Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
On September 3-5, the area that had been cleansed of Jews in the “Great Provocation” Aktion (in which the Germans faked a gunfire attack by Jews on German soldiers) was fenced off, and 8,000 Jews of this city were murdered in “retribution.” Two ghettos were established there: Ghetto No. 1 and Ghetto No. 2, separated by Deutsche Street. On September 6, all the Jews of Vilna were banished to the ghettos�30,000 to Ghetto No. 1, and 11,000 to Ghetto No.
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Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
The German army advanced so rapidly toward Leningrad, the second-most important city in Russia, that by August 30, 1941, the last of the railroad tracks that led to the town had been cut. Several days later, German tank units completed their stranglehold on the town. German troops under Field Marshal Ritter von Leeb from the southwest, and Finnish Marshal Mannerheim’s army from the northwest, rushed to the city outskirts quickly and began to shell the city fiercely. However, the Nazis’
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Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
The last overland connections with the city were severed in early September. Leningrad and its population of 3 million were under siege, with enough food for one month. A trickle of supplies was hauled across Lake Ladoga. Terrible hunger set in. The German forces encamped on the outskirts of town for a protracted siege. Hitler forbade his commanders to accept a surrender. Leningrad and its population, Hitler ordered, would be bombed and shelled to death. Although Hitler’s plan was not
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