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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Poland 05: Holocaust in general

Bombings - Einsatzkommandos - deprivations - aryanizations - exercises - burnt synagogues and papers - arrests - camps - massacres - new partition of Poland - figures


Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 757-758. Jewish women in Poland forced to undress prior
to being shot [[one can see that the woman on the left is beginning to undress, one can see the bones]].

from: Poland; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 13

presented by Michael Palomino (2008 / 2020)

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<HOLOCAUST PERIOD.

[Bombings, mass death, destruction and refugees - deprivations and aryanizations]

[[Poland had had an anti-Semitic government since 1919. A big part of the Polish population was anti-Semitic and was a big help for the Nazi occupation forces to perform the massacres and maintaining camp installations in Poland. Others did nothing, others even were hiding Jews and risked their life]].

The outbreak of the war (Sept. 1,1939) and the invasion of Poland by German troops were marked by immediate heavy loss of civilian (especially Jewish ) life and material damage.

[[The anti-Semitic Polish government hat 6 months time to decide if it wanted to collaborate with the Russian army against Germany or with the Germany against Russia. The Polish government did not take any decision so in August 1939 there was the Hitler Stalin pact with the appendix of another partition of Poland which was at once known in the diplomatic class. The Polish government which was propagating a "March to Berlin" was speculating that English and French troops would attack Germany when Poland would be attacked but this was not the case...]]

Military operations caused the death of 30,000 Jews, while bombing destroyed some 50,000 Jewish-owned houses, factories, workshops, and shores in about 120 Jewish communities, in some of which 90-95% of the houses went up in flames. In Warsaw alone, in the first month of the war, 30% of the Jewish buildings were destroyed when entire Jewish neighborhoods burned down. A tremendous stream of refugees sought shelter in the large cities, particularly in Warsaw.

Subsequently, tens of thousands of Jewish enterprises not destroyed in the bombing were now lost in liquidation measures [[aryanizations]], bringing the total amount of Jewish property and business concerns lost or destroyed to an estimated 100,000. Jewish losses on the battlefield totaled 32,216 dead (officers and enlisted men) and another 61,000 taken prisoner, the majority of whom died in captivity.

[Murder actions of SD Einsatzkommandos - beards cut - swastikas branded - forced exercise - holidays]

Military operations were still going on when the German army and SD Einsatzkommandos undertook a campaign of bloody repression (see *Holocaust, General Survey). They usually arrested a group of Jews or Poles, who were kept as hostages and eventually shot. Sometimes mock executions [[executions for fun]] were staged, in which the victims stood for hours in suspense [[uncertainty]] anticipating execution. Pious Jews had their beards removed by blunt [[not sharp]] instruments, which tore their skin, or had their beards burned off.

Swastikas were branded on the scalps of some victims;

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 758. [[Also Jewish stars were applied]]: Jews branded
with a "magen David" [[Jewish star]] on their foreheads. From Polish Ministry of National Defense:
"Meczenstwo walka i zagtada Zydow (Żydow) w Polsce 1939-1945", Warsaw, 1960

others were subjected to "gymnastics", such as "riding" on other victims' backs, crawling on all fours, singing and dancing, or staging fights with one another.

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 757-758. "Gymnastics": Jews forced to ride each other
for the amusement of the Nazis, Minsk Mazowiecki, 1941. [[One can see the Jewish armbands
of the Jewish detainees]]. Courtesy Leib Rochman, Jerusalem

The Nazis took a special sadistic pleasure in violating religious feelings, deliberately [[well planned]] choosing Jewish religious holidays on which to carry out their assaults.

[Burning synagogues - Bedzin fire - false confession for the fire - burnt Torah scrolls and books]

They instituted a special campaign of burning down synagogues, or, after destroying their interiors, turned them into stables, warehouses, bathhouses, or even public latrines (see *Synagogues, Desecration and Destruction of). At *Bedzin the synagogue at the old market place was set on fire on Sept. 9, 1939. The flames spread to the neighboring Jewish houses, and as the area was cordoned off by soldiers and SS-men who did not permit anyone to escape or to fight the fire, 56 houses were burned down, and several hundred persons were burned to death.

In some places, e.g., *Wloclawek and *Brzeziny, the president or rabbi of the community was forced to sign a "confession" that the Jews themselves started the fire and to pay heavy fines as punishment for the "arson" [[making fire]]. The tenants of the houses burned down were brought before a military court.

Any Jew who tried to enter a burning synagogue in order to save the Torah scrolls was either shot or thrown in to the flames. In many places the military stages autos-da-fé of Torah scrolls, Hebrew books, and other religious articles, and forced the Jews to sing and dance around the flames and shout that the Jews were to blame for the war.

The Jewish communities were also compelled to bear the cost of tearing down the remaining walls of the houses and clearing the rubble. It is estimated that several hundred synagogues were destroyed in the first two months of the occupation.

[Arrests in "civilian prison camps" - marches to arrest centers - deportation to forced labor camps in Germany]

At the same time, mass arrests of Jews were carried out in which thousands of men, women, and children were interned in "civilian prison camps" set up in synagogues, churches, movie houses, and the like, or put behind (col. 752)

barbed-wire fences on open lots and exposed to the soldiers' cruelty and torture. Afterward the prisoners were sent on foot to larger centers (such as *Wegrow, *Lomza, *Sieradz, *Tomaszow, Mazowiecki), where some were set free and others put on forced labor or deported to Germany. In the latter instance their transport to Germany was used for propaganda purposes, as in the case of groups of Jews from Kalisz and *Wieruszow who were borne around German towns in trucks bearing the inscription:

"These are the Jewish swine who shot at German soldiers."

[Massacres in fires of sealed houses - arbitrary arrest, forced labor, torture, and terror - labor contingents]

Precise instructions issued by the High Command of the Wehrmacht on July 24, 1939, for the internment of civilian prisoners provided for the arrest of Jews and Poles of military age at the outset of the invasion. In practice, however, a wild huntdown of Jews was made, without regard to age [[with the collaboration of the anti-Semitic Polish population]]. In the campaign of terror that followed, hundreds of civilians, Poles, and Jews (in *Czestochowa, *Przemysl, *Bydgoszcz, and *Dynow) were slaughtered outright or imprisoned in buildings which were sealed [[closed]] and then set on fire or blown up, the imprisoned dying a horrible death (in Dynow, Lipsk-Kielecki, Mszczonow).

No precise figures are available on the number of victims in this period of terror. In the rampage [[madness]] of persecution throughout Poland, people were taken off the streets or dragged from their homes and put on forced labor. They were tortured and beaten, and deprived of their human dignity when forced to perform such acts as cleaning latrines with their bare hands or, in the case of women, washing the floor with their own underwear. Normal life was paralyzed by the arbitrary arrests for forced labor even at a later stage, when forced labor was "regulated" and the still-existing communities or the Judenraete (see *Judenrat) had to provide labor contingents on the basis of an understanding reached with the various German offices or commands.

[Organization of deprivation: Jewish Stars painted - contributions - "visits"]

The systematic robbery of Jewish property involved the closing of all the Jewish shops in many towns, or enforced sale of the wares at nominal prices or against worthless receipts. To facilitate [[promote]] the identification of Jewish property, the chief of the civilian administration attached to the army, Hans *Frank, issued an order (Sept. 8, 1939) for all Jewish stores to display a Star of David or other appropriate inscriptions on their stores by the following day. Practically all Jewish communities were also forced to make large "contributions" of money, gold, silver, and jewelry. In many towns compulsory contributions were paid several times over. Large sums were extorted from wealthy individuals under threat of imprisonment. Whenever a Nazi "visit" to the offices of the communities took place, all the money in their safes was confiscated, e.g., in Warsaw on Oct. 5, 1939, when 100,000 zlotys (ä20,000) were taken in this manner. "Legal" forms of robbery were also instituted.

[Restrictions of money - registration of store rooms]

The civilian administrators attached to the occupation forces issued orders restricting the sums Jews could hold in their bank accounts, while the accounts themselves were blocked. Restrictions were also placed on the amount of cash a Jew could keep in his home. Jewish-owned property was frozen,Jews were prohibited from engaging in the textile and leather business, and their inventories [[goods in the store rooms]]were registered with the Nazi authorities. Any infringement [[violation]] entailed heavy punishment, including death.

[Division of Poland according to Hitler's decrees of 8 and 12 October 1939]

Two decrees by Hitler (Oct. 8 and 12, 1939) provided for the division of the occupied areas of Poland into the following administrative units:

(a) Reichsgau Wartheland, which included the entire Poznan province, most of the Lidz province, five Pomeranian districts, and one county of the Warsaw province

(b) the remaining area of Pomerania, which was incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen

(c) Regierungsbezirk Zichenau (Ciechanow) (col. 753)

consisting of the five northern counties of Warsaw province (*Plock, *Plonsk, *Sterpe, *Ciechanow, *Mlawa), which became a part of East Prussia

(d) Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz - or unofficially Ost-Oberschlesien (East Upper Silesia) - which included *Sosnowiec, Bedzin, *Chrzanow, and *Zawiercie counties and parts of *Olkusz and *Zywiec counties

(e) the General Government of Poland, which included the central Polish provinces and was subdivided into four districts, Warsaw, Lublin, *Radom, and Cracow.

The areas listed under (a)-(d) were incorporated into the Reich.

[Territories of eastern Poland under NS administration 1941-1944]

After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the Polish territories previously occupied by the Russians were organized as follows:

(f) Bezirk Bialystok, which included the Bialystok, *Bielsk Podlaski, *Grajewo, Lomza, *Sokolka, *Volkovysk, and Grodno counties and was "attached" (not incorporated) to East Prussia

(g) Bezirke Litauen und Weissrussland - the Polish part of White Russia (today western Belorussia [[since 1991 Belarus]]), including the Vilna province, which was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ostland

(h) Bezirk Wolhynien-Podolien - the Polish province of Volhynia, which was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ukraine; and

(i) East Galicia, which was incorporated into the General-Government and became its fifth district.

[Figures]

The Jewish population of this entire area was 3,351,000 of whom 2,042,000 came under Nazi rule and 1,309,000 under Soviet occupation in September 1939.

[[The figure of 3,351,000 is a number without considering the emigration movement 1931-1939 which caused a low birthrate, and without considering the Stalin deportations. Considering the emigration movement of the young generation in the 1930s the total figure has to be diminished by at least 500,000. Add to this about 300,000 Jews fled from western to eastern Poland in 1939 and then were deported to central Russia because they resigned to the Soviet passport. Add to this further Stalin deportations were performed to central "Soviet Union" with capitalist Jews and their families. Further on one has to consider the Big Flight from Barbarossa in 1941 performed by the Russian army with all Communist administration and industrial staff with many Jews. All in all it can be estimated that there were about 2,200,000 Jews in Poland who came under the Nazi regime. From these a part was hiding in hideouts, or changed religion or the name by forged documents which were easy to have by Jewish organizations. So, it can be estimated that in total about 2 mio. Jews were hit by Nazi rule, and a part of these were fighting as partisans]].

The ultimate fate of the Jewish population under Nazi rule was the same in all the areas, though the various administrative areas differed in the degree and pace of persecution, depending on local leadership (a Nazi principle of administration).> (col. 754)

[[The basic "plan" of the Nazi government was the elimination of all local Jews of eastern Europe in several waves, and then the Jews from central and western Europe should be deported at their place for dying in separation of men and women]].

Holocaust report about Poland of 1943

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, Vol. 13, col. 759-760. [[Holocaust report]]. The English translation of a document (in French) describing conditions in Poland, which was received by the U.S. Department of State from an undisclosed source in the Vatican in January 1943. Washington D.C., National Archives of the [[criminal racist]] United States (740.00116 EW 1939/726). Text: <The Vatican, November 25,  1942 It is reported, from Warsaw: [Executed bodies near railway lines] "The struggle continues throughout the country. Numerous arrests are being made. The Germans [[and the collaborators]] have fired on the crowds: Many Poles have been executed by hanging. The families of the persons executed have often been forced to witness the executions which, in large part, are carried out in public, often along the railway where the bodies remain for long periods exposed so that they can be seen from passing trains. (Poznán, Cracow). [Wheat is taken away] Wheat is taken away, without thought being given either to the need for seed or to the food requirements of the country. Villages, where requisitioning has not given the results hoped for by the Germans, have been razed, and their inhabitants (men, women and children) massacred. The villages located in the areas where parachutists landed were subjected  to the same treatment. [Prisons filled and filled again] Prisons are filled and emptied regularly. Every time they are emptied, it is for the purpose of filling them again with new prisoners. The others are sent to die in concentration camps. The prisons at Warsaw, Radom, Cracow, Przemyśl, Rzeszow and Lublin are notorious for the torture inflicted on those held. [Mass death in concentration camps by undernourishment, overwork, diseases and mass shootings] There are many concentration camps. The death of those interned is brought about by undernourishment and overwork [[and diseases and mass shootings]]. The families of the dead are notified of the demise of their near relations by means of cards on which are entered the date and the name of the victim above the printed notice: "Died in the concentration camp". The cards arrive at all the localities every day often in batches of tens and hundreds. [Poles taken to forced labor for the Reich] The "manhunt", engaged in by detachments specially trained for the purpose, continues so as to provide labor for forced work in Germany. Young people especially, men and women, are taken away. Trains, packed with deportees, pass through Warsaw every day. (The number of Poles deported to Germany for forced labor is estimated by the Reichsarbeitsblatt, a German official publication, to have amounted to 744,500 men and 262,700 women, that is to say more than one million Poles in a total of 2,139,300 foreign workers working in Germany; the figure has become considerably greater since then). [Measures against Polish birth rate: children taken away - sterilizations] The Germans are endeavoring to decrease the demographic strength of the Polish nation, so as not to have to fear an increase in the number of Poles after the war. Farms for the breading of human beings are being organized to which women and girls are brought for the purpose of being made mothers of children who are then taken from them to be raised in Nazi establishments. Many women and men, who are sent to Germany, are subjected to sterilization. [Massacres in gas cars and by mass shootings] Mass execution of Jews continues. At Warsaw, Lwow, Wilno, Lublin, Przemyśl,, Przeworsk, Tarnow - the number of Jews killed is numbered by the tens of thousands in the case of each of the towns in question, without mentioning all the others. They are killed by poison gas in chambers especially prepared for that purpose (often in railway cars) and by machine gun fire, following which the dead and the dying are both covered with earth. There are frequent cases of collective suicide by Jewish families: Jewish mothers jump from high windows with their children. At Lublin, the Germans themselves threw Jewish children onto the pavement. At Przeworsk, a crowd of hard pressed Jews assembled around a cross and invoked the pity of Christ. Convoys of Jews being led to their death are seen everywhere. Reports are being circulated to the effect that the Germans are making use of their corpses in plants manufacturing chemical products (soap-making factories). [[The collaboration of the local population is not mentioned]]. An early and to the extermination of Jews in Poland is foreseen, as well as the urgent need by the special detachments, trained for such work and incapable of interrupting the daily shedding of blood, for new victims. [Killed beggars in Poland - old people in danger] Already in Eastern Poland, the beggars, both men and women, have been hunted down and killed. It is feared that the general extermination of old people will be ordered in the near future. All these measures are taken with a view to reducing the number of persons who need to be fed. [General Polish mentality is changing against the German Nazi occupation] The witnessing of these acts is having a tremendous effect on the mind of the Poles; feelings of hatred continue to grow. The opinion in gaining ground according to which only immediate retaliation against the towns of the occupying forces could induce their rulers to modify the measures applied to the Polish population. TR:CCA:DVA> [[Cyclon B granulate is NOT mentioned. It seems simple gassing by engines has been applied which is very easyand cheap to perform]].

Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 751-752	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 753-754	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 757-758. Holocaust photos
	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Poland, vol. 13, col. 761-762. [[Holocaust times]]. A German soap factory near Danzig [[the photo composition means that human parts of dead bodies were systematically given into the soap. It can be true or not, only the photographer or the Printing House staff know...]]

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