An eye-witness account describing the massacre of the first 6,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto to be “deported” reached here today, dated the middle of October. The victims, rounded up by the Nazi police, were led through the gates of the ghetto and transported in closed freight cars to the “extermination camp” at Belzec. There they were unloaded in an open field where many were machine-gunned while the remainder were driven back into the freight cars which in the interim had been strewn with quicklime and sprinkled with chlorinated water. Sealed in these cars. the victims were left on a siding until they were all suffocated.
The eye-witness account was read today by Dr. Ignacy Sohwarzbart, Jewish member of the Polish National Council, addressing a conference of representatives of Jewish organizations. “During the Nazi round-up in the Warsaw ghetto many Jews leaped from the windows as the Gestapo men entered their homes and Gestapo officers, anticipating such a move, amused themselves by shooting at the Jews, counting the number of hits scored,” the eye-witness report stated. Dr. Schwarsbart, in making public this document, emphasized the necessity of removing any existing doubts about the accuracy of the atrocity reports, “in face of the overwhelming evidence.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
