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Vilna Ghetto Reported Liquidated; Jewish Resistance to Nazis in Ghettos Continues

May 4, 1943
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The complete liquidation by the Nazis of the ghetto in the city of Vilna, Poland, is reported today from Stockholm. The report quotes the Svenska Dagbladet, one of the largest Swedish newspapers. The Dagbladet says that at the end of 1941 there were still about 50,000 Jews in the ghetto, but they were all subsequently deported to unknown destinations.

S. Adler-Rudel, well-known Jewish social worker who recently returned to London from a visit to Sweden in connection with refugee relief work there, today reported at a public meeting here that while abroad he spoke to a number of people who recently succeeded in escaping from occupied Poland. “They all confirmed the latest press reports that Jews are actively resisting the Nazis and that Zionism is still a living force in the ghettos,” he said.

The Archbishop of York, addressing 2,500 people last night in St. Paul’s Cathedral, at an intercession service in connection with the celebration of Polish Constitution Day, cited the Jews as an example of courage and confidence in the future for all other enslaved nations. “When the Jews were conquered by a mighty enemy, more than 2,000 years ago, and their land was desolated, with the greater part of them driven into captivity and made refugees, only a small helpless and impoverished minority remaining, their prophets still had confidence in the future,” the Archbishop said, “History often tells of nations like the Jews who appear to have been destroyed, but whose soul is still alive and free because it is united by great heritage of ideals.” The Polish Premier Gen. Sikorski was among those attending the services.

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