On 5th and 6th September 1939, the "Prussia" 13th Infantry Division fought defensive battles in the Tomaszów Mazowiecki region. the Great Synagogue was burned to the ground on 16 October 1939; the remaining two synagogues were destroyed on 7–14 November. During the period 1940 to 1942, the German occupiers established a ghetto, through which more than 20,000 people passed, of whom around 15,000 were transported to the Treblinka death camp. Hunger was rampant, followed by the typhus epidemic. In December 1942 some 15,000 Jews were deported aboard Holocaust trains to Treblinka extermination camp. Some 200 Jews from Tomaszów are known to have survived World War II. Also, between 1939 and 1944, German police arrested more than 2,000 people in the town. Partisans were active in the Tomaszów area.From 1945 to 1949 Tomaszów contained an internment camp for German civilians in Poland. Until 1953 the city was the scene of organized anti-communist activity by, among others, Wolności i Niezawisłości (Freedom and Independence) and the "Underground Army".