In revenge for the Polish defense, the Germans carried out two massacres of Polish inhabitants, killing 36 and 14 people respectively on September 6 and 8.[3] The Jewish population of Uniejów, numbering slightly over 1,000 was immediately brutalized by the invaders, kidnapped for forced labor, beaten, and robbed. In 1940, they were moved into a ghetto in the more decrepit part of town and the following year, the entire Jewish population of around 500 was forced to live in four buildings.