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Terrorism in Nazi Poland Unabated; Many Slain in Warsaw Area; Temples Burned

December 29, 1939
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Trustworthy advices reaching here today told of unchecked anti-Jewish terrorism in Nazi Poland marked by wanton slayings, burning of synagogues and mass removal of Jews to unknown destinations.

Ten Jews were picked out at random by the Nazis in Nowemiasto, District of Warsaw, and shot dead. No reason was ascribed for the execution. In Grojec, also in the Warsaw district, a number of Jews were shot dead while returning from compulsory labor projects in the vicinity. Many Jews in the same district have been transferred to an unknown destination, believed to be some place in the Reich.

Last Saturday, the Jews in Grojec were forced to set fire to the principal synagogue. The Great Synagogue in Wloclawek was dynamited by the Nazis after the community leaders had been forced to sign a statement that the Jews had set fire to it. A few days later, a collective “fine” of 600,000 zlotys ($120,000 at pre-war rates) was imposed on the Jewish population “for burning down the synagogue. Another synagogue in Wloclawek, housed in a former gymnasium, was burned down by the Nazis. Following the burning, 700 Jews were placed under arrest and cruelly maltreated during a detention that lasted six weeks.

Two synagogues in the township of Gniewaszow, near Radom, have been converted into stables. The Jewish population of 400 families was “fined” 25,000 zlotys. All Jewish houses in township have been marked with the Mogen David (star of David). A collective “fine” of 50,000 zlotys has been imposed on the Jews in the Ciechanow district of Warsaw.

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