In the Polish Defensive War of 1939 , Częstochowa was defended by the 7th Infantry Division , part of northern wing of Kraków Army . After the Battle of Mokra and other battles , Polish forces withdrew , and the Wehrmacht entered the city on Sunday , September 3 , 1939 . Częstochowa was renamed into '' Tschenstochau '' , and incorporated into the General Government . Monday , September 4 , 1939 , became known as '' Bloody Monday '' or also '' Częstochowa massacre '' , when 227 people ( 205 ethnic Poles and 22 Jews ) were killed by the Germans ( some estimates of victims put the number at more than 1,000 ; 990 ethnic Poles and 110 Jews ) . German occupiers from the very beginning initiated a plan of cultural and physical extermination of the Polish nation . Częstochowa was a city county ( '' Stadkreis Tschenstochau '' ) , part of the '' Radom District '' of the General Government . The city was located near the border with Upper Silesia Province , and in its area operated units of the Home Army and National Armed Forces ( '' NSZ '' ) . On April 20 , 1943 , a '' NZS '' unit attacked the local office of the Bank Emisyjny w Polsce . After the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising , Częstochowa briefly was the capital of the Polish Underground State . In the autumn 1944 , Germans fortified the city , preparing for a lengthy defence . On January 16 , 1945 , however , the Wehrmacht retreated after just one day of fighting . On April 9 , 1941 , a ghetto for Jews was created . During World War II approximately 45,000 of Częstochowa 's Jews , almost the entire Jewish community living here , were killed by the Germans . Life in Nazi-occupied Częstochowa is depicted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel '' Maus '' , by Art Spiegelman , the son of a Jewish Częstochowa resident . Before the Holocaust , Częstochowa was considered a great Jewish center in Poland . By the end of WWII , nearly all Jews had been killed or deported to be killed , making Częstochowa what the Nazis called Judenfrei
Bloody Monday
Częstochowa massacre
Częstochowa