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WARSAW, 1943: Both Sides Accounts of the "Grossaktion".

Discussion in 'Eastern Europe February 1943 to End of War' started by Cate Blanchett, Mar 16, 2008.

  1. Cate Blanchett

    Cate Blanchett recruit

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    Good Evening, Huaska tavata....

    Tonight you will read a combination of two sources that describe the Warsaw Ghetto confrontation of April 1943. It draws from both German AND Jewish sources, melding the two into a continuous narrative that provides a double perspective of the fighting.
    The first source is none other than the report presented to Adolf Hitler by the Commander of the "Aktion", Brigadefuhrer JURGEN STROOP. This document was passed to Hitler as a late birthday "present", along with the destruction of the Ghetto tself. The report was used as evidence (exhibit 275, filed 13 December, 1945) at Stoops trial before the Miltary Tribunal at Nuremburg, and caused a sensation. Supreme Justice Jackson, Chief Prosecutor of these trials commenced the tabling of this documentary evidence with the following words,
    I hold a report, with Tuetonic devotion to detail, illustrated with photographs to authenticate it's almost incredible text, and beautifully bound in leather with the loving care bestowed upon proud work. It is the original report of SS Brigadier-General Stroop, in charge of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and it's title page carries the inscription "The Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw No Longer Exists." It is characteristic that one of the captions explains that the photograph concerned shows the driving out of Jewish 'bandits'; those whom the photograph shows being driven out are almost entirely women and little children. It contains a day-by-day account of the killings mainly carried out by the SS organisation.

    The second source draws upon extracts from a book by one of the Jewish fighters of the several combat organisations in the ghetto, a man who for a very long time lived with and kept to himself the memories of those days.
    Mr. David Landau was a trusted member of the first group that formed and fought in the ghetto, the ZZW,(Zydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy or Jewish Military Union) and was persuaded by friends and relatives to tell his story, which he did in a book published here in Australia (his post-war home) called "CAGED". Mr. Landau died only a few days after completing this epic work, which was vigourously cross referenced, and drew upon not only personal memories from himself and his wife, Luba Landau, but also from memories of other survivors that he could contact or came forward.

    Nobody, to my knowledge, has attempted to combine Stroops report with accounts from the Jewish fighters themselves, so what you will read tonight is the very first time this type of article has been put forth for your study anywhere.
    It will stand as testimony, not only to the actions of the participants, but will publically give "air" to a perspective of the Holocaust that is best described by Mr. Landau's daughter, Miriam, in her introduction to David's book....

    "To my way of thinking, when one reads or views writing or films on the Holocaust, it is important to keep in mind that Jews did not "go like sheep". It is important to remember that there were survivors. Their very existence has taught all thinking humans to say, "Never again!". A combination of factors created a survivor, but strongly and foremost, fate. Then there were looks, age, friendships, means and tenacity, and so many other factors too complicated and capricious for our imagination. To be a survivor was a lottery with very few chances and to 'win' was to carry a legacy of pain.
    To be a child of these survivors, or any survivors of genocide, is to learn much about inner strength and to be in constant awe, shock and respect for those who survived."

    Stroops teletype reports will be presented ENTIRE and without any ommission. Sections of this article will be shown, appropriately, in BLACK.
    Extracts from David Landau's book will reflect my own feelings toward these heroic fighters, and will be shown in WHITE.

    Narrative comments from yours truly, B5N2Kate, will be shown in BLUE.
    I do hope the following will encourage you to pick up David Landau's book at some stage, and read for yourself his remarkable story.
    For now, though, I trust that you will find the following article informative.......

    BOTH SIDES OF THE GHETTO:.....

    A DOUBLE NARRATIVE OF THE "GROSSAKTION" IN THE WARSAW GHETTO 19TH APRIL ,1943

    PART ONE: BACKGROUND
    The Polish capital city of Warsaw fell to the German invaders on the 28th of September 1939. The siege left the city in a sorry state, with almost half it's buildings, (10,126) totally or partially destroyed. Resistence had been agile, if unorganized, but the city itself , and the war in Poland itself, was doomed to failure after Soviet troops invaded the eastern half of Poland. The Government and the Polish military, realizing this, declared hostilities to be at an end, and Poland disappeared into a nightmare of occupation by two dictatorship nations. For the members of Poland's Jewish community, by all accounts the largest in Europe, this meant a gradual "turning of the screw", as major communities were rounded up and forcibly deported to "ghettos", as part of the policy of occupation practiced by the Nazi regime.
    Warsaw's Jewish population stood at 359,827.
    Poland itself was divided into four seperate regions, each with a Governer, and placed under differing standards of rule, according to the dictates of Berlin. Whole sections of Poland were incorporated into "Grossdeutschland", while other regions were turned over to the Army, or the SS for administrative purposes. The aim of the conquerers was to transform these regions into German territory proper; different governers in each of the four regions had differing approaches to this administration "difficulty", but all were required to make their regions "judenrein". For the regions bordering Germany proper, this sometimes meant the simple expediant of issueing new paperwork.

    The house of the Landaus in the Winter of 1939 played host to a meal for friends. Discussion turned to the situation Polish Jews had been placed into.....
    "Well I have better reasons than you to believe that one day Hitler will consider the elimination of all Jews a necessity. I have said it before and I say it now, our fight with the Germans is one of life or death. What we see now is just the beginning."
    David's father believed the Germans were more practical.....
    "I believe the only thing the Germans are interested in is to bring us to our knees financially, so that when they offer us bread and water to work for their war industry, we will be glad to do so. Killing all of us Jews is something only a sick imagination would bother to conjure up."

    For the areas of eastern Poland, orders were to be taken literally.
    The region that Warsaw fell into in Nazi administration was referred to as "The General Government of Poland" beyond the Vistula River, and was controlled wholesale by Nazi Governer HANS FRANK, appointed to this post on the 12th October 1940.
    Frank set about his task quickly, issueing decrees that gradually and with increasing brutality, forced Jewish communities away to the east of the Vistula river by mass deportation. Many Polish collaborators assisted in this and other "measures".....
    David Landau recalls.....
    Open black markets in primary products were working in the different parts of Warsaw. The German authorities looked the other way where Poles were concerned. Germans were making the greatest profits anyway. Food on the black market that did not come from Polish small holdings originated from the confiscated stocks of Jewish businesses that were now owned by Germans, as well as from Army stock. Other goods stolen by the Germans came from their own government for their private benefit.
    For Jews, the black market was a triple danger. The Polish underground frequently robbed Jewish traders of their goods and money, knowing that nobody would defend them. Robbery was common, often accompanied by force. However, the greatest danger came from the Germans.

    David Landau's family had chosen to stay in Warsaw, at first in the hope that the Polish Army would re-capture the capital, and then on advice from officials that Landau senior was friendly with to stay by their Tannery that had supplied leather for the Polish Army. David, himself, on the advice of his mother and father, left the city, but returned when a close friend in Bialystok advised him to return home, for his mother was gravely ill. Returning, he passed the days of occupation first by smuggling, and when this became untenable, was forced to simply trade for food....But the benefits out-weighed the risks, and so he went back to smuggling...."I was willing to gamble".....His smuggling contacts also put him in contact with Jewish underground groups, and in particular, a man called Pawel Frenckel, of the Jewish Armed Union (ZZW). After several journeys outside of the Warsaw district, a close call forced David to confine his activities to Warsaw itself.

    September 1940 found 1,200,000 Poles and over 300,000 Jews moved, dumped into the General Government region with trainloads of further deportees arriving every day.
    Policy toward these Jewish deportees made life difficult to impossible, with the "Star of David" appearing on clothing, and restrictions on public employment. Subjected to "unlimitied labour duties", exploitation of individuals and groups was rife. On the 2nd of October, 1940, the City Governer of Warsaw, Ludwig Fischer, ordered a sealed off "Jewish Residential Area".

    "My dear comrades! I could not eliminate all lice and Jews in only one year. But in the course of time, and if you help me, this end will be attained".......................Hans Franck, 7th October 1940

    On the 12th of October, 1940, the Jewish "High Holy Day" of Yom Kippur, rumours circulating were finally confirmed, as German proclamations pasted on walls all over Warsaw set out the bad news in black and white. An 18km long and 10feet high wall (built from materials from the Ghetto itself) was to now distinguish this portion of the city as the JUDEN VIERTEL (Jewish quarter). Originally some 2 and 1/2 miles by 1 mile area, the "Ghetto" was systematically reduced in size over the next two years. normally inhabitied by 160,000 people, the misery was compounded by deliberate overcrowding as more deportations from neighbouring towns swelled the population to 460,000 by mid-March, 1941.
    David Landau recalls....
    It became clear early on to me, and to many others, that the ghetto was to be nothing more than an open grave. The food rations were set so low that signs of starvation showed from the first day. If we were to survive, it would have to be by illegal means, by bribing guards and developing smuggling to a high art."

    Fatal epidemics compounded the starvation. Death rates began to soar from 900 per month to a summer 1941 rate of 5,500 per month. Life for inhabitants took on a surreal veneer.....death in the streets from skin and bones starvation was matched by religious groups giving shelter and solace....resistence groups sprang up, preparing for the day of "ultimate test".....and incredibly, David Landau recalls
    The nightclubs where nothing was forbidden, the food, the music, the girls. One need not ask where the money came from. It came from the quarters of the Devil, who had for their benefit taken the human form and dressed in the uniform of the Gestapo. The money the Devil handed over in the Warsaw Ghetto came from blood sale, and it could only be used for pleasure and for the deadening of the soul.

    The Warsaw Ghetto was all of these things and more.

    Jews who sought escape found no safety.

    15th of October, 1941, General Order....
    "Jews who leave the quarter reserved for them without permission are liable to the death penalty. The same penalty awaits any person who knowingly gives shelter to such Jews."......Hans Frank.

    10th November, 1941, Police Commandant of Warsaw, Oberleutnant Jarke, issued decrees that all Jews, including women and children, found outside the Ghetto would be shot...

    Children were exempt from wearing the Star of David, helping them to smuggle food.

    Professor Ludwig Hirschfeld, a Ghetto eyewitness......
    "I once asked a little girl, 'What would you like to be?"

    She answered "A dog, because the guards like dogs."

    Wall poster defacement, too, was a capital offence.....

    David Landau.....
    How does one measure time? When one lives through a life day by day; when one can plan for the future while enjoying the present, that is one measure. I have had fifty years of such time.
    But how does one measure time when the future has no plan, no image, and the present is not consumed but pushed out of the way by the desire to survive? Is the minute an hour or the day an eternity?

    As the summer of 1942 came, time began to run out for the Warsaw Ghetto....
    The infamous 'Wannsee Conference' (January 1942) decreed a "Final Solution of the Jewish question in Europe". Poland was selected as the ground on which this 'solution' was to be enacted. There, the great extermination camps were planned and built....Auschwitz, Treblinka, Birkenau, Sobibor, Belzec, Maidenek. These camps were not the first method tried by the Nazi hierarchy for the Final Solution. They were a substitute - a very much more destructive one than cramming Jewish communities into overcrowded ghettos.
    Warsaw was the largest and most overcrowded of the lot.
    The summer of 1942 saw the first large scale deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka Extermination 'facility', and was administered by the "Resettlement Commissioner", SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hermann Hofle.

    22nd July 1942.....Hofle calls a meeting of the Ghetto Jewish Council (Judenrat). Set up by the Nazis to relay orders to the Ghetto inhabitants, it's leader, Adam Czerniakow sat open-mouthed and in total shock while Hofle dictated his instructions....

    "Jews living in Warsaw, regardless of age or sex" were to present themselves at collection points for "resettlement to the East"

    David Landau.....
    One of the deeply shameful chapters in the history of the Ghetto arose because Adam Czerniakow, the Leader of the Jewish community in the Ghetto, was too weak, too liberal and too naive to save Jewish lives entrusted to him. The tragic end of the Ghetto could not have been changed, but the road to it might have been different under a stronger leader. There can be no doubt that if the Uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto had taken place in August-September 1942, when there were still 300,000 Jews, the Germans would have paid a much higher price and other Jewish communities that still existed at the time might have been encouraged to follow suit. Who knows, the Polish Resistence might even have joined under such conditions.
    That it was not so, is to our shame. Adam Czerniakow was an honest man and one should respect him for committing suicide the moment he realised the German's treacherous plans, rather than hand over a single Jew to the murderers. Unfortunately, this kind of heroism was too little under the circumstances, and too late. By the time he had made peace with his conscience, the real power in the Ghetto had been ursurped by the Jewish Police, who had been progressively corrupted.
    During this time and right up to the last moment before the Uprising in 1943, some of the Jewish leaders remained blind to the German plan for the total destruction of all Jews and clung to their irrational hope to survive the German death sentence.
    Many of the leaders, whether through lack of courage or in the mistaken belief that they were protecting their families, actively assisted the Germans. They were protected by personal bodygaurds and believed that as long as they served the Gestapo, they were safe. It was a tragic necessity, but over time we had to clean them out - assassinate them - to be free to deal with our enemy.
    Jewish Policeman of the 'Judenrat' fell to active co-operation with German authorities, willingly helping their German masters.

    For nine weeks, rail shipments to Treblinka went on. 100 people to a cattle truck, 5,000 to 6,000 per day, and this included hospital patients and orphanage children.
    Dr Januscz Korczak was a famed educator, described as a "brilliant and compassionate leader in the field of the care and education of children", famed for his book "How To Love A Child". As part of a large group of high profile Jewish intellectuals that had been herded into the Ghetto with all the others, Korczak took charge of the care of Ghetto orphans. Offered escape from the deportations by outside friends and admirers, he chose instead to share the fate of his charges, going to Treblinka with the children that were his life's work.

    A more tragic and inspiring figure from Warsaw there was not.

    R.I.P. JANUSZ KORCZAK (22/07/1879 - 05/08/1942)

    On arrival at Treblinka, victims were marched to one of ten chambers and gassed in batches of 200. The Commandant at Treblinka, Heoss, "....used monoxide gas, which was slow by Heoss's self-imposed standards". When he later set up the extermination machinery at Auschwitz, Hoess switched to crystallised prussic acid (Zyklon B), taking from 3 - 15 minutes to kill all people in a chamber. Hoess learnt much of the method of mass extermination from his time at Treblinka. In this manner, some 450,000 Warsaw Ghetto inhabitiants were shipped to their deaths.

    But the Ghetto population had not been eliminated.

    At New Year, 1943, 60,000 still remained........

    SS Reichsfuhrer, Heinrich Himmler, inspected the Ghetto in person on the 9th of January, ordering further deportations. This order was carried out on the 18th of the same month, but, for the very first time, they came up against armed resistence. 6,500 of the projected 8,000 deportees were detained and deported.

    For the first time, Nazi authorities became aware of organised groups that would be prepared to put up a fight.....

    There were four groups associated with the coming battle. The Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army) had smuggled weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Ghetto. Of the 4 groups participating in these smuggling operations, the AK had access to more than most. The Polska Partia Robotniscza (PPR or Communist Polish Workers Party) also assisted in this; but of the two groups principally responsible for armed resistence, the larger was the Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB or Jewish Combat Organisation), formed in October 1942 and tasked with resisting any future deportations, it was led by 24 year old Mordechai Anielewicz, with it's headquarters at 18 Mila St.
    But the group we are most concerned with had been in existence for the longest period of time. Possessing German uniforms smuggled in, the fighters of the Zydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy (ZZW or Jewish Military Council) were probably the most seasoned and determined, if not the largest of the four groups, commanded by Pawel Frenckel.
    David Landau was part of the ZZW, one of it's original members. His "Arayan" looks and tall build gave him a "presence". This, along with his brave and selfless smuggling operations, and his ability with firearms, earned him one of the precious German uniforms, with a pivitol role to play......
    On Febraury 16th, 1943, Himmler ordered the final destruction of the Ghetto, tasking Police Chief SS Obergruppenfuhrer Kruger to make sure everything of possible material worth was removed. He placed in Command for the "aktion" Oberfuhrer von Sammern-Frankenegg, described as "timid and vacilliating" by historians, and set Frankenegg the date of April 19th, 1943, to commence his operations.
    The next day, 20th of April was Adolf Hitler's birthday. Himmler, expecting a clean "sweep", wanted to present a "judenrein" Warsaw to "Der Chef", and was clearly expecting a straightforward operation.........

    The stage was set for the dramatic and tragic last phase. The German "grossaktion" of the Warsaw Ghetto.

    PART TWO.............THE GHETTO UPRISING

    APRIL 19TH, 1943....."Holy Monday" of the Jewish Calendar, 1st Day of "Passover"
    This day belonged to Mordechai Anielewicz and his ZOB fighters. David Landau's group, ZZW, recieved no orders to move from their positions, and had spent the previous day steadying their nerves with activities designed to fill in the hours of the attack they knew to be coming. Headquarters of the ZZW was 7-9 Muranowska St, but at the last moment, equipment for the ZZW was transferred to 17 Muranowska, the very building owned by the Landau family. The ZZW recieved a call from one of the few telephones still working confirming that the Ghetto had been cordoned off and surrounded,
    Nazi forces, composed of renegade Ukrainians, Latvians and other nationalities, began to enter the Ghetto in strength. A contingent of soldiers had also come from the SS camp at Trawniki in the Lublin district, composed mostly of Ukrainians and renegade Poles. There were also men from "T-II" (Treblinka Death Camp) making up the numbers. Mr Landau also mentions Army units, most likely the support elements.
    David Landau takes up the story......
    At around six in the morning, the first German units had entered the Ghetto. Clearly they expected that it would not be as easy this time as it had been in the past. They came equipped for battle, marching towards the center of the ghetto island nearest to the Umschlagplatz, in the vicinity of Franciszkanska, Mila and Gesia along Zamenofa. For some reason, we were not told to move out from our positions. We were probably no more than six to eight hundred meters away towards the north-eastern end of the ghetto and could have engaged the German column within a matter of minutes. Years after the war I was told that the policy of the ZZW and of the ZOB was not to fight in the open, as we could have had no chance to inflict even the slightest losses on the Germans. The explanation sounded reasonable in retrospect but I am not convinced that it would have been so during the the first moments, when the Germans did not expect us in the open.
    Within the next half hour all hell broke loose. The 120 people in our group waited impatiently for an order, but we never recieved one. The telephone rang 3 or 4 times. From the other side they told us that they had seen wounded Germans and Latvians being brought out of the Ghetto and that whole units were running in chaos. According to the information coming from the Poles, a unit of the German Army, on it's way to the eastern front, had joined the fight. It was not clear to our informers whether the soldiers were held especially for the Action or simply had some free time, and the chief hangman of the Ghetto, Col. Dr. von Samren, had invited them to join.
    The greatest surprise we had on the first day was to learn that at last the Germans had begun to take us seriously. The Colonel had been removed and replaced by no less than a General. That information lifted our spirits enormously.
    Only when the day ended did we have an oppurtunity to hear any details. In their first foray in the morning the Germans had come fully dressed for battle, marching along the centre of Zamenhofa together with those Jewish police that were still left. As far as we could make out, the fighters of the ZOB had let the Jewish police cross their hidden positions and when the Germans followed them the soldiers were met with a hail of fire from machine guns and grenades. The sons of the super-race had become disoriented and panicked. They left their wounded and dead in the middle of the street and ran away. They were gone within the first hour.
    It was hard for us, who had been sitting and doing nothing, to believe what had happened. We felt ashamed and betrayed not to have participated in that act. Could there have been a more messianic dream than the one in which a Jewish bullet killed a German in the open battlefield of the ghetto? And we had missed it on the first day when it had become a reality.
    As if to rub salt in our wounds, we had visitors in the evening- two young boys of 16 or 17 who did not belong to any organised group but had managed in the last days to get a hold of rifles and bullets. They had joined in the shooting independantly. They showed us the rifles and revolvers they had managed to take from the German SS who had been left dead in the street. They told of the fighting as if God had begun handing over the first murderers into the hands of their victims. We learned of the greatest triumph on that day from informants on the Polish side.

    Not a single Jewish fighter had lost his or her life.

    We were elated, proud and unbelievably jealous and ashamed. To our half angry murmur of revolt Pawel Frenckel had a short answer....
    "Tomorrow will be another day."

    And so, von Sammern-Frankenegg was sacked, to be replaced, as Polish intelligence had correctly informed, by Brigadefuhrer JURGEN STROOP. A much tougher commander, Stroop prepared for a "set piece" confrontation, a battle of attrition unlike the "round-up" style used by his predecessor. It is from this point that his daily teletype messages began, later to be collected into the leather bound volume for Adolf Hitler and reflecting the "typical Nazi obsession with recording atrocities down to the last detail". He refers constantly to the contingent of "Trawniki men" mentioned above, and the report itself lists the units available, splitting them into officers/men (e.g. 1/60).

    It is here that we come to Day 1 in the report of Stroop's involvement.........
    SS Service Teletype Message.
    From: The SS and Police Fuhrer of the District of Warsaw
    ...........................................Warsaw, 20th April, 1943
    Ref. No.: I ab/St/Gr-16 07-Journal No. 561/43 Secret
    Re:......... Ghetto Operation.
    To:.........The Higher SS and Police Fuhrer East, SS Obergruppenfuhrer
    ....................and General of Police Kruger- or Deputy - Cracow

    The SS and Police Fuhrer of the District of Warsaw
    ........................s. (Stroop)
    ..........SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of Police

    Certified copy:
    ..............(Jesuiter)
    SS Sturmbannfuhrer

    Progress of Ghetto Operation on 19th.
    Closing of Ghetto commenced 0300hrs. At 0600 detailing of the Waffen-SS (strength: 16/850) to comb out the remainder of the Ghetto. Immediately after the units had formed up, concentrated attack by Jews and bandits. The tank used in this action and the two heavy armoured cars pelted with molotov cocktails (incendiary bottles). Tank twice set on fire. At first this enemy attack caused the retreat of the units. Losses in the first attack: 12 men wounded (6 SS men, 6 Trawniki men). About 0800hrs, second attack by units, under command of the undersigned. In the face of less intensive counter-attack, this second assault succeeded in combing out the blocks of buildings according to plan.
    The enemy was forced to retire from roofs and other prepared positions above ground level into cellars, dug-outs and sewers. During this combing-out we caught only about 200 Jews. Immediately afterwards raiding parties were directed to dug-outs known to us with the order to bring out the Jews and to destroy the dug-outs. About 380 Jews captured by this. It was noted that the Jews had taken to sewers. Sewers were completely flooded to make staying there impossible. About 1730hrs we encountered strong resistance from one block of buildings, including machine gun fire. A special battle group crushed the enemy and invaded the houses, but without capturing the enemy. Jews and criminals resisted from base to base and escaped at the last moment by flight across lofts or through underground passages. About 2030hrs the external cordon was reinforced. All units were withdrawn from the Ghetto and dismissed to their quarters. Reinforcement of the cordon by 250 Waffen-SS men. Continuation of operation on 20th April.

    Units Employed:
    SS-Panzer-Gren Reserve Battalion..........6/400
    SS-Cavalry Reserve Detachment..........10/450
    Police..................................................6/165
    Security Service.....................................2/48
    Trawniki men......................................1/150

    Wehrmacht:
    1 10-cm Howitzer..................................1/7
    1 Flamethrower........................................1
    Engineers...........................................2/16
    Medical detachments............................1/1
    3x 2.28cm AA Guns.............................2/24
    1 French tank of the Waffen SS, 2 heavy armoured cars of the Waffen-SS.

    A couple of points become obvious right from the first day. Stroop is attempting to put the best face on the day, with units retreating from the Ghetto at nightfall. He also mentions the presence of "dug-outs known to us". The prominent part played by Jewish Policeman is manifesting itself already, directing German units to positions that their intelligence gathering had probably already pin-pointed. One can only assume that the Police, mentioned as units employed, maybe in fact Jewish Policemen. However, it's doubtful whether the Jewish policeman were listed on SS rolls at all, when one considers the general attitude to Jewish lives as such.
    Something that is made plain, too, is that Jurgen Stroop actually took over command of the operation in the middle of the attack!
    On the subject of losses, David Landau comments on this later in his narrative, so we will leave this one alone for a couple of text days......

    DAY 2:...20TH APRIL, 1943
    David Landau had in mind a flag raising for 17 Muranowska St, the ZZW headquarters, and the very building his father owned. It was a gesture meant to lift the morale of the Jewish units and people still existing in Warsaw, despite all the privations to date, and as a signal to both the Germans and the Arayan quarter Polish Underground that the ghetto fighters were still very much alive and resisting....

    I had made up my mind to raise the Jewish flag alone if by the end of the second day the Polish flag remained undelivered.
    I was overjoyed when early that morning a messenger came to tell me that a young boy had come through the tunnel at Muranowska 7 with a message which he had been told to deliver only to me. He had come through the sewers and stunk to high heaven when he was brought to see me. I was standing on guard, dressed in the black uniform of the SS with a machine gun in my hand. From under his shirt the boy pulled out a packet wrapped in newspaper. I knew immediately what it was and undertood why the boy had been told to hand it over only to me. His blue eyes and the smile on his face told me he had been living with death for a long time and it no longer held any fear for him. He was living an adventure. When I asked him if he would be willing to raise the flag on top of the building he became elated. "Do you really mean it?" I warned him that this would be unlike any adventure he may have had before.
    "The Germans will see you and you will not be protected. They will shoot at you with all they have. You may be dead before you reach the chimney."
    "It's alright. Sooner or later we all have to die; all Jews have to die. I have seen how people die when they are shot; it isn't so bad. When do I go up on the roof?"
    I told him to hang the two flags on the lightning pole on top chimney, and not to stand in one place even for a few seconds but to keep moving while he hoisted up the flags. I also explained that he wouldn't be going up there alone.
    "You will protect me from here," he said eagerly, "and if anything happens to me it would be better than to you, because I am only a boy and you are a fighter. " He did not comment on my SS uniform and I slowly realised that he must be closely involved with the underground, otherwise he would have been shocked by my appearance. I knew I could rely on his own sence of survival.
    On the second day of the Uprising the Germans watched with fury, the Poles with elation, and the Jews with fire in their hearts, as the Polish and Jewish flags were raised by a group of children above the rooftops for all the world to see. Two young boys paid with their lives for their audacity. They wrote a chapter of courage and bravery which remains a symbol of the Uprising. I can only weep that their names remain unknown. However, their leader, Jacek Eidner, the brave young flag smuggler, a child fighting in the Underground, lives to this day to tell the tale.

    ......there was no activity against the Ghetto before noon, except for some sporodic, aggravated fire against the flags we had managed to raise, for the price of two young boys. But celebrating Hitler's birthday did not stop the murderers for the whole day. After midday they came. This time they paid no attention to the main section where they had been given a firey reception the previous day. They tried their luck in another island, and they turned to the brush makers factory. So sure were they that they approached the gate in orderly rows, fully armed. The entrance to the closed section was through one of the gates in Walowa St. Precisely as the columns entered the gate a hidden mine was exploded by remote control and lifted the orderly columns from the ground. In seconds, order gave way to chaos, with Germans running for cover and firing their machine guns, more out of fear than at targets. From a distance one could distinguish the German firing which came in quick, continuous bursts while the short replies from the fighters came in intermittent spasms.
    Somehwere, the hidden fight reached the open stage, as the leader of the group, Marek Edelman, told it.
    The fight must have had a tremendous psychological effect on the Germans. Three officers approached the lines of fighters waving white signals. They proposed a fifteen minute cease-fire to remove the dead and wounded. They were willing to guarantee the Jews in the sector a peaceful relocation to working camps in Poniatow and Trawniki, allowing them to take all their possessions.
    "We replied with fire." Edelman reported.
    Less than a 100m across from us, on the other side of the wall, the Germans placed a small artillery gun. Unfortunately they positioned it in a way that made it impossible for us to attack it with grenades or machine-gun fire. Nevertheless, it was not a very good day for the German general.....
    The Germans suffered considerable losses on the second day. It is remarkable that they were willing to lose face and ask for a cease-fire from the subhuman 'bandits' they had come to destroy.
    We had our own fight that day.
    Early in the afternoon we saw a group of ZOB fighters moving across from the area where the fight had taken place the previous day, towards the section of the brush makers. There were some 80-100 fighters, male and female, in the group. The road seemed empty from where we saw them. Then one of our guards noticed a column of Germans coming from the other direction. Soon the Germans were directly in the path of the fighters who were heading towards an open field. They would have mowed them all down before the small group had any chance of action, but within a minute we had the order to open fire. The crossfire lasted some minutes before part of the German column separated and moved away while the rest remained to do battle. It was not a very serious effort to fight us. Within a 1/4 of an hour thay cut off and moved away from our position. It was , however, enough time and noise to alert the ZOB to move out from the open field.

    In some historical documents there is mention of a diversionary fight instigated by the Polish Underground on that day. I know nothing to confirm it and I am not in a position to deny it. If it did take place it made little impact. We recieved help from both Underground armies, the Home Army and the People's Army, small contributions, but in the scale of things they were worthwhile contributions.

    Brigadefuhrer Stroop paints a very different picture of the second day. After yesterday's fiasco, his attempts to create an impression of control contrast markedly with the situation as it existed on the Ghetto battlefield. No doubt, he had no wish to be replaced in the manner of Sammern-Frankenegg, his reputation destroyed by mere 'bandits'.......

    I put Major of Police Stenhagel in command of today's operations subject to my further instructions as necessary.
    At 0700hrs raiding parties consisting of mixed units, each 1/36 strong, were directed to comb out and search the remainder of the Ghetto intensively. This search is still in progress: it's first objective will be completed by 1100hrs. In the meantime it has been ascertained that in the part of the Ghetto which is no longer inhabited but not yet released and which contains several armament factories and the like, there are several centres of resistance which prevented the tank, stationed there, from advancing. Two raiding parties crushed these centres of resistance and cleared the way for the tank. There were two wounded (Waffen-SS) in this operation.
    The enemy is much more cautious than yesterday, since he had of course learned of the employment of heavy weapons.
    It is my intention to comb out completely the remainder of the Ghetto and then clean out in the same manner the so-called uninhabitied Ghetto, which so far has not been released. It has been acertained in the meantime that the latter part of the Ghetto contains at least 10-12 dug-outs, even armaments factories. The whole operation is made more difficult by the fact that there are still factories in the Ghetto which must be protected against bombardment and fire, because they contain machines and tools.
    A further report will follow tonight.

    Clearly, Stroops soldiers were finding the going tough, and the Brigadefuhrer struggled to find excuses for the continuing opposition. Morning "raiding" parties sound more like armed recon patrols, sent into sections of the Ghetto to ascertain weak spots. This may explain the lack of activity mentioned by the above Jewish accounts, with morning patrols climaxing in a midday "push" into areas targeted for concentration of Stroops resources. His evening teletype disguises the lack of progress and, and with losses mounting, Stroop had to find a way to communicate some good news.....
    It was Stroop who was becoming "more cautious".

    Following my teletype message of the 20th April, 1943- Ref. No St/Gr 16 07 re: Ghetto operation- I beg to report as follows:
    The resistance centres ascertained in the uninhabited but not yet released part of the Ghetto were crushed by a battle group of the Wehrmacht, including engineers and flamethrowers. In this operation one man was wounded, shot through the lungs. Nine raiding parties penetrated as far as the northern wall of the Ghetto. Nine dug-outs were found, their resisting inmates crushed and the dug-outs blown up. What losses the enemy suffered cannot be ascertained accurately. Altogether the 9 raiding parties caught 505 Jews today: those among them who were able-bodied were earmarked for transfer to Poniatowo. At about 1500hrs, I succeeded in the immediate evacuation of the block of buildings occupied by the Army Accomodation Office, said to be occupied by 4,000 Jews.
    The German manager was asked to call on the Jewish workers to leave the block voluntarily. Only 28 Jews obeyed this request. Thereupon I decided to evacuate the block by force or to blow it up. The AA Artillery- three 2cm guns used for this operation- lost two men killed. The 10cm Howitzer, which was also used, disloged the gangs from their strong fortifications and also inflicted losses on them, as far as we were able to ascertain. This action had to be broken off because of the fall of darkness. On the 21st of April we shall attack this resistance center again; as far as is possible it will remain sealed off during the night.
    In today's action we caught, apart from the Jews reported, considerable store of incendiary bottles, hand grenades, ammunition, uniforms and equipment.
    Losses: 2 dead (Wehrmacht). 7 wounded (6 Waffen SS, 1 Trawniki man).
    In one case, bandits had laid pressure mines. I succeeded in arranging that the factories W.C. Toebbens, Shultz & Co and Hoffman be ready to march off with their entire personnel on 21st April 1943 at 0600hrs in order to clear the area for cleaning out the ghetto. The trustee Toebbens has pledged himself to lead the Jews, numbering about 4-5,000 voluntarily to the assembly point for evacuation. If, as in the case of the Army Accomodation Office, voluntary evacuation should prove impossible, I shall clean out this part of the Ghetto by force.
    I beg to acknowledge reciept of the order which the Obergruppenfuhrer communicated to me by telephone today, and of the powers granted to me.

    Naturally, no mention of the temporary cease fire is made, or the state of Stroops losses as they existed. The situation for the "Master Exterminator" was becoming increasingly harder to gloss over.......

    DAY 3: 21st of April, 1943.
    The chimney of 17 Muranowska St. did not give way overnight. The Polish and Jewish flags must have given the great German General real nightmares. At dawn on the third day came the first fire on our position in Muranowska. The order came for us to leave. Heavy artillery was being directed towards the bulding. By 0700 we had moved out. The German special units did not appear inside the Ghetto until hours later.
    On the first night the Germans surrounded the ghetto only from the outside. During the second day they began to learn our tactics. They realised that the fighters were using the attics, which gave them a dual advantage. While the Germans were exposed, the Jewish fighters were hidden until the last moment. And they were fighting from a height. They could also escape through attics from house to house. On the second night the Germans undertook an experiment to counteract this tactic and were very sucessful. Dressed in civilan clothes, with blackened faces, small units of Germans infiltrated the 'wild' streets and silently stationed themselves in attics. They came in small groups of three to five and took up assigned places so as not to expose one group against another. Silently they managed to kill individual fighters, as they moved from attic to attic.
    By dawn of the third day they had eliminated some eight to ten men and women. We heard about it in the early hours and felt enraged to the point of losing our senses. We had to match the German tactics. An opportunity presented itself so naturally that we did not need to plan it. For some unrelated reason Frenckel ordered us to return to HQ at 17 Muranowska. A small group of us was standing inside the building with Frenckel when the guard on the first floor signalled that two German officers were approaching with their machine guns at the ready. They had stopped two houses away from us and were silently waiting while closely observing the surrounding area. The artillery shooting had stopped. Obviously there was some co-ordination between those trying to destroy the chimney with the two flags and the two officers. Frenckel gave me an order,
    "Go and bring them here!"
    It came so suddenly that I was shocked.
    "Me? How can I call them with my German?"
    Frenckel was angry. "You are wearing their uniform! Go and bring them here!"
    The atmosphere was growing tense and the guard from the first floor came once more and said, "They are still waiting for something."
    When Frenckel repeated his order I knew what I had to do. I asked that 3 of our men wait behind the entrance, hidden from the outside. I went out and began to signal to the two officers by placing my finger across my lips and pointing above my head.
    It worked.
    They responded in a similar manner by asking with their fingers how many: two? I made the sign of four and encouraged them to follow me by going back into the entrance of the building.
    Although my uniform was good enough to be accepted from 25m away, the hand-painted trims would have given the game away if they had come closer. They came and stopped at the entrance. Nothing happened to frighten them. Slowly they moved in, following me as I made very cautious steps towards the staircase. Before they realised their mistake they had wires strung around their throats. Their machine-guns didn't even fire before they were out of their hands. I turned around to see their eyes bulge out of their sockets and their hands held firmly by our fighters, while they convulsed in a useless effort to save their own lives.
    Frenckel's first words to me as he came down from the floor above were, "If I give you an order you better pay attention to it the first time, understood?" I realised that his strain was no less than my own and with sudden coolness I said, "Yes sir."
    New tactical planning by the ZZW matched the Nazis at their own game....
    The best idea came from a man who had been trained in the Polish Underground, and had served before the war. His plan seemed well thought out. He suggested we organise groups for the attic forays. He argued that the Germans surely would not go in large groups. He estimated then, and this later turned out to be correct, that they would be working in twos and threes at the most. They had the advantage of their machine-guns and a limitless supply of bullets. We could not match them in this respect. They would shoot whole rounds and we could reply only with single shots. Even if we could be sucessful, our gunfire would give us away immediately. Should another group of Germans be close by we would have no chance to escape. We therefore had to work in silence. There had to be at least two or three of us against each of the Germans and we had to stop them from calling out.
    The details were slowly worked out. We decided to station ourselves in an attic in a spot where the darkness would hide us. We would have to observe the movements of those who would be passing our position and make sure that we made no mistake before acting. I was placed with the first eight before I had a chance to volunteer.

    Progress of the Ghetto Operation on 21st April, 1943.
    Start of operation 0700 hrs. Cordoning off the entire Ghetto has continued since the start of operations.
    Since the special operation in the Army Accomodation Office block in the eastern part of the Ghetto had to be interrupted yesterday evening because of the fall of darkness, one battle group reinforced by Engineers and heavy weapons was again put into action today. After combing out this gigantic block of buildings, which was found to contain an enormous quantity of dug-outs and underground passages, about 60 Jews were caught. In spite of all efforts no more of the 7-8,000 Jews who stayed in this block could be caught. They kept retreating from hideout to hideout through subterranian passages, firing from time to time. I decided therefore to blow up passages so far as they were known, and subsequently to set the entire block on fire. Not until the spread of the fire did screaming Jews emerge, and they were deported at once. We had no losses in this operation. Precautionary measures were taken in order to ensure that the conflagration remained localised.
    The main body of the forces was detailed to mop-up the so called uninhabitied, but not yet released, part of the Ghetto by proceeding from south to north. Before this action started, we caught 5,200 Jews from the former factories of the command for Armament and transported them under escort to the loading railway station provided for evacuation. Three search parties were formed, to which special raiding parties were attached in order to attack or blow up dug-outs which were already known. This operation had to be interrupted when darkness set in, after one half of the area mentioned had been combed out.
    Apart from the Jews who were to be evacuated, 150 Jews or bandits were killed in battle and about 80 bandits were blown up inside dug-outs. The enemy today used the same arms as on the previous day, particularly home-made explosives. Samples have been kept by the SS and Police Fuhrer. For the first time we discovered members of the Jewish Women's Battle Association (Chaluzim Movement). The following were captured: rifles, hand grenades, explosives and parts of SS uniforms.
    Our Losses: 2 Policemen, 2 SS men, 1 Trawniki-man (slight wounds).
    The result of setting the block on fire was that during the night those Jews who despite all search operations still remain hidden in lofts, in cellars and other hideouts appeared at the outside of the blocks, trying to escape the flames. Large numbers, indeed entire families, already aflame, jumped from the windows or endevoured to let themselves down by means of sheets tied together or the like. Steps had been taken for these as well as the other Jews to be liquidated at once. All through the night there were shots from buildings which were supposed to be evacuated. There were no losses in the cordoning chain. 5,300 Jews were caught for evacuation and removed.

    This report of the third day proves that Stroop was "fudging" the figures of his own losses. The two officers strangled in the action by David Landau's group are not mentioned at all. Mr Landau comments on this in later chapters of his book, so we will leave this aspect of the Ghetto fighting till then.
    Too, the night-time attic groups are not mentioned much either. The tactical battle for the attics was a tacit admission on the part of the Germans that their measures were not having the desired effect upon the actual fighters of ZZW/ZOB. To admit this much to Berlin would have been an admission, too, that not only were methods failing to shut down opposition, but may have raised questions as to Stroop's losses as well. The night combats of these small groups are only mentioned in passing. Time and resources were on the side of the Nazi's. Time would see an eventual victory, but as to the cost, Stroop seems determined to hide these facts from his superiors. It was either that, or be removed from command.

    ..................................................CONTINUED ON THE THREAD BELOW................................................................
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  2. Cate Blanchett

    Cate Blanchett recruit

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    BOTH SIDES OF THE GHETTO....Continued.


    DAY 4: 22nd of April, 1943
    After a night spent in total exhaustion, and after an artillery barrage that fell on the building on Muranowska St. while David was sleeping IN it, the flag draped chimney finally collapsed. David Landau had spent the early morning of day 4 crouched in an attic waiting for German infiltrators that did not appear and first light found ZZW's fighters recieving fresh orders......

    The order was to go back to the position we had occupied the first night. This time, fortune came our way. Late in the night whispers reached our ears. We froze. Three shadows were climbing up to the attic across from where we had taken up our positions. They stood behind the chimneys without speaking. After a few moments it became clear that they were not part of our group, and there was no reason for ZOB members to take up guard duty in the attics during the night. The attics were only used for contact between the different positions. Although we were eight and they were only three there was no way we could jump them. The few metres were too great a distanse between us. We waited without clearly knowing what we were waiting for. We knew who was to give the order and the way the order would be given; but nothing happened.
    It was sheer luck that came to the rescue of our impatience.
    We heard one of the three say in the best German, in a voice that was hardly audible....
    "Watch out for me. I'm going over to the other side for a piss."
    Of all places, he came over to us and nearly stepped on one of our men.
    It was the last thing he did.
    With the speed of a snake, our commander was behind him with one arm around his throat and the other around his mouth, in total silence. In an instant he was sitting down again with his prey and with the two of us helping him. All this was happening in absolute silence, as if in some old silent movie. By the time the other two Germans began to call in whispers, "Ulbrich", four of us were moving towards them. We stopped when we heard them shifting their guns to the ready. Again they whispered,
    "Ulbrich?"
    The call sounded nervous. They made the mistake of moving from their secure places. It was enough for us. This time we paid less attention to the order of silence. Only four jumped them, but eight of us finished the job. The struggle didn't last more than a few seconds. When it was over, we thought we were the only ones left, but from another corner came a louder voice in Yiddish.
    "Thankyou, whoever you are. But you were lucky we did not jump on you. You were only shadows when you came out, but you were too far from us. We were forced to lie down. We too could hear the first whisper in German and realised where the grater danger was. You could have fooled us with your first action. We could niether see nor hear anything. Your second action told us that you are Jews. Thank you. Now we still have to get to Muranowska before dawn."

    The character of the battle was, perceptably, beginning to change.....

    The heroes of the blizkrieg which had stormed nation after nation across Europe had to run from the last Jews of Warsaw. We were overcome by our own success and no longer feared the future, although we knew what it would be. When the second day of the Uprising met with similar, if diminished, success, we became hardened. The euphoria no longer blinded us. Instead we became focussed and determined. We had to ration out every bullet, count every fighter. restrict every cup of water; all this to stay alive and kill as many of those who came to kill us as we could. Our lives no longer belonged to us; they belonged to the call of those who had already been murdered, or died of starvation, or succumbed to treatable diseases because they had no medication.
    Up until the end of the third day our fighting spirit was growing and we were truly the victors, just as we felt it in our viens and in our emotions.
    This began to change on the fourth or fifth day. No longer did the German units enter the Ghetto in parade formation; no longer did they act openly and arrogantly.
    They had to resort to systematic brutality.......they began to destroy the Ghetto by fire.
    It may have been something learned from the Jewish fighters. When the German units had used the mattresses from the Toebben's Factories as shields, someone from the Jewish side had thrown a molotov cocktail and the mattresses had gone up in flames. It may have given the Germans an idea. On their way into the Ghetto one or two would apporach a building with flamethrowers, while others positioned themselves with light machine-guns ready for those who jumped from the upper windows trying to escape the fire.
    The success of this action was, according to the report of the General, so great that he came with a photographer to have his picture taken, with the black clouds of heavy smoke from the burning houses in the background. No longer was the Command of the ZOB able to co-ordinate the details of each unit. No longer was there a report to be given every night.

    The General now felt secure enough to have night patrols stationed in the ruins to intercept anything that moved.

    Progress of the Ghetto Operation on 22nd April 1943 up to 1200hrs.
    A battle group once more invaded the block of buildings, which by now had largely burned out or were still aflame, in order to catch those Jews who were still there. As shooting again started from one block, aimed at the men of the Waffen-SS, this block, too was set on fire, with the result that a considerable number of bandits were scared from their hideouts and shot while trying to escape. In addition about 180 Jews from the surrounding countryside were caught. The main body of the units continued the cleaning-out of the as yet un-searched buildings of the Ghetto, starting from the line we had reached yesterday. This operation is still in progress. As on preceding days local resistance was broken and the dug-outs discovered were blown up. Unfortunately there is no way of preventing some Jews and bandits from staying in the sewers below the Ghetto, where it is impossible to catch them, since the flooding has been stopped. The city administration is unable to prevent this. Niether the use of smoke candles nor the addition of creosote to the water had the desired effect. Co-operation with the Whermacht is spendid.
    Progress of Ghetto Operation, 22nd April 1943. Report on action up to 1200 has already been submitted by teletype. Continuing, I beg to report:
    The above mentioned search action in the remaining blocks by detailed raiding parties, which met with resistance in some places, had the following result: 1,100 Jews caught for evacuation, 203 bandits and Jews shot, 15 dug-outs blown up. Captured: 80 incendiary bottles and other booty. Units employed: as reported by teletype message on the 20th April, 1943, Journal No. 516/43 secret.
    Our losses:
    SS-Untersturmfuhrer Dehmke (killed): enemy hit hand grenade which he was carrying (SS-Cav. Res. Batt.)
    1 Sergeant of the Police (shot through the lungs).
    When Engineers blew up the dug-outs, a considerable number of Jews and bandits were buried under the rubble. In a number of cases it was necessary to start fires in order to smoke the gangs out.
    It must be added that since yesterday some of the detailed units have been fired on time and again, even from outside the Ghetto, that is to say from the Aryan part of Warsaw. Raiding parties going in immediately succeeded in one case in capturing 35 Polish bandits, Communists, who were liquidated at once. Today, when it was necessary to carry out executions, it happened, repeatedly, that the bandits collapsed shouting "Long live Poland!" and "Long live Moscow!".
    The operation will be continued on 23rd April, 0700hrs.

    Stroop's command was still finding the fighting a tough proposition. Clearly, losses were again blatantly understated, with only two men listed as killed in action, despite David Landau's action in their attic resulting in three enemy killed in action. It is significant to this that Stroop does not list the units employed for EVERY day of the report; instead, he refers his superiors to the original list of April 19th. Reinforcements and extra support had undoubtedly been pulled in from other units, and this is shown also by the number of flamethrowers originally listed as One, with both David Landau and Stroop then mentioning these weapons in the PLURAL. Another point worth mentioning is the attempted tainting of the city water supply with "creosote", a measure of frustration, no doubt.
    Jewish defenders were feeling the 'pinch', but Stroop was not to be aware of this. Captured Jewish fighters may have been able to provide intelligence to this effect, but Stroop was slaughtering these prisoners out of hand, ruining any information he may have been able to gain. This, however, was changing too.......

    DAY 5: 23rd of April, 1943
    The toll on our fighters grew heavier. While some German units were engaged directly in the fighting, others were engaged in sniffing out bunkers. Expert units were employed in this work. They were helped by sniffer dogs and here and there by the last Jews they managed to capture. They would leave one of them alive and make the unfortunate person follow them as they approached a bunker. The living sacrifice would be made to call in Yiddish: "Jews, you can come out, the Germans have gone!" Sometimes the ruse worked. In this way they broke the back of the fight. Civilians, who had been elated on the first evening of the fight, became desperate when the bunkers in which they had been sheltering became living graves. The air gave out, the heat became unbearable, their water supply dried up, children and weak ones died, and there was no way to dispose of the bodies which began to decompose. The success at the beginning of the Uprising turned into a curse for the survivors waiting to be discovered by these killers. When the Germans found a bunker, the sapper unit would be ready to force an opening over it, through which they would throw gas-filled grenades. It was not unusual for those who were forced out of the bunkers to be ready with a grenade of their own, or a molotov cocktail, or even a revolver. A third of all who were discovered in bunkers died this way.

    ZZW and ZOB had begun the Warsaw Uprising with no expectations. Their success at lasting this long surprised themselves, as well as their German opponents, but it could only be a matter of time before German resources forced the issue. With little or no direct outside help in their struggle for survival, German units gradually regained battlefield superiority. This was not, however, readily apparent to Nazi troops. To bolster flagging morale, Stroop spread rumors of the a termination of the operation......but it was not over yet.

    Progress of the Ghetto Operation on 23rd April, 1943. Start: 0700hrs.
    For the purpose of today's combing out the whole of the former Ghetto had been divided into 24 districts. One reinforced search party was assigned to each district with special orders. These assignments given to the search parties had to be carried out by 1600hrs.
    Result of this action: 600 Jews and bandits ferreted out and captured, about 200 Jews and bandits killed, 48 dug-outs, some of them of quite elaborate character, blown up. Apart from the valuables and money, some gas-masks were also captured.
    Units had been informed that we intended to terminate the operation today. During the morning the Jews became aware of these instructions. Therefore the search parties were once more detailed after an interval of 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours. The result was that, as usual, Jews and bandits were discovered in various blocks. From one block shots were even fired against the units forming the cordon. An attack by a special battle group was ordered and in order to smoke the bandits out, every building was set on fire. The Jews and bandits held back until the last moment and then fired on the men of the units. They even used carbines. A number of bandits who were shooting from the balconies were hit by our men and fell to the street.
    Furthermore, today we discovered a place said to have been the headquarters of the PPR: we found it unoccupied and destroyed it. It was on this fifth day that we found the most dangerous terrorists and activists, who so far had found ways to dodge every search or evacuation.
    One German citizen (Volksdeutscher) reported that some Jews again had escaped into the Aryan part of the city through the sewers. We learned from an informer that there were some Jews in a certain house. A special motorised raiding party succeeded in catching 3 Jews, 2 of them females. During this operation the motor car was pelted with one incendiary bottle and one explosive; thereby, two policemen were wounded.
    The whole operation is rendered more difficult by the cunning way in which the Jews and bandits act; for instance, we discovered that the hearses which were used to collect the corpses lying around, at the same time bring living Jews to the Jewish cemetery, who thus escape the Ghetto. Now this way of escape, too, is barred by continuous checks on the hearses.
    At the termination of today's operation at about 2200hrs, we discovered that again 30 bandits had passed into a so-called armament factory in order to find refuge there. Since in this factory goods of great value belonging to the Whermacht are stored, they were requested to evacuate the building by noon on the 24th April so that we may attack that labyrinth of a building tomorrow.
    Today 3,500 Jews were caught who are to be evacuated from the factories. To date a total of 19,450 Jews have been caught for removal or have already been evacuated. Of these about 2,500 are still to be loaded. The next train will start on 24th April 1943.
    Strength as of 22nd April 1943, without 150 Trawniki-men; these have already been put at the disposal of the Eastern Command as reinforcement for another assignment.
    Our losses: 2 Police Sergeants ("SB") wounded. 1 Trawniki man wounded.
    The operation will be continued on 24th April, at 1000hrs. This hour was chosen so that Jews who may still be in the Ghetto will believe that the operation was actually terminated today.

    The mounting frustration of the Brigadefuhrer is readily shown in this particular teletype. After an early 0700 start, Stroops soldiers were pushed until 2200 that evening before being stood down. The discovery of 30 more 'bandits' in a factory after the the Brigade was rested for the evening must have annoyed Stroop enormously, for he promises to "attack that labyrinth of a building tomorrow". His tired Brigade had been active for too long that day and needed the rest period, which is covered by the weak excuse of a 1000hr start of operations the next day "so that Jews who may still be in the Ghetto will believe the operation was actually terminated today".
    Worse still, he loses his Trawniki detatchment to Eastern Command for "another assignment". Since his brigade only began with 1/150 Trawniki-men, then that should account for all of them....but as we shall see, Stroop continues to list Trawniki-men in his losses AFTER this teletype, so either he had more than the 1/150 claimed, OR this is part of his loss figure "fudging" mentioned earlier.....
    Either way, things are not turning as planned for the "Master Exterminator". The more men that fall to these "bandits", the worse it looks for him personally, and for the Nazi regime.
    But tomorrow IS another day. and Jurgen Stroop will keep going, regardless, until ALL Ghetto Jews are obliterated.

    No-one was more certain of this than Stroop himself.

    DAY 6: 24th of April, 1943
    The grim struggle continued. For the Ghetto fighters, one day dragged inexorably into another. For the inhabitants of Warsaw in the "Aryan" district, the battle continued right on their doorstep....
    The Poles on the Arayan side were surprised how war-like the battle sounded. They could hardly believe what they saw and heard. German Red Cross ambulances were running in and ot of the ghetto: constant firing rang out; artillery was being employed; onece or twice they saw areoplanes circling the ghetto......heavy smoke was hanging above the walls.

    Stroops men dug their heels in, no doubt dissappointed at the failure to shut down the "aktion" as promised. Different approaches and methods were tested....
    Progress of the operation on 24th April, 1943, start 1000hrs.
    Contrary to the preceeding days, the 24 search parties which had again been formed did not start at one end of the Ghetto, but went in from all sides simultaneously. Apparently the Jews still in the Ghetto were decieved by the fact that the operation did not start until 1000hrs, believing that the matter had been terminated yesterday. The search action, therefore, was particularly successful. This success is also due to the fact that the non-commisioned officers and men have meanwhile become accustomed to the cunning tactics used by the Jews and bandits and they have aquired great skill in tracing the innumerable dug-outs.
    Today, towards evening, the raiding parties having returned, we attacked a certain block situated in the north-eastern part of the former Ghetto. In this labyrinth of buildings there was a so called armaments firm which reportedly had goods worth millions for manufacture and storage. I had notified the Whermacht of my intentions on the 23rd April 1943 about 2100hrs, requesting them to remove the goods belonging to the Whermacht by 1200hrs. Since the Whermacht did not start this evacuation until 1000hrs, I felt obliged to extend the time until 1800hrs. At 1815hrs, a search and battle-group entered the premises, the building having been cordoned off, and found that a great number of Jews were inside the building. Since some of the Jews resisted, I ordered the building to be set on fire. Not until the street and all the courtyards on either side were well aflame, did the Jews, some of them on fire, emerge from these blocks, or endevour to save their lives by jumping into the street from windows and balconies, having first thrown down beds, blankets and the like. Over and over we observed that Jews and bandits, despite the danger to being burned alive, preferred to return into the flames rather than be caught by us. Over and over again the Jews kept up their firing almost to the end of the action; thus the engineers were forced to invade the exceedingly strong concrete building under protection of a machine-gun towards nightfall.
    Termination of today's operation: on 25th April at 0145hrs. 1,660 Jews were caught for evacuation, 1,814 pulled out of dug-outs, about 330 were shot. Inumerable Jews were burned or perished when the dug-outs were blown up. 26 dug-outs were blown up and a large amount of paper money, especially dollars, was captured; this money has not yet been counted.
    Our Forces: As on the preceding day, minus 50 men of the Waffen-SS.
    Our losses: 2 SS-men, and 1 Trawniki-man wounded.
    Altogether there have now been caught in this action 25,500 Jews who lived in the former Ghetto. Since there are only vague figures available of the actual number of Jews, I assume that now only small numbers of Jews and bandits still remain in the Ghetto.
    Operation will be continued on 25th April, 1300hrs.
    I beg to acknowledge reciept of teletype messages Nos. 1222 and 1223 of 24th April 1943. As far as can be predicted, the present large scale operation will last until Easter Monday inclusive.
    Today large posters were affixed to the walls surrounding the Ghetto announcing that anybody entering the former Ghetto without being able to prove his identity will be shot.

    This particular teletype is a classic example of self-delusion on the part of the Brigadefuhrer. Firstly, he reconfirms the fiction of a successful deception relating to the commencement of operations, stating "Apparently the Jews still in the Ghetto were decieved..." Jewish fighters and civilians were quite sure by now that this particular 'round-up' was only going to be over when the very last Jewish man, woman and child had been 'cleared'. Glossing over the tired state of his troops in this fashion, he then praises the activities of the day as "particularly successful...". Further down the teletype, his figures for the numbers on the day are some of the lowest yet, so this second piece of self-delusion is particularly prominent. Furthermore, the projected Army evacuation of the factory complex does not begin until Stroops soldiers are active themselves. He seems to have expected the Whermacht to begin their evacuation activities prior to the commencement of his own Brigade's operations for the day! This reveals that the streets were still seen by Army elements as being far from "secure". The Whermacht themselves are tardy at performing this request, for it takes until the extended length of time (1800) plus fifteen minutes before his patience at the lack of progress snaps, forcing him at 1815 to send a "search and battle group" to complete the task. And, after all the killings of the previous days, Stroop still expresses astonishment that Jewish people would "prefer to return to the flames, rather than being caught by us." Lack of progress in these affairs is justified further by calling the building in question "an exceedingly strong concrete building". All of this is to protect the "valuable property" present in the factory itself! Also, "large amounts of paper money, especially dollars, was captured: this money has not yet been counted." One does not have to think hard as to exactly why this money was "not yet counted."
    The pressure on Stroop personally increases further still, as he loses 50 men from the Waffen-SS to other duties.....he also has to "acknowledge reciept" of 2 teletype messages, commenting that the operation should be over by "Easter Monday inclusive." Infiltration of outside help for the remaining Jewish fighters is obviously still a problem, for it neccessitates posters all over the Ghetto walls reminding of the capital penalty for "anybody entering." Lastly, as mentioned already, "1 Trawniki-man wounded."....more evidence that he is "cooking the books" on his own losses.

    The delusional waffling of this teletype message is making it very plain that Stroops superiors are getting IMPATIENT.

    The longer the 'aktion' continues, the larger a foreign propaganda embarrassment it becomes.....

    DAY 7: 25th of April, 1943.
    Like soldiers everywhere when reconstructing their memory of experiences, sometimes one day runs into another. The "sameness" of each day can be reflected, in particular, when trying to remember exactly which date this or that incident occurred. These truisms are reflected in the opening line of the next extract from Mr. Landau's book. For the purpose of this narrative and from the description of Stroops report and losses admitted, I will assume that these events occurred sooner, the (25th), rather than later, (26th).
    The open fights came to an end with the battle that took place on 25 or 26 April. Our group gave a strong account of itself. On that day we exchanged fire with the murderers from the early hours until late in the afternoon. As the houses in which we fought were directly against the wall of the ghetto, the Germans had obviously decided not to attack them with flamthrowers. By the time the battle was over on that spring evening, we had lost a considerable number of our members. Many others were wounded. I went out into the street. The smoke filled my nostrils and the sky was aflame. Our medical workers were busy collecting our fallen comrades and during the evening we gave them a respectful burial, as much as conditions allowed. After that our commanders informed us that arrangements had been made on our side and on the Aryan side to evacuate our group through the sewers to join Polish partisans in the forests. We were told that each of us was now free to decide to go with the group that was leaving or remain. From that moment on, everyone was free to make their own arrangements for the future.
    Only three or four members of the ZZW left that night.

    That some ZZW members, when offered a way out, would not quit, demonstrates the resolve of these fighters to stick it out to the end, whatever their fate may be.
    It is selfless courage and tenacity to be admired.

    Progress of the Ghetto operation of the 25th of April 1943. Start 1300hrs.
    ORDER: "Every building is to be combed out once more; dug-outs have to be discovered and blown up. If they resist in any way or if dug-outs cannot be reached, the buildings are to be burned down."
    Apart from the operations undertaken by these 7 search parties, a special operation was launched against a nest of bandits situated outside the former Ghetto wall and inhabited exclusively by Poles.
    Todays operations by almost all the search parties ended in the starting of conflagrations. In this manner the Jews were forced to leave their hideouts and refuges. A total of 1,960 Jews were caught alive. The Jews informed us that among them were certain parachutists who were dropped here and bandits who had been equiped with arms from some unknown source. 274 Jews were shot. As in the preceding days, innumerable Jews were buried in blown-up dug-outs and, as can be observed over and over again, burned to death. With today's bag of Jews we have, in my opinion, caught a very considerable part of the bandits and lowest elements of the Ghetto. Intervening darkness prevented immediate liquidation. I am going to try to obtain a train for T-II tomorrow. Otherwise liquidation will be carried out tomorrow. Today also, armed resistence was repeatedly encountered; in one dug-out three pistols and some explosives were captured. Furthermore, considerable amounts of paper money, foreign currency, gold coins and jewelry were secured today. The Jews still have considerable property. While last night only a glow of fire could be seen above the former Ghetto, today we one can observe a great sea of flames. Since we continue to discover great numbers of Jews during the combing out accomplished regularly and according to plan, the operation will be continued on the 26th April 1943. Start: 1000hrs.
    Including today, a total of 27,464 Jews have been captured.
    Our forces: As on the previous day.
    Our losses: 3 members of the Waffen-SS and one member of the Security Police wounded.

    Total Losses up to Date:
    Waffen-SS.........................27 wounded.
    Police................................9 wounded.
    Security Police....................4 wounded.
    Whermacht........................1 wounded.
    Trawniki-men.....................9 wounded.
    Total.............................50 wounded.

    Waffen-SS..............................2 dead.
    Whermacht............................2 dead.
    Trawniki-men.........................1 dead.
    Total...................................5 dead.
    The operation on 25th April 1943 was terminated at 2200hrs.
    General impact of the execution of this operation:
    The Poles resident in Warsaw are much impressed by the toughness of our operations in the former Jewish residential area. As can be seen from the current action a general calming-down (apart from little incidents) has taken place, especially within the city area of Warsaw. From this one may conclude that until now the bandits and sabotuers were living in the former Jewish residential area and have now been destroyed.
    In this connection it may be of some interest that an illegal ammunition store exploded when we burned down a certain building in the area in which we were working at the time.

    Jurgen Stroop obviously believed that he had broken the back of the Uprising, with only mopping up to come. It is for this reason, I feel, that he saw the necessity to state his losses in total at this point, and deliver a general impression of the "aktion" to date. Losses are understated, and it's interesting to note that he gave an opinion of the "toughness" of the fighting from the view of Polish civilians in Warsaw, although what kind of survey he based this view on is anyone's guess! In the respect that the Jewish resistence was no longer to involve open confrontations of this kind, he was correct in his assumption......but, the idea that the Uprising was basically over in the general sence was definately a case of Stroop's wishful thinking. Jewish resistence simply went further underground, and became far more hidden and disciplined, as we shall see.

    Stroop's response was to raise this already atrocious battlefield to a monstrous level of cunning brutality that left even hardened Jewish fighters in tears......

    DAY 8: 26th of April, 1943
    At dawn, we were told that we would not engage the Germans in any battle unless it became impossible to avoid it. That morning everything was completely quiet in our corner. We had strict orders not to go outside buildings and contact was to be made only where it was possible to move directly through one building to the next.
    Around midday two covered trucks came along from the other end of Muranowska. Two guards jumped down and took up positions with their guns at the ready. From the drivers' cabins two other guard got out at the same time as if in a rehearsed actin. They went around the back of the trucks and, with a flip at the corr, opened them up. They had brought a group of Jews in from outside, who were now made to leave the vehicles and stand to attention in a single long row. The trucks moved back some metres and an officer appeared from somewhere. With a move of his hand he ordered the nfortunate Jews to lie down in the middle of the road. There was some hesitation. A short burst of a machine-gun fire close over their heads explained what waas wanted of them: they obeyed. As they spread out on the ground - men, women and teenagers - two men were called to stand up. They were given a rope. Each man had to take hold of one end and move to the end of those spread out on the ground. The rope was put out at the feet of the victims. Looking down from our hidden positions we wondered what it all meant. When the rope was lined up the two men were asked to line up the soles of the othersstraight against the rope. The exercise seemed slow but there was no hurry, as the two Jews pulled some individuals by the head or feet to line them up with the rope. Finally it was all done. The two who had performed theirwork so diligently were told to take their places at the end where the trucks were waiting.
    Now the four Germans, with their machine guns ready, came forward. We could not make out what they said but it was obviously some order. They moved back and immediately the trucks drove forward. Now we understood it all. While one side of the trucks remained on the ground, the wheels of the other side rolled over the miserable victims, precisely over their knees. The screams rose up at us. Those at the end who tried to get up and run never made it. They were run over or died by the bullet. When it was all over the four soldiers and the officer climbed back into the cabins of the two trucks, the trucks drove in reverse to the corner at the left, leaving their victims wriggling like worms. Two of us went down from our hiding places to see what we could do. Our leaders stood at the closed gate.
    "No-one will leave the building. The Germans have not left them for nothing. They have left them alive to tempt us out of our hiding. Understood? No one will go outside!"
    Most of those in the building agreed with the commanders. Those who did not could only feel anger but obeyed. Once more our leaders proved right. After half an hour one of the trucks came around the corner. Two SS guards stepped out and made their way slowly to the writhing group, of whom not a single one had managed to rise. Slowly, with measured steps, they went along the row and with two revolvers finished off their victims.
    We were close enough to kill the bastards.
    But realising that by doing so we would be giving away our position to the others who were waiting just around the corner, we held back.
    During the night we moved the bodies from the middle of the road and piled them up in the gateway of one of the buildings. The next morning another group of Jews were brought to the same place. At first we thought they would be subject to the same cruelty, but we were wrong. The Germans must have been surprised that the bodies had been taken away, for the Jews never left the truck. The black covers were placed in position, the truck reversd into the corner and drove out of the ghetto.

    Stroops account of the day's action confirms the Jewish approach to going undergroung or staying silently in position... ....waiting.
    Start of Operation: 1000hrs.
    Today the whole of the former Jewish residential area was once more combed through by the same search parties, each of them allotted to the same district as before. In this way I was trying to arrange that leaders get into streets, blocks of buildings, and courtyards which they know already and that thus they are able to penetrate deeper and deeper into the maze of dug-outs and underground passages. Almost every raiding party reported resistance, which, however, was broken entirely either by returning fire or by blowing up their dug-outs. It becomes increasingly clear that it is now the turn of the toughest and strongest of the Jews and bandits. Several times dug-outs have been forcibly broken open, the inmates of which had not come to the surface during the whole operation. In a number of cases when the dug-outs had been blown up, the inmates were hardly ina condition to crawl to the surface. The captured Jews have reported that many of the inmates of the dug-outs had become insane from the heat, the smoke and the explosions. Several Jews were arrested who had close liason with Polish terrorists, and had collaborated with them. Outside the former Jewish residential area 29 Jews were arrested. During today's operation several blocks of buildings were burned down. This is the only ultimate method which will force this trash and subhumanity to surface. Arms and incendiary bottles, explosive charges, and considerable amounts of cash and foreign currency were captured. Today I also arranged for several so-called armaments and defense enterprises to evacuate their stores at once, so that the blocks into which the Jews now slipped under the protection of the armament and the German Whermacht and police, can be combed out. In one case we found the same situation as had been so often observed before, namely that behind the pretence of a big enterprise there existed almost no stores or goods. One factory was closed immediately and the Jews were evacuated.
    Results of today's operation:
    30 Jews evacuated, 1,330 Jews pulled out of dug-outs and immediately destroyed, 362 Jews killed in battle. Caught today altogether; 1,772 Jews. This brings the total of Jews caught to 29,186. Moreover, it is very probable that numerous Jews have perished in the 13 dug-outs blown up and in the conflagrations.
    At the time of writing not one of the Jews caught still remains in Warsaw. The scheduled transport to T-II was unsuccessful. Strength: as on previous day.
    Our losses: None
    End of today's operation at 2145hrs. Will be continued on 27th April at 0900hrs.

    This was the first day that Stroop claimed no losses at all. This reflects the need of the ZZW/ZOB to keep their profile low at this stage, and not give battle unless the circumstances allowed. but, as with all other days, casualty figures are questionable based on previous analysis. Stroop's comments "now the turn of the toughest and strongest' was more correct than he realised.
    Only the strong endure......Only the strong.

    DAY 9: 27th of April 1943
    I look back to those crucial days and wonder how nature makes the human being act according to it's needs. Since the day i had returned to the ghetto, on 17 April, I felt no remorse about my action. I thought of Luba often, even during the most dangerous moments, but I felt no anxiety for her or her family. nor did I feel I might cause any. When the moment came and I no longer had any responsibility to the ZZW, something in my mind switched my allegiance from the people of the ZZW as a group to my wife, who was waiting to hear if I was still alive. I could feel it as I could feel the smoke hanging over the ghetto. I was as concerned about Luba as I was about life itself.
    We had no specific orders any more, just to wait and hear when and how we would be taken out of the ghetto. I had already made up my mind not to leave with the group. One may call it a premonition, or a sixth sence; to me it was too dangerous. I could not believe that the Germans would not be on guard around the exits of the ghetto. It was their unholy duty not to leave a single Jew alive. The outcome for us did not depend on the outcome of the war. I decided that if I was to stay alive it could only be as an unknown individual. After the first day of waiting I became restless. Once more I became attached to my revolver which I always carried tucked into my belt. no longer did I wear the black SS uniform all the time, although I had not given it away altogether.

    David Landau's changing attitude was reflected across the gamut of the Jewish Ghetto fighters. This is not to say that resistence came to a stop....far from it. But resistance in an organised fashion began to slowly come apart at the seams, with each individual making his or her own decision.....try to leave....or stay, resist and most likely die. ZZW had realised this about their people, and they waited for the 'right' moment to make good their escape, as individuals or in groups.
    But the struggle for survival itself went on.....

    Progress of Operation on 27th April, 1943. Start 0900hrs.
    For todays operation 24 raiding parties were formed with the same task as on several days of the last week: to search the former Jewish Ghetto by smaller search parties. These search parties pulled 780 Jews out of dug-outs and shot 115 Jews who resisted. This operation was terminated at 1500hrs: some had to continue their activities because they had found more dug-outs.
    At 1600hrs a special battle group of 320 officers and men started cleaning up a large block of buildings situated on both sides of the so-called Niska St. in the north-eastern part of the former Jewish residential area. After the search the entire block was set on fire, having first been completely cordoned off. In this action a considerable number of Jews were caught. As always, they remained in the dug-outs, which were either below the ground or in the lofts of buildings, until the end. They fired their arms to the last moment and then jumped down into the street, sometimes from as high as the fourth floor, having previously thrown down beds, mattresses etc. but not until the flames made another escape impossible. A total of 2,560 Jews were caught today in the former Jewish residential area, of whom 547 were shot. Moreover, an unspecified number of Jews perished when dug-outs were blown up, or in the flames. The sum total of Jews caught in the former Jewish residential area now amounts to 31,746.
    From an anonymous letter we learned that there was a considerable number of Jews in a block of buildings adjoining the north eastern part of the Jewish residential area, but outside it. A special raiding party under the command of 1st Lt. of the Police Diehl was dispatched to attack these buildings. The raiding party discovered a gang of about 120 men, strongly armed with pistols, rifles, light machine guns and hand grenades, who resisted. They succeeded in destroying 24 bandits in battle and arresting 52 bandits. The remainder could not be caught or destroyed since darkness intervened. The buildings, however, were surrounded at once, so that an escape will be hardly possible. Moreover, 17 Poles were arrested, among them 2 Polish Policemen who ought to have been aware of the existence of this gang. In this operation we captured among other things 3 rifles, 12 pistols, partly of heavier calibre, 100 Polish 'pineapple' grenades, 27 German steel helmets, quite a number of German uniforms, tunics and coats, which even bore ribbons of the East Medal, some reserve magazines for machine-guns, 300 rounds of ammunition etc. The leader of the raiding party had a difficult task because the bandits were disguised in German uniform, but despite this fact, he asserted himself successfully with great dash. among the bandits who were caught or killed, there were some Polish terrorists who were definately identified. Today we also succeeded in catching and liquidating one of the founders of the Jewish-Polish defence formation. The external appearence of the Jews caught shows that it is now the turn of those who were the leaders of the entire resistence movement. They jumped from burning windows and balconies, abusing Germany and the Fuhrer and cursing the German soldiers.
    SS-men who descended into the sewers discovered that a great number of corpses of perished Jews are being washed away by the water.
    Strength of Active forces:
    3/115 German Police
    4/400 Waffen-SS.
    1/6 Engineering Serv.
    2/30 Security Police.
    2/21 Engineers.

    Our Losses:
    3 wounded: 2 Waffen-SS, 1 Trawniki-man

    Termination of operation: 2300hrs. To be continued on 28th April at 1000hrs.

    The tone of this teletype is increasingly arrogant. Stroop consistently makes reference to the "former Jewish residential district". The early, partial termination of the day's operations reflect this "winning" feeling, as do outraged references to insults toward "Germany and the Fuhrer" and the presence of medal ribbons on captured German uniforms. The wounding of a Trawniki-man in his order of battle is still unexplained, for these troops are supposed to have dissappeared from his command days ago. Stroop is still hiding battlefield truths, for the fight is by no means finished.

    DAY 10: 29th of April, 1943
    On the second morning after the spectacle with the trucks, I was witness to a new horror. I could no longer feel surprise, but the method showed the special training these German beasts had gone through to divest themselves of any human emotions. Our kitchen was still functioning, now better than in the first days of the fighting. Some tables had been brought together on the first floor of the half-destroyed building and a reasonable breakfast was being served to our members. The bread was stale, but edible, From somewhere somebody had found the ghetto coffee of burned grain. We even had vegetable jam for our bread. While a few of us were talking over breakfast, all outside seemed quiet....
    And then we heard the trucks.....
    Was it going to be a repetition of the previous day?
    I grabbed my rifle and ran up to the next floor. There, at the window, I could watch unnoticed. They looked like the same trucks with the same black covers. Even the ballet of the SS seemed to be similar to the performance two days ago. But this time the sadists had a new version of their entertainment.
    The Jews climbed down; they were ordered to stand to attention like the ones before them. I watched the trucks reverse and leave, then noticed that there were not four but ten murderers. Two placed themselves at each end and the others went around behind the victims. This time they had come much nearer to our hiding place; I had the feeling they knew we were somewhere close by and this was meant to be a spectacle for our eyes. While some looked right up into the building, the 2 SS men at the side ordered the row to step forward right up to the ghetto wall across from us. They obeyed and were now facing the wall, pressing their noses hard against it. The Germans who had stationed themselves behind the row came closer. With the butt of their rifles they touched some of their victims. I could not hear but those who had been touched turned to face towards us. I thought of a chessboard; one Jew was facing the wall and the next out to the street.
    Frenkel was suddenly by my side.
    "I was looking for you downstairs. If you are by chance thinking of letting go on your own, don't! And this is an order. I wouldn't mind having a go at them myself. There are ten of them, but at the moment we are not alone. We have guests who arrived an hour ago from the other side to co-ordinate our departure. They are still with us. At any other time they would be with us to fight. But unless they go back later to the other side the whole operation will come to nothing, because they are the ones who co-ordinate the channels through which we will be crossing. Understood?"
    I was beginning to grow irritated by hearing his 'understood' all the time.
    He stood at my side and told me how important our visitors were, because the Germans had begun to flood the sewers and poison some of the passages with gas. If what the Polish guests had told us was true, the Police Commandant of Warsaw had been ordered to begin to weld the sewer covers in the centre of the city closed, to stop us from escaping. One of the men had brought a detailed plan that showed which sewers were still open, or rather, which were still possible to cross in reasonable safety.
    We stood and watched what was going on in the street, and Frenkel's words were streaming past my ears and accepted with divided attention. Now the murderers took their time. One brought the thermos with some cups while the others lit cigarettes, as if this game at the wall was nothing to them. After some minutes, Frenkel repeated his order, said that he must go back to his visitors and left. I could not tear myself away from my position. I was unable to act, but bound as a witness.
    It felt like an eternity.......
    Finally their lunchbreak was over and they went to work. An officer arrived in a command car which we all knew so well from earlier times. One of the guards saluted him,and the others lined up. Behind, most of the ghetto was burning; shots rang in the distance, but they stood calm, obviously feeling completely secure, while their victims waited to find out what kind of death they would recieve.
    At last it came.
    The SS spread out near the street gutter and opened fire. They shot only those with their faces to the wall. Not in the head, but in the upper parts of their legs above the knees. Like toys, those shot slid backwards leaving streams of blood behind. Those facing the Germans stood frozen. I suddenly felt sick and threw up. I was torn in two. I was ready to gamble away everything to take on these animals who were within my range. On the other hand I felt something I had not felt earlier. I wanted to go back to Luba. I wanted to tell her I was still alive.
    I had not realised how soiled my clothes were until I came down to the first floor. Somebody noticed me and asked what had happened. Only then did I realise how affected I had been by the spectacle that had played itself out before my eyes. On the advice of one of the women I took off my outer garments and stretched out on the floor. somebody put something under my head and I was left alone.
    It could have been a few minutes or some hours before I was brought to a state of full awareness by shots.
    I jumped up and went over cautiously to the window. The Germans were shooting those who had been standing facing them. Like their previous victims they too were shot in the thighs. They slid down but forward and the blood pool became a stream. Three of us went out during the night to see if any of the wounded were still alive. They had all bled to death.
    I whimpered like a dog......
    When we came back in, we found a great commotion going on. Some fifty members of the ZZW were making their last preparations before leaving. some Poles were present, waiting to give final instructions before moving out with our men. I was asked if I wanted to join them.
    I said no.
    I was not the only one to decline the invitation. I could not help visualising those who about to leave lying in the streets in pools of blood like those I had just seen.

    Progress of operation on 28th april, 1943: Start 1000hrs.
    Today 10 raiding parties were dispatched for combing out the whole Ghetto. Proceeding step by step,these raiding parties again discovered a number of dug-outs,which were found to have been prepared as long ago as the middle of last year for use in the resistance by the Jews. A total of 335 Jews were forcibly pulled out of these dug-outs. Apart from these operations, we continued to attack the nucleus of the Jewish military organisation, situated at the borders of the Ghetto. We succeeded in shooting 10 more bandits beyond those we caught yesterday, in arresting 9 and capturing more arms, ammunition, military equipment.
    In the afternoon a battle-group was again directed against a block of buildings which had already been combed out; during this operation the block was set on fire. As on previous days, large numbers of Jews emerged, forced out by the flames and enormous clouds of smoke. At another point an Engineer officer, seconded by the Whermacht to the units involved, opened a dug-out situated about 3 metres below the ground after a great deal of tough work. From this dug-out, which had been ready since October of last year and was equipped with running water, toilet, electric light and other equipment, we pulled out 274 of the most influential and rich Jews. today we again encountered very strong armed resistance in many places and broke it. It becomes progressively clearer that we are now encountering the real terrortists and activists because of the extension of the operation.
    Results of today: 1,655 Jews caught for evacuation of whom 110 were shot.
    Many more Jews were killed by the flames, and an unspecified number of Jews destroyed by the dug-outs being blown up. due to the successes of today the total number of Jews caught or destroyed has risen to 33,401 altogether. This number does not include the Jews who were burned or destroyed in dug-outs.
    Our strength: as on previous day.
    Our losses: 3 wounded (1 Police, 2 Waffen SS)
    Termination of operation: 2200hrs. To be continued on 29th April, 1000hrs.

    EPILOGUE
    There are major differences between the figures quoted by the SS chief, Brigadefuhrer Jurgen Stroop, and the figures quoted by the Jewish fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto, for the number of Germans killed and wounded during the uprising. Official figures quoted by stroop are fifteen killed for the whole period of the uprising and none for the first day of fighting. It has, however, been established from the personal records of the fighters - eyewitnesses inside the Ghetto and observers from the aryan side of the movement of German ambulances in and out of the Ghetto - that a number of Germans were killed even in the first hours of the Uprising. It is not known how Stroop covered his losses, but according to his report no German lives were lost on the first day and only 24 of his men sustained wounds in the ghetto on 19th April, 1943. The German records, however, admit the need to bring in two tanks and an armoured vehicle. One of the tanks was set on fire. The first German foray into the ghetto finished in fiasco, which Stroop could not help hiding in his first report.
    In his personal report he admits: "In the first penetration into the Ghetto the Jews and bandits managed, through a prepared fire attack, to repulse the entering units, including the tanks and armoured vehicles."
    It is unimaginable that the German forces which, together with their helpers, numbered over 2,000 well prepared fighters, would have retreated from badly equiped, starved and untrained forces of Jewish "subhumans" were it not for the losses they sustained as soon as they entered the Ghetto. Stroops official report is as much a cover-up than a record of facts.

    But 10 days later, he came closer to the truth.

    There was still much fighting to come but no longer could the Jewish leaders undertake organised actions as had been the case in the first 2 days.
    Having left Muranowska, I felt lonely, much more so than I had believed I would. Within hours I visited two bunkers where some of my friends were holding out. Suddenly I felt I was a Jew, a fighter with a revolver, in the midst of the most fateful field of battle- but I did not belong anywhere the way I had the previous day.
    Late on that day I was told that Frenkel had gone only as far as the other side of the Muranowska tunnel but he and his offsider had remained in the ghetto. I was later to confirm that he had indeed returned to the ghetto.
    I was torn in two for a number of days before I finalised my decision to leave the ghetto. I could not leave, however, without knowing that my departure was not as a stranger. I took part in a few skirmishes and battles between the day I left Muranowska and the day I finally left the Ghetto. During the hours of battle, I was one of the fighters but as soon as the battle was over I could no longer emotionally identify as the others did with feelings of satisfaction from the battle or feelings of grief for the losses.
    They fought on.
    Shots continued to be heard in the ghetto well into the month of May.
    Although all the major battles had taken place in the early days of the Uprising there was fighting for some time - perhaps in fact for many months.

    .............................................................CONTINUED BELOW.............................................................................
     
  3. Cate Blanchett

    Cate Blanchett recruit

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    Stroop deactivated the Warsaw Ghetto "Grossaktion" officially on the 28th of May, 1943.
    Sporadic fighting went on for months.........

    His last teletype, dated 28th May, 1943 read thus......

    I beg to reply to the above teletype message.

    1/....Of the total of 56,065 Jews caught, about 7,000 were destroyed in the former Jewish residential area itself, during the large scale operation.
    6,926 Jews were destroyed by transporting them to T-II; the sum total of Jews destroyed is therefore 13,929. Beyond the number of 56,065 an estimated number of 5-6,000 Jews were destroyed by being blown up or perishing in the flames.
    2/....A total of 631 dug-outs were destroyed.
    3/....Booty
    ........7 Polish rifles, 1 Russian rifle, 7 German rifles.
    ........59 Pistols of various calibres.
    ........Several hundred hand grenades, including Polish and hand-made ones.
    ........A few hundred incendiary bottles.
    ........Home made explosive charges.
    ........Infernal machines with fuses.
    ........Large amounts of explosives, ammunition for arms of all calibres, including machine gun ammunition.
    ........With regard to the captured arms one must take into consideration that in most cases we were not able to capture the arms themselves, since the Jews and bandits before they were captured threw them away into hideouts and holes which we could not discover or find. The smoke which had developed in the dug-outs prevented our men from discovering and capturing the arms. Since we had to blow up the dug-outs at once, we were not in a position to search for arms later on. The hand grenades, explosive charges and incendiary bottles were used at once against the bandits:
    Furthermore we captured:
    ........1,240 used uniforms (some decorated with medal ribbons -Iron Cross and East Medal).
    ........600 pairs of used trousers.
    ........Pieces of equipment and German steel helmets.
    ........108 horses, 4 of them still in the former Ghetto, (hearses).
    ........4.4 million Zloty. We captured moreover about 5-6 million Zloty, not yet counted, a considerable amount of foreign currency, including, among others,
    .........14,300 dollars in paper.
    ..........9,500 dollars in gold.
    ..........Moreover, large amounts of jewelry (rings, necklaces, watches etc).
    4/ With the exception of 8 buildings (police lodgings, hospital, and accomodations for the Werkshutz) the former Ghetto has been completely destroyed. Where blowing up was not carried out, only partition walls are still standing. But the ruins still contain enourmous amounts of bricks and other scrap material which could be used.

    Der SS-und Polizeifuhrer im Distrikt Warshau

    ....................................................(signed)
    SS-Brigadefuhrer u.Generalmajor der Polizei

    ES GIBT KEINEN JUDISCHEN WOHUBEZIRK - IN WARSCHAU MEHR!


    Jurgen Stroop was placed on trial by American military authourities at DACHAU, and sentenced to death for shooting hostages in his capacity as Police Chief of occupied Greece. His execution was not carried out by the Americans.
    Handed over to Polish authourities for re-trial in Poland, he was again sentenced to death.
    Stroop was executed on the scene of his most monstrous crime, WARSAW, 8th September 1951.

    David Landau was caught by a German round-up in Warsaw, mid-May of 1943. Transported to Treblinka, he jumped the train and escaped. Surviving the war, he emigrated to Australia with his wife, Luba, where they raised their only daughter, Miriam.

    A living embodiment of the spirit of the Warsaw Jews, Ghetto children idolized him, referring to him as "Dudek the Great".

    He died just days after finishing the final draft of his book of the Warsaw uprising, "CAGED".


    The Polish Capital city of Warsaw went through further siege.
    An uprising sponsored by the Western Allies attempted to capitalize on the swiftly advancing Red Army Offensive of mid-1944. The Soviet offensive, according to their own sources, promptly "ran out of steam" just a few miles short of the city. The "London Poles", the Home Army and the Polish Underground, were crushed when Adolf Hitler took advantage of Red Army lethargy.
    Many Poles were captured, but afforded rights by the Germans as legitimate prisoners of war, no doubt with their eyes firmly fixed on possible post war trials.

    On Hitlers direct orders, Warsaw was razed to the ground, and was 98% destroyed by the retreating German Army

    Warsaw's Jewish fighters were accorded no such "honours of war".
    Captured fighters and civilians alike all shared the same grim fate....TRANSPORTATION to a Death Camp, mainly the "facility" at Treblinka.

    Fighting with their backs to the wall, the Ghetto Uprising of 1943 was fought with few resources and almost no outside assistance.

    They fought for pride and survival......

    The memory of their sacrifice and pure courage will live on......... long after the names of their Nazi opponents have been consigned to the sewer of history.........

    "Isn't it odd that the epitome of man's inhumanity to man also produced the epitome of man's nobility?" LEON URIS.

    "IT IS BETTER TO DIE ON YOUR FEET THAN LIVE ON YOUR KNEES"..........Quote from the siege of Madrid, 1938.


    .....................................................................................................................................................................
     
  4. Cate Blanchett

    Cate Blanchett recruit

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    So there you have it.....I encourage you all to read Mr.Landau's book for yourself. A more moving account you won't find anywhere....Highly recommended....

    If anybody wishes to POST PICTURES or has a comment....feel free to drop in! all comments welcomed!

    Meanwhile, I'll post sources tomorrow, bit tired and fuzzy head!

    B5N2Kate
     
  5. higge

    higge Member

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    Here is a pic from Warsaw ghetto, or whats left of it today.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Cate Blanchett

    Cate Blanchett recruit

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    Amazing that ANYTHING is left.....

    Warsaw was a tragedy from beginning to end.

    What street name is this one from?......Mila? Muranowska?

    Interestingly enough, Historian Martin Gilbert devotes less than three paragraphs to the Uprising in Warsaw of 1943....

    "With a courage which impressed all who learned of it, 1,200 Jewish fighters battled in the streets, apartments, cellars and sewers of the Warsaw Ghetto. Against these Jews, who posessed only 17 rifles, the Germans brought in 2,100 troops armed with machin-guns, howitzers and 1,358 rifles. Even so, 300 German soldiers were killed, many by hand grenades before the revolt was crushed three weeks later..."

    I'm afraid Mr. Gilbert has not done his homework. Jewish fighters possessed far more than 17 rifles, and the number of actual German troops was far more than the figure stated. The Nazis were liberally using Ukrainians, Latvians and renegade Poles, and their numbers are pure speculation on the part of Mr. Gilbert, as is the figure for numbers of Soldiers fighting for Germany killed by the Jewish fighters themselves........Martin Gilbert's book runs into 850 odd pages, and he devotes far more space to the third siege of Warsaw in 1944.....

    Just to give you an idea of further sloppy research from this "reputable" historian, on page 443, he describes the end of the battle of Prokhorovka (July 12th, 1943, Battle of Kursk) thus.....

    "At nightfall, the "slaughter of Prokhorovka" ended. Three hundred German tanks, among them seventy Tigers, were strewn over the battlefield......"

    Dead WRONG, Mr Gilbert.....German records CLEARLY indicate that Hausser's entire SS-Panzer corps (three divisions, LAH, Das Reich and Totenkopf) BEGAN the engagement at Prokhorovka with less than twenty Tiger tanks, and started Operation Zitadelle with no more than THIRTY FIVE......

    SLOPPY RESEARCH such as this from a so-called 'reputable' historian as Martin Gilbert not only brings into question the rest of his over-long book, but also his other works as well....This is the pity of World War Two history as it exists today, especially when it has a veneer of respectability. 'Reputable' historians like Martin Gilbert do a complete dis-service to history as such when they make "educated" guesses to flesh out their work, rather than checking the FACTS as they exist on record.
     
  7. Cate Blanchett

    Cate Blanchett recruit

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    Hi Higge...sorry been busy, will commence operations later on this week...job hunting and training and all that...

    See ya then!

    Christopher
     
  8. higge

    higge Member

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    Chris, I know how you feel ;)

    Take your time, We'll be waiting here
     

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