The secret Polish radio station Swit, which operates in Nazi-occupied territory, reported last night that 5,000 Jews were killed by the German troops during the siege of the Warsaw ghetto, which was marked by three weeks of desperate street fighting.
More than 2,000 Jews were shot and about 3,000 perished in their flaming houses after a valiant struggle, the underground radio said. It added that the Nazis have deported to an unknown destination about 14,000 Jews, the sole survivors of the 500,000 that once populated the ghetto. More than 2,300 Nazis were killed and wounded during the battle, the broadcast estimated.
Reviewing the epic resistance offered by the Jews, Swit stated that the ghetto fighters surrendered only when the Nazis shut off all water, gas and electricity. The initial stage of the struggle, which began on April 19, lasted for five days. It was resumed a few days later after the Germans called up substantial reinforcements including units of the Wehrmacht (the regular army), artillery, flame throwers, machine guns and even bombers. Fighting raged in nearly every ghetto street and was climaxed by house-to-house combat.
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.
