A German plan to kill all Jews in Theresidenstadt in special “gas chambers” was foiled almost at the last minute, the London Times reports today in a letter from Theresienstadt.
The letter reveals that “bathing establishments” for gassing the interned Jews had already been prepared, but the doors for these chambers were returned three times because they did not fit, In the meantime, Russian troops reached Theresisnstedt.
The letter confirms earlier reports with regard to the number of Jews who passed through Theresienstedt, and estimates that during the years 1942-43 an average of 150 Jews died there each day. Only Rabbi Leo Neuhaus and four Jewish women remained alive from the first transport of 1,197 Jews brought to Theresienstedt from Frankfurtan- Main, the letter reported.
(Rabbi Ralph Nehaus, who is rabbi of Congregation Chab Shalom in New York, told the JTA that he last heard from his father over four years ago and did not know were he was or whe ther he was alive. The younger Rabbi Neuhaus came to the United States in 1941.)
Eva Bart, an official of the Joint Distribution Committee in Warsaw, is among the Jews liberated in Western Germany, Dr. Emanuel Szerer, Polish-Jewish leader reported today. She lived in the Warsaw ghetto until its “liquidation” by the Germans and passed through the notorious camps of Oswiecim, Majdanek and Ravensbruck.
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