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Polish Government Returns All Jewish Community Buildings in Warsaw to Jewish Groups

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The Liquidation Office of the Warsaw district has decided to return to the Jewish bodies in this city–the Religious Congregation and the Warsaw Jewish Committee–all 26 buildings, courts and cemeteries which, prior to the outbreak of war, belonged to the Jewish Religious Community of Warsaw. The properties include the only synagogue in Warsaw which survived the Nazi bombardments, known as “Nozhik’s Synagogue.”

The Joint Distribution Committee in Poland, the Central Committee of Polish Jews and the Federation of Jewish Religious Congregations have decided to clean up the former death camp at Belzec, in which an estimated 350,000 to 650,000 Jews were put to death by the Nazis, it was learned here today.

The bones of thousands of Jewish victims which were buried in mass graves about 200 feet long and about 30 feet wide will be disinterred and sent to Israel for reburial. Many of the bones are now scattered in disorder on the ground. The entire establishment, which could receive, gas, strip, cremate and bury the remains of 20-30 carloads of Jews in a period of two hours, was less than 300 square yards in area.

The entire area will be fenced off and a memorial gravestone will be erected to honor the Jewish dead. It is believed that the Jews of the Lwow and Cracow ghettos as well as Jews from Warsaw and Hungary were murdered in Belzec.

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