Prior to the 1939 Invasion of Poland, like many other cities across the Second Polish Republic, Kielce had a significant Jewish population.
According to the Russian census of 1897, among the total population of 23,200 inhabitants, there were 6,400 Jews in Kielce (around 27 percent).
On the eve of the Second World War there were about 18,000 Jews in the city.
Between the onset of war and March 1940, the Jewish population of Kielce expanded to 25,400 (35% of all residents), with trains of dispossessed Jews arriving under the escort of German Order Police battalions from the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany.

Immediately after the German occupation of Poland in September 1939, all Jews were ordered to wear a Star of David on their outer garments.
Jewish–owned factories in Kielce were confiscated by the Gestapo, stores and shops along the main thoroughfares liquidated, and ransom fines introduced.
The forced labour and deportations to concentration camps culminated in mass extermination of Jews of Kielce during the Holocaust in occupied Poland.
Prior to the 1939 Invasion of Poland, like many other cities across the Second Polish Republic, Kielce had a significant Jewish population. According to the Russian census of 1897, among the total population of 23,200 inhabitants, there were 6,400 Jews in Kielce (around 27 percent). On the eve of the Second World War there were about 18,000 Jews in the city. Between the onset of war and March 1940, the Jewish population of Kielce expanded to 25,400 (35% of all residents), with trains of dispossessed Jews arriving under the escort of German Order Police battalions from the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany. 
Immediately after the German occupation of Poland in September 1939, all Jews were ordered to wear a Star of David on their outer garments. Jewish–owned factories in Kielce were confiscated by the Gestapo, stores and shops along the main thoroughfares liquidated, and ransom fines introduced. The forced labour and deportations to concentration camps culminated in mass extermination of Jews of Kielce during the Holocaust in occupied Poland.
Kielce