taking over Jewish homes and business properties. Jews were moved
in, with many of their valuables and possessions being confiscated at the
ghetto's gates. Around half a million Jews were soon after sealed in with
barbed wire and 3.5 metre high walls topped with broken glass; the inhabitants
were made to pay for the walls at their own expense. Notices reading ‘Jews,
Lice, Typhoid’ were hung upon them. Rations were set at around 300 calories a
day, compared to the 2,300 the Germans received. Only 1% of the apartments in
the ghetto possessed running water. Smuggling and a black market alleviated
part of the problem of food shortages, but nevertheless it is estimated that,
even before the "transportations to the East" began, 100,000 Jews
died of starvation and disease in the ghetto.
On July 22 1942 the Warsaw ghetto was encircled by various
Latvian, Ukrainian and SS soldiers. Two days previous the Judenrat (Jewish
Council) was ordered to prepare and make arrangements for the resettlement of
the "non-productive elements" of the ghetto's population. Basically,
anyone who did not possess a work card was liable to be transported. Armament
factories and slave labour camps outside the ghetto were two of the more common
sources of employment. The chairman of the Jewish Council, Adam Czerniakow, was
ordered to deliver 6,000 Jews per day, seven days a week, to the Umschlagplatz
for evacuation. Czerniakow committed suicide, swallowing cyanide, on July 23,
the first day of the Jewish deportations. Between July 23 to September 21 1942
alone, the most "productive period" of the evacuations, more than
250,000 Jews were transported from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka - and
murdered.
The Umschlagplatz (collection point) was a large oval on the
inside but on the northern edge of the ghetto which ran adjacent to the railway
sidings, situated on the corner of Stawki and Dzika Street. Once a market for
Jewish traders in the city it acted now as a compound, or giant train platform,
for those inhabitants of the ghetto due to be evacuated. On the edge of the
Umschlagplatz, next to the wall, there was an additional compound or area in
which there were piled dozens, sometimes hundreds of dead bodies. Some had been
shot for various petty crimes or for no offence at all. SS personnel were
empowered to execute (shoot) Jews without trial or justification. From the
russet gore upon the wall it was also evident however that some had been
murdered by having their skulls crushed, the Germans having swung their victims
by the legs onto the brickwork. Due to its disturbing, gruesome sights and the
unnatural smell which pervaded the area, the evacuees tried their best to avoid
the fly infested open cemetery and compressed themselves into an even smaller
space within the Umschlagplatz.
Sometimes they came at night, sometimes in the morning,
afternoon or at dusk - but they always came. Grey hoards, violent, unrelenting,
raiding, herding, processing. Children were a liability if one hid; it was not
unknown for babies to be smothered to death to save the rest of the group. The
dogs developed a taste for flesh. Some people even volunteered when they heard
that partners or offspring had been captured, selected. Methodical, brutal
platoons, often accompanied by a Jewish policeman, would swarm through their
designated blocks, sweeping the inhabitants up as if they were caught in a
human tornado. The soldiers would then dump their “catch" in the
Umschlagplatz and perhaps repeat the operation directly afterwards. If you
couldn't produce a work pass, you were eligible.
For all of the raids and enforced evacuations, however,
there were also many who passively appeared at the Umschlagplatz, either
instructed by the Judenrat to do so or persuaded by the arguments of policemen
such as Meisel and Duritz. They convinced the evacuees that they were being
taken to labour camps where, although the work was hard, the rations and
lodgings were better - and they could still be
in, with many of their valuables and possessions being confiscated at the
ghetto's gates. Around half a million Jews were soon after sealed in with
barbed wire and 3.5 metre high walls topped with broken glass; the inhabitants
were made to pay for the walls at their own expense. Notices reading ‘Jews,
Lice, Typhoid’ were hung upon them. Rations were set at around 300 calories a
day, compared to the 2,300 the Germans received. Only 1% of the apartments in
the ghetto possessed running water. Smuggling and a black market alleviated
part of the problem of food shortages, but nevertheless it is estimated that,
even before the "transportations to the East" began, 100,000 Jews
died of starvation and disease in the ghetto.
On July 22 1942 the Warsaw ghetto was encircled by various
Latvian, Ukrainian and SS soldiers. Two days previous the Judenrat (Jewish
Council) was ordered to prepare and make arrangements for the resettlement of
the "non-productive elements" of the ghetto's population. Basically,
anyone who did not possess a work card was liable to be transported. Armament
factories and slave labour camps outside the ghetto were two of the more common
sources of employment. The chairman of the Jewish Council, Adam Czerniakow, was
ordered to deliver 6,000 Jews per day, seven days a week, to the Umschlagplatz
for evacuation. Czerniakow committed suicide, swallowing cyanide, on July 23,
the first day of the Jewish deportations. Between July 23 to September 21 1942
alone, the most "productive period" of the evacuations, more than
250,000 Jews were transported from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka - and
murdered.
The Umschlagplatz (collection point) was a large oval on the
inside but on the northern edge of the ghetto which ran adjacent to the railway
sidings, situated on the corner of Stawki and Dzika Street. Once a market for
Jewish traders in the city it acted now as a compound, or giant train platform,
for those inhabitants of the ghetto due to be evacuated. On the edge of the
Umschlagplatz, next to the wall, there was an additional compound or area in
which there were piled dozens, sometimes hundreds of dead bodies. Some had been
shot for various petty crimes or for no offence at all. SS personnel were
empowered to execute (shoot) Jews without trial or justification. From the
russet gore upon the wall it was also evident however that some had been
murdered by having their skulls crushed, the Germans having swung their victims
by the legs onto the brickwork. Due to its disturbing, gruesome sights and the
unnatural smell which pervaded the area, the evacuees tried their best to avoid
the fly infested open cemetery and compressed themselves into an even smaller
space within the Umschlagplatz.
Sometimes they came at night, sometimes in the morning,
afternoon or at dusk - but they always came. Grey hoards, violent, unrelenting,
raiding, herding, processing. Children were a liability if one hid; it was not
unknown for babies to be smothered to death to save the rest of the group. The
dogs developed a taste for flesh. Some people even volunteered when they heard
that partners or offspring had been captured, selected. Methodical, brutal
platoons, often accompanied by a Jewish policeman, would swarm through their
designated blocks, sweeping the inhabitants up as if they were caught in a
human tornado. The soldiers would then dump their “catch" in the
Umschlagplatz and perhaps repeat the operation directly afterwards. If you
couldn't produce a work pass, you were eligible.
For all of the raids and enforced evacuations, however,
there were also many who passively appeared at the Umschlagplatz, either
instructed by the Judenrat to do so or persuaded by the arguments of policemen
such as Meisel and Duritz. They convinced the evacuees that they were being
taken to labour camps where, although the work was hard, the rations and
lodgings were better - and they could still be
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