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Industrial Machines Stolen by Nazis Will Be Returned to Jews by Polish Government

February 6, 1948
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Industrial machines stolen by the Germans from Jewish concerns in Poland during the Nazi occupation will be returned to the Jews in Poland by the Ministry of Industry, it was announced here by the Central Jewish Committee.

Consisting chiefly of textile and weaving machines, the loot will be assigned to Jewish workers cooperatives in Poland. A spokesman, for the Jewish Committee said that the return of the machines will strengthen the economic position of the Jews in the country.

A letter proving that the Nazis ordered the annihilation of the Warsaw Ghetto prior to the April insurrection was made public toy a Polish commission investigating wartime German documents. Previously, the Germans maintained that the ghetto 1 vas destroyed only after the revolt began.

Discovered in the Berlin central document office, the letter was addressed to the top Gestapo official in Cracow and was signed by Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo in Germany. It was dated Feb. 16, 1943. The order specified that the ghetto was to be destroyed without evacuating any of its inhabitants.

In another letter, also signed by Himmler, the Germans were ordered to sort and make full use of all the building materials which the ghetto would yield after its destruction. Another report disclosed that the Germans salvaged more than 34,000,000 bricks from these buildings.

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