Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

50 Jews and Poles Dying Daily in Nazi Concentration Camp in Poland

January 8, 1942
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

At least 50 prisoners die every day in the notorious Nazi concentration camp at Oswiecim, southern Poland, where thousands of Jews are confined, it was learned today by Polish circles here, from a prisoner who succeeded in escaping from the camp.

Jews have been grouped in special penal sections, he reported, and are assigned to doing the most onerous tasks. Hunger, exhaustion, forced labor and daily floggings are responsible for the high mortality among the 15,000 Jews and Poles in the Oswiecim camp.

Many Jews and Poles unable to bear the Nazi brutality any longer commit suicide by hanging or by touching the electrified wire which encircles the camp. The prisoners are housed in old, dilapidated artillery barracks, built to accommodate a much smaller number. German criminals with the worst records have been recruited to act as wardens in direct control of the prisoners.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement