Measures indicating that the Nazi authorities in occupied Poland plan to further reduce the bread ration for Jews there, aggravating the already acute situation in the ghettos, are reported in the Nazi-controlled Polish press received here today.
In Lodz, Jews are no longer permitted to eat at home, the papers disclose. Family kitchens have been prohibited in the ghetto. The entire Jewish population in the Lodz ghetto must come to community kitchens and stand in line for its daily bowl of soup and slab of bread.
In Warsaw, where the bread ration for Jews is six pounds a month, this meager allowance will be further curtailed, as the more able-bodied population of the ghetto will be transferred for slave labor to Nazi-held Russian territory, the press from occupied Poland indicates.
MIDDLE-NAME “ISRAEL” INTRODUCED BY NAZIS FOR JEWS IN POLAND
The Krakauer Zeitung reports the execution of a Polish woman, Sofia Kwiatkowska, in the town of Oswiecim for providing Jews with bread. A German baker, Emil Morgenwek, was executed also as an accomplice in the deed, as were two Jews accused of having purchased the bread.
The two Jews are listed in the Nazi paper as Susman Israel Rath and Chaim Israel Waxman. The use in both instances of Israel as a middle name is significant, indicating apparently, that the Nazi regulation in Germany requiring every Jew to assume Israel as a middle name is now to be adopted in Poland. It has never been noted before in Poland.
According to reports received here, the normal resistance of the Jews in the ghettos to disease has been greatly reduced by the enervation of undernourishment and starvation.
The number of pauperized Jews who depend entirely on soup kitchens has reached 300,000 in the Warsaw ghetto alone, the reports disclose. Even the allowance of a bowl of soup and a piece of bread for everyone is more theoretical then real as the supply always fails to go around. Actually, only 120,000 portions are distributed daily.
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.