A group of 27 Polish Jews, who disappeared last week while attempting to cross the Polish-Czechoslovak frontier, were reported here today to have been massacred by "unknown bands."
The group was one of three totalling 89 who left Cracow in the last days of April with the intention of eventually getting to Palestine, according to Jacob Wisnia, leader of one of the groups, who arrived in Vienna yesterday.
Thirty-two men, women and children, led by Wisnia, crossed the Polish frontier on the night of May 1, and reached Kreismarkt, Czechoslovakia, From there the group made its way to Bratislava where it awaited the other two. The second section, with 30 members, arrived a day later, but the third group never turned up.
From couriers sent back to the frontier to check, as well as from other sources, it was learned, Wisnia reported, that the entire group was murdered on the night of May 2 in a wood between Szczawnic and Nowy Wies about one and one-half kilometers from the Czechoslovak border.
Wisnia, 31-year-old native of Brest-Litovak, was a lieutenant in the Polish army, and fought with the Red Army until 1943 when he was transferred to Polish units serving under Marshal Zhukov. After his demobilization late last year, Wisnia became head of the Zionist movement in Galicia.
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.
