Thousands of Jewish dead and dying lie in the streets of Polish towns razed by the German invasion with none to attend to them, according to Polish official information collected for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent and delivered today through the Polish Embassy in Paris. Following is a digest of the Polish survey of the Jewish aspect of the situation:
Thousands of Jewish dead bodies are rotting in cities wiped out by Nazi bombings. Similarly, many aged Jews, women and children who were wounded by air raiders who followed refugees are lying along the roads in a dying state with the invading German forces paying no attention to them.
In Warsaw, Jews and non-Jews killed by Nazi bombs are buried in collective graves, hurriedly thrown into the pits so that the presence of the corpses should not result in infectious disease.
Hunger prevails in Warsaw since no food supplies can be delivered in view of the constant German bombardment. The situation is reaching such a point of despair that when mothers and children have starved for several days they risk their lives to search in streets under bombardment for anything edible. Jews and non-Jews share what food is obtainable, which consists mostly of leftovers from military field kitchens.
With Wilno occupied by the Soviet army, thousands of Jewish refugees in that city who intended to cross into Lithuania were prevented from doing so by the closing of the frontiers. The same is true of the Latvian border. According to the American Minister in Riga, about 400 refugees from Poland are now on Latvian soil.
Vladimir-Volynsk, which is close to the Soviet-Polish frontier, was entirely destroyed yesterday by German aerial bombardment. The city was converted into ashes and hundreds of Jews are lying dead in the street. This is the second raid on Vladimir-Volynsk, the previous one having been made on Rosh Hashonah last Thursday when bombs razed a large synagogue while Jews were inside praying. It is believed that several hundred bodies are still under the synagogue’s ruins.
Tens of thousands of Jews were today wandering over roads and in the woods along Volhynia, Polesia, and Wilno suburbs, tramping in muddy fields under heavy rains and under Nazi aerial bombardment. Like frightened sheep they run, many of them in the wrong directions, falling under Nazi machine-guns and bombs.
Not much chance for escape is left for them, since all countries neighboring Poland closed their frontiers to refugees last night.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
