An authentic copy of the deportation order issued by the Nazi authorities in the Warsaw ghetto, which heralded the beginning of the mass deportation and extermination of the Jews in Warsaw was made public today by the American Representation of the General Workers Union of Poland. The decree, which was received through underground channels, precipitated the suicide of Adam Chernikov, president of the Warsaw Jewish community, last summer, the Polish-Jewish workers’ group said. The order warns that any Jew who evades deportations and is subsequently discovered, will be shot.
The text of the decree is as follows:
1.- By order of the German authorities all Jews living in Warsaw, without regard to age or sex, are to be deported to the East.
2.- Each deportee Jew is entitled to take fifteen kilogramms of his personal possessions, as travelling baggage. Baggage weighing more than fifteen kilogrammes will be confiscated. All valuable articles, such as money, jewelry, gold, etc., can be taken. Food should be taken sufficient for three days.
3. – Punishments; a) Any Jew who is not ontitled to do so, who leaves the Jewish quarter after the action of deportation has begun, will be shot; b) Any Jew who undertakes activities which might evade or hinder the execution of the deportation orders will be shot; c) Any Jew who aids in any activity which might evade or hinder the execution of the deportation orders will be shot; d) Any Jew found in Warsaw after the conclusion of the deportation of Jews, who is not entitled to remain, will be shot.
The order also included a list of the categories that were exempt from deportation – mainly Jews who were employed in German war industries.
At the same time that they issued the above document, the Polish-Jewish laborites announced that they are calling a conference of representatives of all European Socialist parties who are now in the United States to issue a declaration on the Nazi persecution of the Jews. The meeting, which will be hold in the Hotel Pennsylvania on January 2, will be attended by representatives of the Socialist groups of Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Spain and other countries.
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.
