Zlotow

About eighty kilometres northwest of Bydgoszcz is the city of Zlotow which in connection with the creation of the polish second republic (1918-1939) ended up in Germany, West Prussia. The city was then called Flatow and had when the Nazis came to power in January 1933 a population of about 7000 people where only just under 200 were jews. As a consequence, anti-Jewish laws were introduced, many of the Jews moved from the city. In August 1938, the remaining Jews were so few in number that the local jewish community had to sell the synagogue to the city. Already in October 1938 the authorities had the synagogue blown up (one month before Kristallnacht) and the Jews were forced to remove the rubble. In 1940 the remaining Jews were put in camps and later deported to the Lublin region. None of the Jews survived the war. After the war, Flatow ended up in Poland and regained the name Zlotow.