Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
German and Ukrainian police surrounded the ghetto-camp to prevent escape as additional police units entered to round up all the inhabitants. They met with resistance: a barrage of hand grenades and firebombs from buildings, and gunfire from several locations. Nine Germans and Ukrainians were killed, and 20 were wounded. The Germans responded by blowing up or burning the ghetto buildings to kill or flush out their inhabitants. Approximately 3,000 Jews were killed in the ghetto in the course of the
Read More
Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
On June 21, 1943, Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler issued the following order: “All Jews who may still be found in ghettos in the Ostland must be confined in concentration camps…. All non-essential inhabitants of the Jewish ghettos are to be referred to the East…. The reorganization in concentration camps is to be completed by August 1, 1943.” The practical intent of this order was the elimination of all surviving Jews in the occupied Soviet territories. However, in keeping with his long-standing
Read More
Written by zachor_foundation on May 7, 2014
After using improvised gas chambers that had been installed in a village house, the Nazis built four new, large gas chambers in Birkenau, and erected crematoria next to them to incinerate the bodies. Construction took place between March 22 and June 28, 1943. The Nazis rated the killing capacity of each chamber at 2,000 persons at a time. At their peak, the crematoria consumed 4,756 bodies within a 24-hour period.
