Battle of Warsaw Ghetto Commemorated Today by Jews Throughout the United States

The first anniversary of the heroic resistance of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, which the Germans were not able to suppress for more than a month, will be commemorated tomorrow by Jews throughout the United States with memorial meetings, a fifteen-minute work stoppage, and the issuance of a proclamation by the American Jewish Conference to the democratic world pleading for the rescue of those Jews who can still be saved.

The proclamation will be read at a mass-meeting tomorrow evening at Carnegie Hall here, addressed by Jewish leaders. Earlier in the day a procession of Polish Jews will march to City Hall where Mayor LaGuardia is expected to deliver a brief address on the Nazi annihilation of the Jews in Europe and on Jewish resistance in the ghettos of Poland.

Jewish workers and employers, excepting those in war plants, will cease work tomorrow at 11 a.m. for fifteen minutes in honor of the Jews who fell in the battle of the Warsaw Ghetto which started on April 19, 1943. More than 4,000 Jewish grocery stores in New York have also announced that they will close their doors for fifteen minutes at the same hour, as will many other Jewish stores. Special memorial services for the fallen Warsaw heroes will be held in all synagogues – Orthodox, Conservative and Reform – at the request of the Synagogue Council of America. The American Federation of Labor and the C.I.O. have both approved the 15-minute cessation of work in all factories, except those engaged in war production.

GERMANS SUFFERED HEAVY LOSSES DURING WARSAW JEWS RESISTANCE

The liquidation of the ghetto began suddenly at dawn on April 19, 1943, shortly before Passover. The large ghetto bounded by Leszno, Nowolipie, Bonifraterska, the forts of the Citadel, and Smocza Street was surrounded by SS men, German police, and Latvians, Ukrainians, and Lithuanians. In the morning, units of the German police, heavily armed with machine-guns, grenades, and armored trucks, proceeded through Zamenhof Street to the ghetto. The manner of the German attack showed that they expected armed resistance. The struggle began and the Germans suffered relatively large losses. There was talk of several killed, a large number of wounded, and the loss of ammunition and military equipment. A number of ambulances were seen passing through the streets of Warsaw carrying wounded and killed Germans.

The first German attack was repulsed within a few hours. The Germans retreated to the borders of the ghetto and brought reinforcements of tanks and artillery, which began to break through the first defense line. Heavy artillery attacked the corner of Bonifraterska and Nowolipie Street and Francizkanska. The defenders fought back with machine gun fire, causing further losses to the Germans. In the first attacks, the defense had great success, the tanks were recalled, two are said to have been burned, the inner part of the ghetto was cleared of the enemy, and the Germans were forced to use more powerful means – artillery directed by airplane observations, setting fire to houses – and they were compelled to manoeuver only in the ruined and burned parts of the ghetto.

The Germans therefore changed their tactics. They did not attack by day, using this time only for observation. At the same time, they started a merciless barrage at night and burned block after block of houses in the outer streets of the ghetto. The Germans were counting on a gradual reduction of the area of the struggle, and on starving out the Jews. Particularly heavy firing occurred during the nights of April 23, 24 and 25. Beginning with April 26, the resistance weakened. The defense was sporadic. The ghetto was terrorized by tremendous fires. The ghetto was cut through by attacking German groups. The defenders had to retreat to the northern part of the city. Groups of Jews, presumably those who had not participated in the struggle, were seized by the Germans and transported toward the station.

GHETTO SET AFIRE STREET BY STREET

After their first discouraging experience on the night of April 23, the Germans restricted their use of arms to long range artillery, otherwise confining themselves to burning street after street, and making the escape of the defenders of this flaming inferno impossible. The soldiers on guard shot every person within range whom they noticed at large in the ghetto. There were cases of the wounding or murder of Poles, too. The Germans destroyed the vents of sewers on Plac Krasinskich, Leszno, and Bonifraterska Street, through which the Jews attempted to escape. The Germans also patrolled the neighboring streets in the “Aryan” quarter in order to catch escaping Jews. Captured Jews were murdered on the spot. About 3,000 Jews were killed in this manner from April 19 until May 5. At the same time, the Germans posted placards announcing that the ghetto was being liquidated, and those who sheltered Jews would be heavily penalized. A few days later, that is in May, an announcement of the German police commander declared that because the Jews and Communists made a point of resistance in the ghetto, the ghetto had to be liquidated. The announcement also called upon the population to give up any Jews who were in hiding.

The struggle in the ghetto stopped suddenly, and it is hard to tell when it was over. Jewish resistance was broken chiefly by the heavy fires which the Germans started. These fires destroyed hundreds of houses. The following streets were completely destroyed: Nalewki, Nowolipie, Nowolipki, Franciszkanska, Karnelicka, Mila, Niska, Plac Muranowski, Smocza, Gesia and others. Not one house on all these streets was saved and the ruins of the houses were later dynamited by the Germans. The material loss due to these fires was greater than that which occurred during the bombing of 1939. More than 100,000 rooms were destroyed. These fires lasted ten to fifteen days after the actual “conquest” of the ghetto and included areas which were not objectives of the struggle. Among other edifices, the Germans dynamited the Great Synagogue on Tlomackie Street which was situated half a kilometer outside the ghetto. The smoke of these fires pervaded all of Warsaw and their light could be see for several kilometers. No fire fighters were admitted to the ghetto.

In the small ghetto, Zelazna, Ceglana, Prosta, the Germans did not follow the same tactics as they did in the large. They contented themselves with seizing Jews from the workshops (the shop of Toebbens on Leszno Street, Schultz, and others.) Through the early part of May, the Germans succeeded in killing and deporting 12,000 Jews. The liquidation of the small ghetto occurred, without struggle, on May 15-18. The Germans deported and killed all the Jews and burned a number of houses.