The German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, on 1 September 1939 began when the first bombs fell on Wieluń, which was located just from the border between Poland and Germany, not far from Złoczew. The Wehrmacht entered Złoczew on 4 September 1939, when German soldiers from the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH), together with the soldiers of the 17th Wehrmacht Infantry Division, killed about 200 residents of the city, both Christians and Jews. Eighty percent of the city, around 240 houses, businesses, and government buildings, were subsequently burned, and imagery of Złoczew's burning by the Wehrmacht was used in Nazi war films displayed in the first week of the war in the cinemas of the Third Reich. Among the victims were men, women, and children, including both residents of Złoczew and refugees from the neighboring village.After war, investigators managed to identify 71 victims, of which 58 came from Złoczew. Investigations carried out by German prosecutors after the war was discontinued due to the difficulty in determining exactly which units of the 17th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) and LSSAH were at that time in Złoczew.