. The ghetto liquidation was a 5-step process:   Approximately 8,000 Jews were transported from Tarnów to the Bełżec camp between 11th-18th June 1942. All people unfit to travel (the elderly, the ill, the handicapped and mothers with small children), a total of  between 8,000 – 10,000, were murdered in the Buczyna forest near Zbylitowska Góra and in the forests of Skrzyszow. This operation cost…