Nazi Atrocities in Lwow Described by Eye-witness; All Synagogues Set Afire

The systematic brutality with which the Nazis reduced the Jewish population of the city of Lwow, Poland, from 160,000 to 10,000 in the spece of little more than a year, was related here by Arthur Rotenstroikin, a 40-year-old bank employee who succeeded in fleeing from the Nazi-occupied city several months ago to Kharkov, where he remained until the Red Army captured the city and he was evacuated.

This is Rotenstrokin’s eye-witness account as told to the representatives of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, which made the story public today:

“After the Germans invaded Lwow, hundreds of Jews, including myself, were driven to the outskirts of the town and ordered to crawl back to the city on hands and knees. When we reached Lwow, all of us were lined up and machinegunned. The dead were then photographed and subsequently declared to be Ukrainians murdered by the Bolsheviks. Fortunately, I fainted and fell to the ground before a bullet hit me and thus escaped death. In the middle of the night, I and several others crawled from the mound of dead and returned home.

“Shortly after this the Germans ordered the Jews to form a special ‘kehilla’ to carry out their orders. They also levied a tax of 20,000,000 roubles on the Jewish community and ordered that all gold and silver objects be surrendered to them. The Nazis set fire to all the synagogues, some of which were more than 800 years old. The Gentile population was compelled to help destroy the synagogues and pictures of these scenes were used by the Nazis as “evidence of how the Russian population destroyed and burnt synagogues.’

JEWISH LEADERS HANGED; CHILDREN FORCED TO BEAT PARENTS

“Of the 400 grams of bread per week which was our nominal food ration, we received only one-half or one-third. Leading members of the ‘kehilla’ were hanged or shot. Young Jewish boys were formed into a ‘ghetto militia’ and forced to beat their parents. On August 13 and the subsequent two weeks, 60,000 Jews were killed in a mass pogrom. Other thousands were sent to concentration camps, where, ragged and unshod they were forced to do hard labor. Beginning March, 1942, thousands of Jews were shipped to Belsetz, between Lublin and Tomashov, where they were electrocuted and their bodies rendered to make soap. I, myself, saw a peice of soap, the wrapper of which was inscribed, ‘Jewish soap!’ Jews from Holland, Belgium and other parts of occupied Europe were also brought to the Belsetz forests and executed. The cries of the victims could be heard for miles. During Rosh Hashanah last year, all religious Jews, among them Doyen Rappaport, were ordered to spread the Holy Scrolls upon the ground and dance upon them while Jewish musicians played music.

When I fled Lwow in November, 1942, only 10,000 Jews were left of the original Jewish population of 160,000. Among the dead were my wife and our two-year-old baby.”