On August 5, 1941, the second unit of the 2nd SS Cavalry Regiment arrived in Janów. Prior to that, local policemen had begun to assemble all the Jewish men older than 16 in the market square. They also raided Jewish homes and dragged the men who had attempted to hide to the square. Elderly and infirm individuals were shot in their beds. Those who tried to escape in the streets were shot on the spot. According to some testimonies, a woman who accompanied her husband and a girl who went with her father were both shot on the way to the market square. In the square, the Jewish men were forced to sit on the ground and wait. When 350–400 Jews had been assembled, they were led under reinforced guard to the area of Borowica, 5 kilometers from Janów. Weak individuals who lagged behind the column were beaten and killed on the spot. Upon reaching the murder site, all the victims were shot dead, with the exception of a single Jew who managed to escape.

More information: Yad Vashem

The first murder operation against the Jews of Janów took place in early July 1941, shortly after the onset of the occupation. About two dozen Jewish men who made their living as cart drivers were ordered to transport some goods and personnel to the German headquarters. Shortly before arriving at their destination, the line of carts driven by the Jews was divided into two groups. One of them reached the headquarters and immediately set off back to Janów, while the second group of drivers was shot in a forest on the outskirts of the town.

More information: Yad Vashem

On September 21–23, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by policemen and Germans, and the inmates were prevented from going outside. Several hundred Jews (numbering 300-500, according to various sources), mostly persons capable of physical labor and professionals, were rounded up at the sawmill outside the ghetto. On September 26 (or 24, according to other sources), 1942, the inmates of the Janów Ghetto were assembled in the market square. They were divided into groups and taken to the murder site, which lay at the edge of the forest 2 kilometers west of the village of Rudsk, 200 meters from the Janów-Rudsk-Mokhro railway line. Several testimonies mention a Jewish woman, Chana Gorodetskiy, who attacked the policemen as she approached the pits, throwing sand into their eyes and grabbing one of their rifles. Her act of resistance enabled some Jews, including one of her three sons, to escape from the murder site. According to some sources, the victims were stripped naked prior to the shooting. Soviet documents indicate that the victims were forced to climb down into the pits, and were then shot with submachine guns. The pits had been dug 1-2 days before the killing operation, by residents of the village of Rudsk who had been told that the pits would be used for gasoline storage. The shooting went on from midday until late in the evening. A total of 1,500-2,000 Jews were shot on that day. The group of Jewish workers (numbering from 200 to 400, depending on the source) were locked in the sawmill outside the ghetto during the roundup of the other inmates. Two days later, most of them were taken to the same location and shot. Several dozen Jews managed to escape from the ghetto and the sawmill to the nearby forests, where they joined partisan units.

More information: Yad Vashem