The mass-extermination of all Jewish children in Poland by the German authorities was reported today in a message received by the Polish Government-in-Exile from the underground movement.
“There are practically no Jewish children left in Poland, the Germans are killing all of them,” the message said.
Thousands of Jewish children roaming the roads and the woods have been captured by German police and sent to gas chambers where they were asphyxiated, the report continued. Others have been deported together with their parents to unknown destinations believed to be “extermination camps.”
The report adds that Polish peasants were warned by the Gestapo not to give shelter to Jewish children and to report their hideouts to local occupation authorities. Some of the Jewish youths who lost their parents succeeded in escaping the Nazis during the summer months by posing as Poles. They slept in the open fields and in the woods, and ate whatever they could pick up in gardens and in orchards. With the approach of the rainy season these youngsters, lacking shelter and food, are falling into the hands of the Germans.
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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.