Several massacres were made by Germans in the village of Torzeniec. On 1 September 1939 Germans arrived during the night to the town, and started to set fire to barns and houses using bottles with gasoline and gun fire with incendiary bullets. Villagers who tried to escape their burning homes were gunned down by the Germans who behaved as they were making a hunt for animals. Eight people were murdered in this way alongside Barbara Pietrzak who tried to save her 2-year-old child. Another eight were burned alive in the cellar as their only escape route was blocked by a burning barn. The only member of the family left outside, 70-year-old Antoni Kubera was shot dead on his backyard by the Germans just as his family was burning alive in the cellar.