Antoni Taraszkiewicz, former deputy police commandant of the Vilna ghetto, was hanged here following his conviction on charges of directing the torture, deportation and murder of thousands of Jews.
During his administration of the Vilna ghetto two of its bloodiest pogroms occurred. He was also responsible for the organization of mass deportation of Jews from the ghetto to concentration camps in the vicinity of Kaunas. The only Jewish witness to appear against him was Hannah Zlotnick, who recognized him on the streets of Lodz and informed the police. After the Red Army overran Vilna, he escaped into the Soviet Union and later returned to Poland as a “repatriate.”
In the streets of Wroclaw a Jewish doctor recognized and caused the arrest of Joseph Gorniewicz who had murdered eleven members of his family. Gorniewicz was the Gestapo chief in charge of the Baranawitz ghetto, whose liquidation he supervised. It is estimated that some 20,000 Jews died during the liquidation.
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.
