Greatest Calamity in Jewish History, Says Proclamation of Jewish Groups

A proclamation issued in behalf of the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith and other leading Jewish organizations said: “The greatest calamity in Jewish history since the destruction of the Temple has befallen all Jewish communities in the European lands occupied by the enemy. His deliberate and Satanic purpose to destroy Jewish life wherever his power reaches has now been exposed to the world. Nearly two million Jews have already cruelly been done to death and the remaining millions live in the shadow of impending doom. In the hour of their unspeakable grief and travail, the Jews of America in the spirit of an ancient and invincible faith turn once again to Him who has been the Guide and Guardian of Israel throughout all generations.”

The Jewish Labor Committee made public today the text of a message received from the Catholic underground movement in occupied Poland which reads: “The Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, isolated from the rest of the world, are all condemned to death. There is no hope for them. No one can aid them. Nazi patrols are shooting Jews at sight in the streets of the ghetto. The sidewalks are littered with corpses of murdered Jews. It is estimated that an average of 8,000 to 10,000 Jews are being massacred daily. Mothers see their children carried away to death. Thousands of them are losing their minds.” The message also reveals that all drug stores have been closed by the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto in order to prevent Jews from securing poison which many have used to commit suicide.