On 6 September 1939 the Germans took over Nowy Sącz and renamed it Neu-Sandez. The command of the city was given to "SS-Obersturmführer" Heinrich Hamann " " from the Gestapo. Nowy Sącz became the seat of "Kreis Neu-Sandez" in "Distrikt Krakau" of the General Government, in line with the Nazi-Soviet pact against Poland. The persecution of Jews began soon thereafter. The new German administration ordered all Jewish businesses closed pending confiscation proceedings. In the spring of 1940 the "Judenrat" was formed on German orders. The first mass execution of Jews and Poles took place in May 1940, in the course of the German AB-Aktion in Poland. The city block surrounding the German office of "Sicherheitspolizei" was cleared of all so-called undesirables. Nearly 1,000 people were murdered.