Details of the mass-deportation of the Jews from the Warsaw ghetto prior to the uprising there reached the Polish Government here today. They disclose that 60 Jews committed suicide in the ghetto within six days and 2,648 Jewish men and women were shot during the same period when they resisted deportation orders.
“Many Jewish parents smuggled themselves out of the ghetto and escaped with their children, carrying them in sacks on their shoulders,” the report states. “They were able to leave the ghetto by bribing the Ukrainian policeman who were posted at the ghetto gates.” The report adds that most of the Warsaw Jews were deported from the ghetto to the notorious Treblinka camp where the Nazis are using “gas chambers” for mass-executions.
The Polish Telegraphic Agency today reported that according to underground reports reaching London, the Jews in the Wilno ghetto have all been deported. Of some 80,000 Jews who were living in the ghetto at the beginning of 1941, 60,000 were massacred during 1942. Those who survived were living in a special area in the suburbs of Wilno. They too have now been “liquidated,” the report said.
Another report released by the Polish Telegraphic Agency states that the three worst streets in the city of Radom have been reserved for 3,500 Jews, who have been spared by the Hitler officials because they work in munition factories. “These Jewish workers are subjected to the extremely severe regulations of forced labor camps,” the report says. “They cease to be human beings. Instead of names they are given numbers. The Jews are punished by death for absence from the factory for walking on the sidewalk instead of in the gutter, or for changing their place of work. Death sentences are promptly executed. No Jew is allowed to be ill more than three days. In case of a surgical operation, a Jew may receive seven days leave. If the illness lasts longer, the Jew is killed.”
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.