France, Britain and the Polish Government-in-exile have signed a declaration condemning Germany’s conduct of the war in Poland and announcing their determination to exact reparations for the Nazi acts against the Poles and Jews, it was announced today.
The declaration was made public simultaneously with the first of a series of Polish “Black Books” containing photographs and eye-witness accounts of Nazi atrocities in Poland and a Polish communique reporting that girls were being seized in the streets of Warsaw and other Polish cities to be sent to military brothels.
TEXT OF DECLARATION
The text of the declaration follows:
“His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, the French Government and the Polish Government have been deeply moved by the reports they have received on the crimes committed against persons and the damage done to properties by the German authorities and forces of occupation in Poland.
“These reports leave no room for doubt that the German Government, which on Sept. 1, 1939, began the war by brutal attack on the Polish civilian population in defiance of acknowledged principles of international law, is now applying itself to destroying not only the lives and properties but also the civilization and religion of the defenseless Polish populations who now find themselves under its control.
“Germany has gone so far as to incorporate in the Reich, in violation of the Hague International Convention, territories of the Polish Republic while the war waged by the three Allied powers is continuing.
“Mass executions, the most pitilessly barbarous transfer of a population driven from its home, establishment of Germans on Polish territory, allotment to these alien. Germans, in defiance of all law, of goods belonging to Poles, confiscation of private and State properties, destruction and pillaging of historic and artistic monuments, deportation of young Polish men and women to Germany to do compulsory labor, closing of churches and persecution of religion–these things reveal clearly a policy deliberately aimed at destruction of the Polish nation.
“To the persecution of the Poles is added the atrocious treatment inflicted on members of the Jewish community.
“This conduct by German authorities and the occupation forces is a flagrant violation of the laws of warfare and in particular of the Hague convention concerning the laws and customs of war on land, and His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, the French Government and the Polish Government, addressing themselves to universal conscience, protest formally and publicly against the action of the German Government and its agents.
“They reaffirm Germany’s responsibility for these crimes and they are determined to insure reparation for the wrongs thus inflicted on the Polish people.”
THE “BLACK BOOK”
The “Black Book” is, according to the Polish Government announcement, to be followed by another book which will show later stages of the Nazi occupation. In the introduction, the Government states that much testimony in its possession could be published only when the war is over, since publication now would endanger the relatives of informants still residing in Nazi-held territory.
In a preface to the book, Edouard Herriot, president of the French Chamber of Deputies, says: “We still believe that many consciences in Germany repudiate such infamies. We leave off reading filled with disgust and shame that in our epoch men who have practiced such crimes can still lead a people which pretends to be civilized.”
In a press interview, Stanislas Stronski, Polish Vice-Premier, said the “Black Book” showed that from the first day of the war the Germans attacked women and children to break the spirit of the Polish nation. The book attempts to show Germany’s “total warfare” to have comprised a series of atrocities, including bombardment of open towns, refugee trains and civilians generally.
One of the photographs shows bearded, elderly Jews being forced to dig ditches by armed Nazi soldiers.
Under the caption, “The Martyrized Jews,” the book gives an eyewitness report of the massacre of 150 Jews in Przemysl before that city was turned over to Soviet Russia. The event occurred on Sept. 26 and Jewish families were ordered to dig graves to bury their dead, the account states. It declares:
“The Germans were just going to abandon Przemysl to the Bolshevists. I saw about 150 Jews lined up in rows of four who were directed to the forest of Pralkowce by German soldiers. They were forced to march with their hands crossed over their heads.
“In the evening of the same day all of them were executed by machine-guns near the hunting lodge of Kruchel Wielki. The following day, Sept. 27, the German authorities informed the families of arrested Jews that they were permitted to visit these prisoners and that, above all, they should bring them something to eat.
“This authorization was received with joy. But when the poor people presented themselves at Kruchel Wielki the first thing that happened was that the provisions they had brought were taken away from them. After that they were given shovels and they were ordered to dig the graves of their next of kin, who had been shot the evening before.
“To avoid any misunderstanding I insist upon the fact that I myself saw the masses of arrested Jews marching with their hands crossed above their heads and that on Sept. 27 I spoke to Jews who were engaged in digging graves. Of the 150 condemned only one escaped because, by the greatest of all miracles, he was only wounded in the ear.
“After the victims had been interred, at 10 o’clock in the morning the order was given to the Jews living in Przemysl to cross the San (River) and to enter the territory occupied by the Bolshevists.”
THE POLISH COMMUNIQUE
The Polish communique charging seizure of girls in Polish cities said that no distinction was made as to racial origin of the victims.
According to the communique, Nazi patrols seized the women and delivered them to military barracks, where they were violated. The statement accused in particular the 228th regiment of German infantry and the 7th Aviation regiment, both of which, it was said, had patrols engaged in hunting women in Warsaw streets.
The communique also charged that many victims were shipped in transports to the German western front and were permitted to return to Poland only when they became pregnant.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
