Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Nazi General Who Directed Liquidation of Warsaw Gretto Will Be Tried As War Criminal

August 29, 1945
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

S.S. Lieut. Gen. Jurgen Stroop under whose direction the Warsaw ghetto was liquidated in the Spring of 1943, after fierce resistance by the ghetto residents, will be tried here as a war criminal The specific charge against Stroop is that he enccuraged the civil population to murder American fliers who were forced to bail out of their planes over Germany.

In gathering evidence against Stroop, war crimes investigators uncovered new facts concerning the battle in the ghetto. Stroop first sent in a regiment of S.S. troops to round up Jews for labor camps. A Jewish army of 6,000 which had hidden weapons in sewers and underground passages fought fiercely and sucoeeded in wiping out the regiment, which included fifty tanks.

The Nazis then bombarded the ghetto with heavy artillery and dive bombers. When this failed to crush the resistance, they poured poison gas into the sewers. When the battle was over, Stroop issued a proolamation declaring that “the Warsaw Ghetto has ceased to exist.” He was then promoted to command S.S. formations in this part of western Germany.

Josef Kramer, commander of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and 46 guards, including 19 women, have been indicted on charges of mass-murder, British military authorities announced yesterday.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement