From 1921 until 1939, Skidzyel’ was part of the Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939) in the Second Polish Republic. In the 1921 census, 68.7% people declared Jewish nationality, 17.3% people declared Polish nationality, and 12.3% declared Belarusian nationality.[3] Skidziel is sometimes referred to as a former shtetl.
On 18 September 1939, in the course of the Soviet invasion of Poland, Skidzyel’ was the site of a pro-Soviet communist revolt against the Polish government leading to massacre of ethnic Poles by killing squads deployed by delegalized Communist Party of Western Belarus, armed with the smuggled Soviet guns soon before the invasion. The event is referred to by historians as the Skidel revolt.[4] On 19 September, a unit of the Polish Army restored Polish control in Skidzyel’, but the next day, 20 September, the town was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR.
From 27 June 1941 until 14 July 1944, Skidzyel’ was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of Bezirk Bialystok. Small shootings of Jews in the forest close to the city were frequent. The ghetto, where they were kept as prisoners, was liquidated on November 2, 1942. The Jews were taken to nearby Kolbassino (Polish: Kiełbasin) Sammellager transit camp to the south, packed with Jews of the Grodno Ghetto.[5][6][7] At this time, they were 22,000 to 28,000 people in the camp. From there, they were sent aboard Holocaust trains to Auschwitz extermination camp.[8]
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