II in September 1939, Różan was defended by the Polish army. In the beginning of the German occupation, the occupiers carried out mass searches of homes of local policemen, postal workers and court employees. In November 1940, the German gendarmerie carried out expulsions of Poles, whose houses were handed over to German colonists as part of the Lebensraum policy. At the outbreak of World War II, Różan was home to some 1,800 Jews. From March of 1942 until September, a slave labor camp for Jews was operated within the Różan Fortress. In November of 1942, the Jews were sent back to the nearby ghetto in Maków Mazowiecki, whereupon they were deported to Auschwitz. Over 1,400 Rozan Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. In the course of the fighting in 1944, the Red Army seized a bridgehead across the Narew at Różan, which it used as one of the springboards for the January 1945 Vistula–Oder Offensive. The town was completely destroyed during the war, only 5% of buildings remained by 1945. The town was restored to Poland. References External links Jewish Community in Różan on Virtual Shtetl 1:25,000 topographic map from 1940 Cities and towns in Masovian Voivodeship Maków County Masovian Voivodeship (1526–1795) Łomża Governorate Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939)