The Krakauer Zeitung, official Nazi newspaper in occupied Poland, has published the text of a decree subjecting Jewish males to two years’ forced labor, subject to extension, and confiscating tools and machinery in their possession. The decree follows:
“The supreme chief of the Schutz Staffel (German elite guard) and of the police for the governorship of Poland, the S.S. leader Herr Kruger, has issued the following regulations regarding the introduction of forced labor for the Jewish population in the governorship:
“1. All Jewish inhabitants from the ages of 14 to 60 are basically subject to forced labor.
“2. The term for this compulsory labor is to be two years but will be extended if the educational purpose is not achieved.
“3. The compulsory laborers will be held in camps and used in connection with the vocations which they may master. Those who are not fully fitted for labor will be used for the kind of work for which they may be fitted.
“4. All Jews from the age of 14 to 60 will be publicly called by the local mayors or other local authorities to fill out, through their Judenrat (Jewish communal council) special registration cards. The mayor and the Judenrat will be held responsible for the completeness and correctness of the information contained in these cards.
“5. The time when the Jews have to report to work will be conveyed by the German authorities through special announcement. The registered Jews are then to appear punctually at the specified place and bring with them food for two days and two clean blankets.
“6. Artisans must come to the gathering place with all their tools. The transportation of the tools will be announced at the appropriate time through the Judenrat.
“7. All Jews subject to compulsory labor are prohibited, as of today, from selling or pawning or otherwise disposing of their tools or machinery or parts thereof without written permission from the accredited authorities.
“8. Violation of this order is punishable by a term of hard labor up to 10 years and confiscation of all the property of the offending Jew.
“9. All Jews who can prove that they come under the Soviet-German arrangement for transferring those born in the Ukraine or White Russia to Soviet territory will be partially exempted from the provisions of this order.”
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.
