Approximately 10,000 Jews lived in Wloclawek before the war. Yiddish and Hebrew culture flourished with libraries, newspapers, a theater, a choir, an amateur orchestra, and sports clubs. On September 14, 1939, the German army entered the city, and aided by local sympathizers, began looting Jewish property, shooting Jews, and burning synagogues. At the end of 1939, many Jews were sent to the ghettos of other cities, and the remaining Jews in Wloclawek were moved into a ghetto in October 1940. On 24-27 of April 1942, the ghetto was liquidated when the remaining Jews, mostly the elderly, women and children were sent to their death in Chelmno.