On Monday night, after Warsaw and its suburbs had been subjected to three days of Nazi air raids, an American broadcasting company asked Mr. Manuel Mozes, chief of the Warsaw bureau of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, to give an eyewitness account over the radio of the havoc wrought by the German bombers. Following is a partial transcription of Mr. Mozes’ talk, as broadcast over a national network in the United States:
"Here is Mr. Mozes speaking. I am the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Poland. I have always endeavored in my cables to render a faithful report of the events in my beloved country, Poland. You readers of the American papers know my reports which are signed by the initials JTA. I deeply regret that my first broadcast to you is not a merrier one, but, never mind, surely I will soon have better news for you. Today’s talk is about my visit to a health resort in the vicinity of Warsaw.
"This was kilometers distant from Warsaw and one of the most famous health resorts in Poland. There are various homes for aged men, women and children, and sanatorium for pulmonary sufferers. But there is no military garrison and no military buildings what-soever there. Of this I assure you, ladies and gentlemen. This is the place singled out by Hitler’s airmen for their barbarous attack on Friday, September 1, between nine and ten a.m. I was there after the German planes had been chased away by the Polish heroes, but it worried me that it is beyond my people’s ability to give you a true picture of what the barbarians have done there. I would rather like to take you, my friends, for a trip over there and show you round this unique and beautiful place. You will not find here big buildings and entertainment, but you would see the lofty centenarian fir trees and the modest villas in a forest that stretches for miles and miles. You would breathe here the air of the pine trees which has nowhere its equal, and it is there that stands the home for wee Jewish children of the Centos Society. This society is maintained chiefly out of American funds. This home is now in ruins. The children are shelterless, for such was the will of Adolf Hitler.
"The bombarded sanatorium of the Jewish child caring society housed 200 children of both sexes, aged from 7 to 16. When I approached the site of this sanatorium, which is considered a modern establishment of its kind, my eyes were struck by a terrible picture of destruction. The main building of the institution, hit by a crashing bomb, was entirely demolished. Around the house there are to be seen holes two yards deep…. There are visible remnants of a staircase, near ruins of a demolished kitchen. High above is a clock hanging on a broken piece of a wall. by a strange coincidence, the clock remained untouched amid the surrounding ruins…..At a distance of a few feet, charred debris. That is all that remained of the second building which housed the staff of the orphanage. This building had been hit from a low altitude by an incendiary bomb and the ruins were still aflame.
"I come nearer, I see children with staring eyes around the debris. All children have been shaken by a terrible shock. After the explosion, many children fled blindly away as if pursued by a ghost. Some have been found after a long search and carried into madness. A few more are still wandering in the vicinity — scared children who at the slightest sound rush panic-stricken into a ditch, seeking refuge from the invisible enemy.
"I attempted to start a conversation but I could not extract a word from the children who were dumb with fear. I talked to the brave teachers who themselves, with the greatest effort, came to the children’s rescue, crying "Save the children first."
"On Friday morning when the children left the refectory and were carrying out their usual occupations, three fast-approaching airplanes were sighted. Suddenly all had been stunned by a terrible explosion. The whole building caved in; a piercing cry was raised by the children. In a second, the neighboring building of the orphanage stood aflame. Children jumped down from the first floor to the arms of the teachers who stood underneath. The last to leave the building were the members of the staff — many of whom broke their legs in jumping. The manager of the sanatorium was dangerously wounded.
(Eight orphans, two Jews and two Jewesses were killed in the raid on this home. See JTA News Sept. 5).
"Today the German airplanes bombed three of the —– a Christian churchyard and a camp of Girl Scouts. Bombs also were thrown on civilian population in Warsaw and some adjacent summer resorts. Don’t think, however, that such sights make us afraid here in Poland. On the ruins a new life will shoot up. The sanatorium is already being reconstructed. We hope that the whole citizenry will support us in the struggle."
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.
