Voices from the Holocaust

by Jon E. Lewis

  ... To discover the individual bunkers was extremely difficult for the task forces, due to camouflage, and in many cases was possible only through betrayal on the part of the Jews.

  After only a few days it was clear that the Jews no longer had any intention to resettle voluntarily, but were determined to fight back by every means and with the weapons at their disposal. Under Polish Bolshevik leadership, so-called combat groups had been formed; they were armed and paid any price asked for available arms.

  During the large-scale action it was possible to capture some Jews who had already been evacuated to Lublin or Treblinka, but had broken out from there and returned to the ghetto, equipped with arms and ammunition. Time and again Polish bandits found refuge in the ghetto and remained there virtually undisturbed, since no forces were on hand to penetrate this maze. Whereas at first it had been possible to capture the Jews, who normally are cowards, in considerable numbers, apprehending bandits and Jews became increasingly difficult during the second half of the large-scale action. Again and again, battle groups of twenty to thirty or more Jewish youths, eighteen to twenty-five years of age, accompanied by corresponding numbers of females, kindled new resistance. These battle groups were under orders to put up armed resistance to the last and, if necessary, to escape capture by suicide.

  One such battle group managed to climb from a sewer basin in the so-called Prosta on to a truck and to escape with it (about thirty to thirty-five). One bandit, who had arrived with this truck, exploded two hand grenades, which was the signal for the bandits waiting in the sewer to climb out of the basin. The bandits and Jews – there frequently were Polish bandits among them, armed with carbines, small arms, and one with a light machine gun – climbed on the truck and drove away in an unknown direction. The last member of this gang, who was on guard in the sewer and was assigned to close the sewer-hole cover, was captured. He gave the above information. The search for the truck unfortunately provide fruitless.

  During the armed resistance, the females belonging to the battle groups were armed in the same way as the men; some were members of the halutzim movement. Not infrequently, these females fired pistols with both hands. Time and again it happened that they kept pistols and hand grenades (Polish ‘pineapple’ hand grenades) concealed in their drawers up to the last moment, to use them against the men of the Waffen-SS, Police, or Army.

  The resistance put up by the Jews and bandits could be broken only through energetic, indefatigable deployment of the patrols day and night. On 23 April 1943, through the Higher SS and Police Leader for the East, at Cracow, the Reichsführer SS issued an order to effect the combing of the ghetto in Warsaw with the greatest severity and ruthless tenacity. I therefore decided to carry out the total destruction of the Jewish quarter by burning down all residential blocks, including the blocks attached to the armament factories. One enterprise after the other was systematically evacuated and immediately destroyed by fire. Nearly always the Jews then came out of their hiding places and bunkers. Not infrequently, the Jews stayed in the burning houses until, because of the heat and fear of being burned to death, they chose to jump from the upper floors after having thrown mattresses and other upholstered articles from the burning houses into the street. With bones broken, they still would try to crawl across the street into blocks of houses which were not yet in flames, or only partly so. Often, too, Jews changed their hiding places during the night, by moving into the ruins of buildings already burned out and taking refuge there until they were found by the individual patrols. Their stay in the sewers also ceased to be pleasant after the first week. Frequently, loud voices, coming through the sewer shafts, could be heard in the street. The men of the Waffen-SS or Police or Army engineers would then courageously climb down the shafts to bring out the Jews, and not infrequently they stumbled over Jews already dead, or were shot at. It was always necessary to use smoke candles to drive out the Jews. Thus, one day 193 sewer entrance holes were opened and at a fixed time smoke candles were lowered into them, with the result that the bandits, fleeing from what they believed to be gas, assembled in the centre of the former Jewish quarter and could be pulled out of the sewer holes there. Numerous Jews, who could not be counted, were taken care of by explosions in sewers and bunkers.

  The longer the resistance lasted, the tougher the men of the Waffen-SS, Police, and Army became; here as always, they tackled their duties indefatigably, in faithful comradeship, and constantly held their own in model, exemplary fashion. Their duty often lasted from early morning until late at night. At night, search patrols with rags wound around their feet remained at the heels of the Jews and kept up the pressure on them without interruption. Not infrequently, Jews who used the night for supplementing their stores of victuals from abandoned bunkers or for making contact or exchanging information with neighbouring groups were apprehended and taken care of.

  Considering that the men of the Waffen-SS for the most part had had only three to four weeks’ training before being assigned to this action, the mettle, courage, and devotion to duty which they showed deserves special recognition. It may be stated that the Army engineers, too, executed their work of blowing up bunkers, sewers, and concrete buildings with indefatigable devotion to duty. Officers and men of the Police, a large part of whom already had front-line experience, again proved themselves through exemplary daring.

  Only the continuous and untiring deployment of all forces made it possible to apprehend or verifiably destroy a total of 56,065 Jews. To this figure should be added those Jews who lost their lives in explosions, fires, etc., but whose numbers could not be ascertained.

  Even while the large-scale action was going on, the Aryan population was informed by posters that entering the former Jewish quarter was strictly forbidden, and that anybody found in the former Jewish quarter without a valid permit would be shot. At the same time, the Aryan population was once more instructed by these posters that anybody who knowingly gave refuge to a Jew, especially anyone who housed, fed, or concealed a Jew outside the Jewish quarter, would be punished by death.

  The Polish police were authorized to turn over to any Polish policeman who arrested a Jew in the Aryan part of the city of Warsaw one-third of the Jew’s cash property. This measure has already produced results.

  The Polish population by and large welcomed the measures taken against the Jews. Towards the end of the large-scale action, the Governor addressed a special proclamation, which was submitted to the undersigned for approval before publication, to the Polish population, enlightening the Poles about the reasons for destroying the former Jewish quarter and calling them to battle against Communist agents, with reference to the assassinations lately carried out in the territory of the city of Warsaw and to the mass graves in Katyn.

  The large-scale action was terminated on 16 May 1943, with the blowing up of the Warsaw synagogue at 2015 hours.

  At this time, there no longer are any industrial enterprises in the former Jewish quarter. All objects of value, raw materials, and machines there have been moved and stored elsewhere. Whatever buildings, etc., existed have been destroyed. The only exception is the so-called Dzielna Prison of the Security Police, which was exempted from destruction.

  III

  Inasmuch as one must reckon with the possibility, even after completion of the large-scale action, that a few Jews still remain among the ruins of the former Jewish quarter, this area must remain firmly shut off from the Aryan quarter during the near future, and must be guarded. Police Battalion III/23 has been assigned to this duty. This Police Battalion has instructions to keep watch over the former Jewish quarter, particularly to see that no one enters the former ghetto, and immediately to shoot anybody found there without authorization. The Commander of the Police Battalion will continue to receive further instructions directly from the SS and Police Leader. In this way, the small remnants of Jews, if any, must be kept under constant pressure and destroyed. By the destruction of all buildings and hiding places and the cutting off of the wa
ter supply, the remaining Jews and bandits must be deprived of any further chance of existence.

  It is suggested that the Dzielna Prison be made into a concentration camp and that the inmates be used to salvage the millions of bricks, scrap iron, and other materials, collect them and make them available for reuse.

  IV

  Of the total of 56,065 Jews apprehended, about 7,000 were destroyed within the former ghetto in the course of the large-scale action, and 6,929 by transporting them to T. II, which means that altogether 14,000 Jews were destroyed. Beyond the number of 56,065 Jews, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 were killed by explosions or in fires.

  The number of destroyed bunkers amounts to 631.

  BOOTY:

  7 Polish rifles, 1 Russian rifle, 1 German rifle

  59 pistols of various calibres

  Several hundred hand grenades, including Polish and homemade ones

  Several hundred incendiary bottles

  Homemade explosives

  Infernal machines with fuses

  A large amount of explosives, ammunition for weapons of all calibres, including some machine-gun ammunition

  Regarding the booty of arms, it must be taken into consideration that the arms themselves could in most cases not be captured, as the bandits and Jews would, before being arrested, throw them into hiding places or holes which could not be ascertained or discovered. The smoking out of the bunkers by our men also often made the search for arms impossible. As the bunkers had to be blown up at once, a search later on was out of the question.

  The captured hand grenades, ammunition, and incendiary bottles were at once reused by use against the bandits.

  FURTHER BOOTY TAKEN:

  1,240 used military tunics (part of them with medal ribbons – Iron

  Cross and East Medal)

  600 pairs of used trousers

  Other equipment and German steel helmets

  108 horses, 4 of them still in the former ghetto (hearse)

  Up to 23 May [sic] 1943, we had counted:

  4.4 million złotys; furthermore, about 5–6 million złotys not yet counted, a large amount of foreign currency, among others, $14,300 in paper money and $9,200 in gold, besides jewellery (rings, necklaces, watches, etc.) in large quantities.

  State of the ghetto at the termination of the large-scale action:

  Apart from eight buildings (police barracks, hospital, and accommodation for housing the factory police), the former ghetto is completely destroyed. Only fireproof walls are left standing where no explosions were carried out. But the ruins still contain a vast amount of stones and scrap material which could be used.

  Warsaw: 16 May 1943

  The SS and Police Leader in the District of Warsaw

  [Signed]

  Stroop SS Brigadeführer and Major General of Police

  ‘The Jews tried to avoid evacuation by all possible means’: Report on the Solution of the Jewish Question, Galicia, 30 June 1943

  SS-GRUPPENFÜHRER FRITZ KATZMANN

  Katzmann was Commander of the German SS and Police in the District of Galicia; the report below, entitled ‘The Solution of the Jewish Question in the District of Galicia’, was submitted to SS and police chief Friedrich Kruger.

  Reich Secret Document

  The SS and Police Leader (SS-und Polizeiführer) in the District of

  Galicia Lvov, 30 June 1943

  Re: Solution of the Jewish Question in Galicia

  Reference: Attached Report

  Enclosure: 1 Report (3 copies)

  1 Copy (bound)

  To the

  Higher SS and Police Leader East

  SS Obergruppenführer and General of the Police

  Kruger

  Kraków

  Enclosed I forward the first copy of the final report on the Solution of the Jewish Question in the District of Galicia, and request that you may acknowledge it.

  Katzmann

  SS-Gruppenführer

  And Generalleutnant of Police

  Solution of the Jewish Problem in the District of Galicia

  Owing to the phrase ‘Galician Jew’, Galicia was probably the small corner on earth most known and most frequently mentioned in connection with the Jews. Here they lived in great, compact multitudes, forming a world of their own, from which the rest of world Jewry renewed its population continuously. Jews were to be met with in their hundreds of thousands in all parts of Galicia.

  According to old statistics dating back to 1931, there were then about 502,000 Jews. This number is unlikely to have diminished in the period between 1931 and the summer of 1941. There are no precise figures for the number of Jews present when the German troops marched into Galicia. The figure of 350,000 was given by the Judenrat of Galicia for the end of the year 1941. That this figure was incorrect can be seen from the records concerning evacuation appended to this report. The city of Lvov alone housed about 160,000 Jews in the months of July–August 1941 ...

  Our first measure was to identify every Jew by means of a white armlet with the blue Star of David. In accordance with a decree issued by the Governor General, the Interior Administration was responsible for the identifying and registration of the Jews, as well as setting up the Judenrat. Our task as police was first of all to fight effectively against the immense black market operated by the Jews all over the District. Energetic measures also had to be taken against idlers loafing around and against do-nothings.

  The best means for this was the establishment of Forced Labour Camps by the SS and Police Leader. There was, first of all, work on the urgently needed reconstruction of [highway] Dg. 4, which was extremely important for the entire southern section of the Front and which was in catastrophically bad condition. On 15 October 1941, a start was made on the building of camps along the railroad tracks, and after a few weeks, despite considerable difficulties, seven camps had been put up, containing 4,000 Jews. More camps soon followed, so that in a very short period of time the completion of fifteen camps could be reported to the Higher SS and Police Leader. About 20,000 Jewish labourers passed through these camps in the course of time. Despite all conceivable difficulties that turned up on this project, about 160 kilometres have now been completed.

  At the same time all other Jews who were fit for work were registered by the Labour Offices and directed to useful work. Both when the Jews were identified with the Star of David and when they were registered by the Labour Offices, the first indications were noted that the Jews were trying to evade the orders issued by the Authorities. The control measures carried out as a result led to thousands of arrests. It became increasingly apparent that the Civil Administration was not in a position to move the Jewish problem to an even reasonably satisfactory solution. Because repeated attempts of the City Administration of Lvov, for instance, to move the Jews into a Jewish quarter, failed, this question, too, was solved by the SS and Police Leader and his organizations. This measure had become all the more urgent because in the winter of 1941 centres of typhus infection had appeared all over the city, endangering not only the local population but, even more, the German troops either stationed in the city or passing through ...

  Owing to the peculiarity that almost 90 per cent of the artisans in Galicia consisted of Jews, the problem to be solved could only be carried out gradually, as an immediate removal of the Jews would not have been in the interest of the war economy. Not that one could observe that those Jews who were working made any special contribution by their work. Their place of work was often only a means to an end for them: firstly, to escape the sharper measures taken against the Jews; and, secondly, to be able to carry out their black-market dealings without interruption. Only continuous police intervention could prevent these activities. Draconic measures had to be introduced by us after it was noted in increasing numbers of cases that the Jews had succeeded in making themselves indispensable to their employers by providing goods in short supply, etc. It is very sad to have to note that the wildest black-market deals with the Jews were made by Germans
who were brought here, and in particular those in the so-called ‘operating firms’ (Einsatszfirmen) or the ‘ill-reputed trustees’ (beruchtigte Treuhander), both of which operated Jewish firms taken from their owners. Cases were known where Jews seeking to obtain some kind of working certificate not only did not ask for pay from their employers but paid regularly themselves. In addition, Jewish ‘organizing’ on behalf of their ‘employers’ reached such catastrophic dimensions that energetic action had to be taken in the interest of the reputation of the German people.

  As the Administration was not in the position to overcome this chaos, and proved weak, the whole issue of Jewish Labour was simply taken over by the SS and Police Leader. The existing Jewish Labour Offices, which were staffed by hundreds of Jews, were dissolved. All work certificates issued by firms and official employers were declared invalid, and the cards given to Jews by the Labour Offices revalidated by the Police.

  In the course of this Aktion thousands of Jews were again caught in possession of forged certificates or labour certificates obtained fraudulently by means of all kinds of excuses. These Jews were also sent for special treatment (Sonderbehandlung). The Wehrmacht authorities in particular aided the Jewish parasites by issuing special certificates without proper control ... There were cases where Jews were caught with from ten to twenty such certificates. When Jews were arrested in the course of further checks, most of the employers felt obliged to attempt to intervene in favour of the Jews. This was often done in a manner that can only be described as deeply shameful …