Nazis Keep Thousands of Soviet Jews in Barbed-wired Camps Under Open Sky

Tens of thousands of Soviet Jews are now being held practically foodless in roofless barbed-wired concentration camps established by the Nazis under the open sky in the occupied Soviet territory where the houses of the victims have been wiped out by Russian and German artillery fire, according to an eye-witness report reaching here today.

The report states that hundreds of the interned Jews, including women, children and aged, are dying daily from cold and hunger since they are exposed to snow and storms without any shelter and warm clothing. The Ukrainian population in the neighborhood, deeply moved by the tragedies of the Jews, sneak over the barbed-wire fences at night and share part of the food which they succeeded in securing during the day with the Jews. Those Ukrainians caught delivering food to the interned Jews are executed.

Open-air camps for Jews are, according to the report, especially crowded in Minsk, Chernichov, Uman, Revel, Riga and other of the Nazi-occupied cities where most of the buildings have been demolished by bombs and heavy artillery. During the day the Jews are forced to do hard labor in clearing debris and working on the roads while they spend the night under rain and snow.

In contrast to their inhuman treatment of the Jews, the Nazis are trying to win the non-Jewish population in the Ukraine and other occupied sections of Soviet Russia by treating the Russians and Ukrainians with definite restraint. So far only Jews are being driven to forced labor, while the non-Jewish population is told by the Nazis that Germany has occupied their country “only with a view of liberating them from Jewish rulers.” The anti-Semitic propaganda which the Nazis are spreading has, however, little influence on the Russians and Ukrainians, the report states.