A report that the cities of Minsk and Vitebsk in Nazi-held Byelorussia, which had large Jewish populations, are now "completely judenrein" and that not a single Jew is left in all Byelorussia was brought here today by two Russian guerrillas who have been operating in the rear of the Nazi armies there.
"We have been in many cities and villages in Byelorussia, including Minsk and Vitebsk, but no where did we see any Jews," one of the partisans reaching here today told the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "I believe that there are none left in the whole of occupied Byelorussia," he added.
The Nazis have announced that anybody who reports a hidden Jew will be rewarded "for distinguished service in action," the two guerrilla fighters reported, declaring that they read the announcement with their own eyes. From their hiding place on a neighboring hill, the two partisans also witnessed the massacre by the Nazis of 984 Jews in a valley near the town of Delchitzi, in Byelorussia. "The adults, men as well as women, were killed by machine guns, while the children were simply thrown into a huge grave and buried alive," one of the eye-witnesses stated.
A Soviet liaison officer who returned today to Moscow from a region in Nazi-occupied central Russia where guerrilla units are still operating under orders delivered to them by Russian parachutists, reported that hundreds of Jews are fighting in the ranks of the guerrillas, in the rear of the Nazi armies. "I, myself, am a Jew," he said, "and I was pleasantly surprised to see the large number of Jews in the guerrilla units." He related a number of cases disclosing how Jewish men and women guerrilla commanders succeeded in securing explosives and in blowing up German military trains, motor cars, bridges and warehouses.
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.
