In the late 1930s, Jews made up more than 50% of Grodno's population. With the beginning of the Soviet-German war, part of the Jews tried to leave the city. However, the Nazis took Grodno under control already on June 23, 1941, caught up with those who fled, and forced them to return.

The occupation administration introduced restrictive measures against Jews: wearing distinctive signs, a prohibition on appearing in the bazaar and other public places, a prohibition on walking on sidewalks, etc.

In the first days of July 1941, the invaders shot 80 Jews, believing that they could lead the resistance.

In the city, the Nazis created the Judenrat. At the end of July 1941, the registration of Jews took place. According to German documents, there were 18.5 thousand Jews in the city.

In the autumn of 1941, the occupiers created two ghettos: for highly skilled workers near the Great Synagogue and Grodno Castle, and a ghetto for Jews recognized by the occupiers as “unproductive” in a suburban area called Slobodka. There were about 15,000 people in the first ghetto, and about 10,000 people in the second.

In the ghetto, Grodno Jews received 200 grams of bread on ration cards. Due to the high population density in the ghetto for specialists, at the end of 1941, the occupiers transferred some of its inhabitants to a less populated second ghetto.

Jews in the ghetto died from epidemics, many committed suicide.

The Nazis periodically shot the prisoners. The places of extermination of Jews in Grodno were:

• city jail

• Jewish cemetery

• Great synagogue

Since November 1942, the invaders began to take out prisoners from the Grodno ghetto. They were sent to the Kolbasino transit camp, and then to Auschwitz or Treblinka. According to the invaders, by the end of 1942, 20.5 thousand Jews were taken out of Grodno.

Jews from other regions of Belarus got into the ghetto of the city of Grodno. Therefore, in December 1942, 3 thousand people were brought to the city from the Bialystok region. In total, more than 40 thousand Jews passed through them during the period of functioning of the Grodno ghettos.

At the beginning of 1943, during a five-day action, the invaders sent 11,000 Jews from Grodno to Auschwitz. In February 1943, about 400 Jews were shot at the Great Synagogue. 2.5 thousand people were sent to Treblinka.

In the spring of 1943, the invaders rounded up the remaining Jews in Grodno (about 1.1 thousand people) and shot them near the Great Synagogue.

Local residents searched the ghetto for treasures hidden by Jews. When hiding Jews were found, they informed the Gestapo, receiving a reward.

In the spring of 1944, before retreating, the Nazis tried to destroy the remains of Jews shot in the city by planting plants over the graves. In July 1944, about 50 Jews remained in the liberated Grodno.