Hersh Wasser on Rumors of Extermination of Jews (1)

Hersh Wasser (1912-1980) was born in Poland. He was an active member of Left Po’alei Zion. In December 1939 he arrived in Warsaw, as a refugee, together with his wife, and became a prominent member of the Warsaw leadership. He was involved in public affairs of the ghetto and in social work. He was a participant in the Oneg Shabbat Archives, an illegal project of the ghetto connected with self help and welfare organizations. Wasser survived the war and immigrated to Israel in 1950.

Tuesday, May 26, 1942 Kolsky says that David Gertler,55 the big wheel among the new Lodz refugees through the mediation of the Gestapo, fellows “Kon and Heller”,56 foresees the imminent expulsion from Lodz of all children under 10 and all old people over 60. The chaos and panic in Lodz defy imagination, particularly since they have the Pabianice experience to judge by. The Pabianice chapter stands out in the records of extermination regulations against Jews. Tears fill my eyes at the mere thought that such violence and brutal murder are possible. It’s even beyond the biblical reproof section. A new song is making the rounds of the Warsaw ghetto. “Maot” – [mammon]. “If you have no money, you’ve been struck by blight; crawl into a box, and say to all good night.” That’s the main theme of the song. The attitude towards death is quite casual. I venture to say that the dead are objects of envy. Nobody really has the courage to die, but the general opinion is that the dead have already passed through their vale of tears. Their ears will no longer hear the harrowing reports of German brutality. The living envy the dead. Rubinstein is finished. The most popular philosopher of “Oh boy, keep your head”, renowned throughout the Warsaw ghetto, is expiring. In rags and tatters, he wallows

55 Gertler David, a known collaborator in the Lodz Ghetto, commander of the Jewish Sonderkommando, and an agent of the Gestapo (Isaiah Trunk, Lodzer Getto, New York, 1962, pp. 274, 475). 56 Kon, Moritz, a former merchant, and Heller, Zelig, both of Lodz, used at first to collaborate with “13”, and became later agents of the Gestapo and owners of large enterprises in the ghetto – suppliers of fish, and of vegetables; owners of the horse-driven tramways (Ringelblum, 1, pp. 246, 266, 272, 293, 294).

______1/3 Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies in the streets. Mostly on Leszno, taking the sun almost naked. Thus expires an idea, a symbol that dazzled everyone with its truth and lie of “All Men Are Equal”. I’m told that in several places in the Lublin region, the Germans have the following custom: they slice the ears off many of their Jewish victims before killing them. Mr. K. of Lublin read a letter from Zdunska Wola that last Wednesday or Thursday, i.e., the 20th or 21st of May, another 10 Jews were executed after the Purim fashion. Ten distinguished Jews were rounded up. The Judenrat arranged for gallows and the Jewish auxiliary police hanged them with their own hands. The chairman of the Judenrat was forced to deliver a speech. He fainted twice, but he was revived and not left in peace for the duration of the “spectacle”. The ghetto was opened that day and many Germans, including schoolchildren, came to attend the “performance”.58 The same source says that two contingents were shipped out of Ozorkow (one right after Purim and the other after Passover), numbering together 2,800 people, destination unknown. The above-mentioned read a postcard from Pinsk from the Lublin deportees, a fraction of the masses of the young and healthy men who were expelled. They’re most probably the only ones who survived. Kolsky says “Kon and Heller” spend at least 50,000 zlotys a week. A.N. reports that the Judenrats in the country of Sokol are composed exclusively of women. The Jewish men have all been killed. He went through the Kolomyia pogrom, passing as a Christian. The Ukrainians “worked” with axes, the Germans with machine guns. The Ukrainians tortured their victims as well. For instance: dislocating limbs, tearing out organs, cutting off heads, raping women. In Stanislawow, according to his account, the affair was managed

58 In March 1942, Jews were hanged in several towns in the Wartegau. This was the month of Adar, the time of the feast of Purim. “Instead of hanging Hamman they hanged Mordechai”. In Zdunska Wola ten Jews were executed by hanging on March 3 1942, Purim day. (Rabbi Shimeon Huberband, Kiddush Hashem, Notes from the Holocaust, Tel Aviv, 1969, pp. 150- 151). On the feast of Shavuot in the same year another ten Jews were taken to be hanged. This outrage was described in the diary of Abraham Lewin: “With us the traditions of martyrdoms during the Crusades of the Middle Ages, of Cossack pogroms of 1648, are being renewed, as when Jews went to meet death with religious devotion and joy. In the words of Bialik: “Go out joyfully to meet death”. It is told that in Zdunska Wola ten Jews were hanged on the eve of Shavuot, among them the Rabbi of the town. The Rabbi turned to the Jews and urged them to be happy at the privilege of being emissaries for all Israel in dying for the Sanctification of the Name”. (Abraham Lewin, “Extract from a Diary”, Yad Vashem Studies, 1967, p. 317). A reliable source reported, that Shlomo Zelichowski, the Hassid, went to the gallows on the festival of Shavuot, singing aloud, and calling upon others to do the same.

______2/3 Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies after the fashion of registration, i.e., all the Jewish men surrounded by machine guns. The Mephistophelean aspect lay in the assurance given that all those who managed to get over a two-meter high fence would live. The rest would die. The time limit was three minutes. It is easy to imagine what happened with the 15,000 men. A handful escaped death. The rest, whether shot, or trampled by the crazed throng, perished. A surround-and-catch action took place at the courthouse on Leszno today (one of the important points of contact between the Jewish and Christian world – a smuggling center). All those present were subjected to a thorough search by the German Police, who exploited the opportunity to take away all the money, goods, and currency they found. Eye-witnesses say that dollar and pound banknotes rolled on the floor. The overall loss is estimated at 5 million zlotys. From Lubartow, Piaski, and probably also from all other places where there are Czech Jews, Jews are not allowed to write any letters. They are limited to sending telegrams, or possibly talking on the telephone. According to information from Mrs. Zisel Lebensold, there are no more than 100 Jews in Pinsk. And they too, live in great fear, for it is said that new repressive measures will be introduced against Jews because of the Soviet offensive forays.

Source: “Daily Entries of Hersh Wasser (with introduction by Joseph Kermish)”, Yad Vashem Studies Vol. XV, Jerusalem 1983, pp. 271- 274.

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