the town. During this time when Germany occupied Poland, Baligród became a gathering area for some surrounding villages near the Bieszczady Mountains. These small villages included Solina, Wołkowyja, and Zawóz. It was also the place of the Baligród massacre, during which soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army targeted and murdered Polish civilians. In the summer of 1942, 1200 local Jews were sent to the Zasław concentration camp and later sent to the Belzec extermination camp. The Jewish cemetery became an execution place of the Jews and Poles. The main synagogue was burned down by the Germans and its ruins dismantled after the war. The Jewish Cemetery was also destroyed and roads were paved with tombstones. In the autumn of 1942, Germans had taken 880 Jews to Załawie and killed them. Between 1944 and 1946, members of the Ukrainian minority in Poland were forcibly repatriated from Poland to the Soviet Union. On March 28, 1947, Polish General Karol Swierczewski was killed nearby on a road to Cisna, close to Jablonki, by members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In 1947, the People's Republic of Poland conducted Operation Vistula in an effort to eliminate the Ukranina Ingugency's support base in Baligród. The Remnants of the region's Ukrainian population were relocated to the Recovered Territories. Emigration and Decline The first major decrease in the population of Baligród occurred in the 1720s after The Great Northern War had caused large amounts of damage throughout the town. The next large decrease in population had occurred during and after World War I as they were caught in the middle of a war zone between two opposing armies, a situation that caused great destruction and instilled fear into the people of Baligród. During World War II, mass deportations of the Jews and mass killings likewise greatly decreased the town's population. Baligród Today Baligród still remains as a village in Poland. After World War II, the Jewish community and Ukrainians never returned to Baligród and to this day there are very few, if any, Jews living in the town. It continues to be an area with small family farms. As most of the area of Baligród Commune is covered by forests and forest land, local activity is being focused on the wood industry. Today, Baligród is a tourist place due to its location near the Bieszczady Mountains and the significant historical sites of the area. The family of the