With the German occupation in World War II, a Nazi ghetto was established for the Jews of Bialystok. During the last stages of the ghetto's existence, between 16 and 20 August 1943, a major revolt took place in the Białystok ghetto, led by members of the youth movements. Few fled to the forests and continued to fight as partisans, and the rest of the Jews of Bialystok, about 50,000, were mostly sent to Auschwitz extermination camp.