HEART’s blog

Holocaust Remembrance

A time to memorialize, debate, debunk or debauch?

Guest Publication by

Dr. Martin Friedhaus

[photos added to enhance the text]

[Please note that editorials posted in this section are the sole viewpoints of the individual author and do not necessarily

represent any collective opinion of the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, or the University of Northampton]

The Krakow Ghetto

When the Germans occupied Krakow on 6 September 1939, approximately 90,000 Jews lived in the city. The persecutions of the Jews began almost immediately, on the Day of Atonement 1939, Jews were apprehended in the city and forced to fill in trenches dug for the defence of the town.

German officers and ordinary soldiers would, from time to time, seize Jews in the street and maltreat them. The favourite sport of the Germans was to order Jews to run while making them stumble, to force them to jump hurdles, beating ferociously those who could not jump, or to force Jews to undertake various gymnastic exercises.

In some instances, individual Jews were killed, or arrested and sent to concentration camps, from where very few, if any survived.

In October and December 1939, searches were conducted in every house by the SS and ordinary German soldiers. During such searches a curfew would be imposed on all Jews, and those showing themselves in the streets or on balconies would be shot on sight.

The official reason for these searches was that Jews were hiding jewellery, gold and foreign currency, which they were not permitted to keep in their possession. Much damage was done to Jewish property during the searches, which were carried out very thoroughly.

German officers often confiscated various articles and food for their own personal use.

On the 23 November 1939 Hans Frank, the Governor General issued a decree ordering all Jews living in the General- Gouvernement, aged 12 or over, to wear an arm-band with the Star of David as from 1 December 1939. 

During the winter, Jews were taken to clean the streets of snow. Jews would be seized in the streets and taken for forced labour, although the Jewish Community supplied the daily quota of labourers demanded by the German authorities.

In January and February 1940, all Jewish premises and enterprises, except small shops, were confiscated by the German authorities. A special trustee institution was established in the General- Gouvernement, called ‘Zentrale Treuhandstelle, which administered the confiscated property. The more important Jewish enterprises were handed over to Germans, the smaller and less important ones to Ukrainians and Poles.

The German authorities appointed a Jewish Council, the Judenrat, to be the chief authority for all Jews and the sole body that dealt directly with the German authorities. The Chairman of this body were:

-Dr Marek Bieberstein-   -Dr Artur Rosenzweig-   -Dawid Guter-

The precise duties carried out by the Judenrat were defined in Paragraph 5 of the order issued by Hans Frank on 28 November 1939:

‘The Judenrat has to carry out, through its President or Vice President, the demands of the German authorities. It will be responsible for their strict fulfilment to the smallest detail. The orders which it issues for the purpose of fulfilling German demands must be obeyed by all Jewish men and women

At the end of January 1940, the Stadthauptmann (Town Commander) Schmied proclaimed that the number of Jews in Krakow was too large, and that all Jews who were not employed on services of importance to the Germans would have to leave the town.

The 15 August 1940 was set as the time limit by which all those Jews were to leave voluntarily. Those leaving before the fixed time would be permitted to take with them their furniture, household utensils, clothes etc.

Until the middle of August 1940, up to 30,000 Jews left the city, most of them went to Warsaw, Kielce, Bochnia etc.

The number of those who had left Krakow was however, too small for the Germans. Schmied, therefore, took matters into his own hands regarding the removal of Jews from Krakow.

He ordered the arrest of Dr Biberstein, Chairman of the Jewish Council, who was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, he was later killed in Plaszow forced labour camp in 1944.

All Jews were ordered to obtain identity cards. While issuing the cards the German authorities decided who was to stay, and who was to leave the city. At the end of August 1940, several thousands of Jews left the town, taking with them 25kgs of baggage per head.

Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/krakow/krakow.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009

The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich

Operation Anthropoid

On the twenty-ninth of May, 1942, Radio Prague announced that Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, lay dying at the Bulovka hospital in Prague from wounds sustained in a daring ambush by Czech partisans as his car passed through the city outskirts at Holesovice, on the Rude Armady VII Kobylisky not far from the Vltava river.

The assassins attempted to kill Heydrich with automatic weapons but experienced a malfunction so a grenade was then tossed at the car by one of the Czechs. The resulting explosion caused sever damage to the right rear wing of the Mercedes, puncturing the tire and blowing a large hole in the bodywork.

The attackers then fled and, Heydrich attempted to shoot at the escaping assassins but his weapon also misfired. He then staggered back to the car and collapsed on the hood in severe pain.

He was rushed to the Bulovka emergency room shortly after 11:00 a.m. and was registered under the number 12.555/42. Heydrich's spleen had been fatally damaged and he contracted blood poisoning from grenade shrapnel, seat-spring splinters, and horse-hair used to cushion the cars upholstery.

He soon developed a fever and suffered from copious wound drainage until June 2, but the following day the fever appeared to have subsided. However, around noon, while Heydrich was sitting in bed eating a late breakfast, he suddenly went into shock and quickly lapsed into a deep coma from which he never recovered.

He died at 4:30 a.m. the next morning, June 4, 1942. The death of the Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia was recorded in the Bulovka death register as “Nr 348/1942.Reinhard Tristan Heydrich.

Cause of death: gunshot wound/murder attempt/wound infection. 

So ended the life of Reinhard "The Hangman" Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague.

Operation Anthropoid

On September 27, 1941, the Czech Press Agency released the news that the Reich Protector Konstantin von Neurath had fallen ill, and Hitler had named a substitute Reich Protector, Reinhard Heydrich. The Protectorate at that time experienced numerous acts of sabotage and assassinations of Germans and their collaborators by the Czech underground.

The low morale and starvation level rations for workers had reduced Bohemia’s industrial output of armaments, putting essential part of the German war effort at risk.

Konstantin von Neurath was sent away to recuperate and on that very same day, a plane landed in Prague with Reinhard Heydrich on board. Heydrich, as SS Police General and chief of the Reichssicherheitschauptampt (RSHA, Reich Security Main Office) was one of the most powerful and most feared Nazi leaders in the party.

Considered exceptionally intelligent, hard-working, ambitious and totally amoral, he had climbed to the top of the SS hierarchy and ruthlessly crushed his and Hitler’s domestic and foreign enemies. He was the main architect of the “Final Solution,” Hitler’s plan to destroy European Jewry.

Hitler believed with Heydrich in charge of Bohemia and Moravia, the Czechs would soon learn what it meant to live under a master of suppression. Not being a man to disappoint the Fürher, Heydrich immediately put his plan into action with the objective of annihilating all resistance in the Czech Lands.

On September 28, 1941, at 11 am, the official inauguration began at Prague Castle, the next day Heydrich announced a martial law in Prague, Brno, Moravská Ostrava, Olomouc, Kladno and Hradec Králové.

He instituted what he called his "whip and sugar" policy; he increased the food rations to dissuade resistance among the Czechs, and he threatened to lower them if they did not work efficiently.  This tactic seemed to resonate with the common workers but against the Czech intelligentsia, he would employ far deadlier measures.

Without hesitation he started from the top down. The Protectorate’s Prime Minister, General Alois Eliáš, was arrested, proven guilty of maintaining contacts with the enemy and sentenced to death on October 1, 1941.

Two acting leaders of the military resistance organization, Gen. Josef Bílý and Div. Gen. Hugo Vojta, Commander of the Bohemian Provincial Headquarters were sentenced under martial law and executed by a firing squad at Ruzyně Barracks. Hundreds from among the Czech intelligentsia were executed or sent to concentration camps.

From his quarters in Czernin Palace on October 2, 1941, Reinhard Heydrich gave a speech where he made the following statements:

"I must unambiguously and with unflinching hardness bring the citizens of this country, Czech or otherwise, to the understanding that there is no avoiding the fact they are members of the Reich and as such they owe allegiance to the Reich… This is a task of priority required by the war. I must have peace of mind that every Czech worker works at his maximum for the German war effort… This includes feeding the Czech worker – to put it frankly – so that he can do his work.”

One of Heydrich's first decrees, dated September 29, 1941,concerning the treatment of Jews and closing of synagogues stated:

Read more here:  http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/heydrichkilling.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009

Erwin Bingel

Eyewitness to Mass Murder at Uman and Vinnitsa in the Ukraine

On the 15 September 1941 Lieutenant Erwin Bingel, a Wehrmacht officer was ordered to report to the Town Commandant of Uman, in the Ukraine, and instructed to set up guards on all railways in the area, and around the airport.

He accomplished this, and discovered whilst putting his men in place, that ditches had been dug in the square in front of the airport.

At dawn on the 16 September 1941, Lieutenant Bingel’s men were in place, then they saw a crowd of people brought to the ditches in front of the airfield, consisting of men, women and children.

Lieutenant Bingel’s account continued:

“When the people had crowded into the square in front of the airport, a few trucks drove up from the direction of the town. From these vehicles a troop of Feldgendarmarie alighted, and were immediately led aside.

A number of tables was then unloaded from one of the trucks and placed in a line at distances from each other. Meanwhile a few more trucks with Ukrainian militiamen commanded by SS had arrived. These militiamen had work tools with them and one of their trucks also carried chloride of lime.

The truck now drove alongside these ditches and the men on it unloaded six to eight sacks of chloride of lime at intervals of fifteen to twenty metres. In the meantime, a number of transport planes – Model Junkers 52 – had landed at the airport. Out of these stepped several units of SS soldiers who, having fallen in, marched up to the Feldgendarmarie unit, subsequently taking up positions alongside it.

As could be discerned from the distance, the two units were obviously being sworn in. I was then informed by my interpreter, who was Jewish- which fact was known only to me personally – that he had learned that the people had been brought together following upon an order which had been posted in the streets of Uman and which had been given the widest publicity throughout Uman sub-district by the Ukrainian millita.”

The order was for all Jews in the town of Uman and its sub-district, of all ages to assemble for the purpose of a census of the Jewish population. Anyone not complying with this order would be punished “most severely.”

Lieutenant Bingel continued:

“The result of this proclamation was, of course, that all persons concerned appeared as ordered. This relatively harmless summons, it was thought, could be connected in some way or other with the preparations we were observing. It was because we took the matter so lightly that we were all the more horrified at what we witnessed during the next few hours.

One row of Jews was ordered to move forward and was then allocated to the different tables where they had to undress completely and hand over everything they wore and carried.

Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/bingel.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009

Holocaust Denial & Debunking

“What is it good for?”  -   “Absolutely Nothing!”

In nearly 40 years of holocaust research, I have never given more than a few seconds thought regarding Holocaust Denial.

"But is that wise?"

Up to now I thought so, what would be the point, of spending any substantial amount of precious time on debating with Holocaust Deniers, given the abundance of evidence available, ranging from films, photographs, eyewitness testimony, documents and admissions from those who took part in one of the worst crimes in the history of mankind.

Thanks to the internet, the Deniers have had priceless opportunities to speedily put forward their views, and this in turn has led to a number of websites, countering their views, and thus a cottage industry of sorts has grown up.

Visiting some of these sites one is struck by the enormous amount of wasted effort, both in terms of arguing with Deniers, who will never change their particular view, unless some “ultimate proof” is provided, and the Deniers spending their time, peddling their seemingly senseless viewpoints, happy to be engaged in ‘debate.’

In addition, those self proclaimed “Debunkers” of revisionist theories are in many ways no different than the Deniers themselves. Most are only seeking a conflict or debate to engage in, and debunking revisionism affords them some sort of “moral high ground” to do it from.

Clearly, a view could be formed that the “ultimate proof” has already been provided, but the Deniers choose not to believe it. And no matter what – the Deniers views are unlikely to change and does the world doesn’t really need “Noble-Debunkers” to keep the rest of us safe from such idiotic theories or treatises.

So in essence, debating the number of victims at Belzec and Sobibor death camps at length, the type of engine used at Treblinka to gas hundreds and thousands of innocent Jewish men, women and children, the true nature of deportations East - was it six million murdered or  8 million, what does all this effort achieve?

It is difficult to know why someone should choose to go down the Denier path, perhaps as a result of anti-Semitism, or seeking their fifteen minutes of fame through controversial outbursts, whilst ignoring the overwhelming evidence for the Holocaust, even just as a mechanism for spreading hate and intolerance- who can be sure.

With recent well publicised comments from Bishop Dr Richard Williamson, who in a Swedish television interview in January 2009 said:

Read the full editorial here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/essays&editorials/deniers&debunkers.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009

Fedor Federenko

 Treblinka Death Camp Guard – Brought to Justice  

Fedor Federenko was born on the 17 September 1907 in the village of Sivash, in the Dniepro- Petrovsk region in the Ukraine. At his denaturalisation trial in Fort Lauderdale in 1978, the court’s protocol recorded the evidence as to his conduct during the Second World War:

Defendant was mobilized on June 23 1941, almost immediately after the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. He was a truck driver, and the truck he drove was also mobilized.

He had no previous military training, and in the next two or three weeks his group was encircled twice by the German army. He escaped the first time, but was captured three days later by the Germans.

The Germans transported several truckloads of prisoners to Zhitomir, a former Soviet training camp, and defendant described the conditions as very bad and with little water or food.

The camp housed about 50-100,000 prisoners, with no barracks available for them. About two to three weeks he was transferred to Rovno. Next he was transferred to Chelm, Poland, a camp surrounded by barbed wire rolls.

Defendant estimated the population at Chelm at about 80,000 prisoners. Defendant described the conditions at Chelm as so bad that if you became ill, you rarely recovered.

He also indicated that food was at a minimum and that approximately 40,000 prisoners of war died over the winter 1941/42. One day at Chelm the Germans assembled the Soviet prisoners and walked down the line selecting 200 to 300 who were sent to Trawniki.

At Trawniki most of the guards were Volksdeutsche. Defendant is not a Volksdeutsche but Ukrainian. In the spring of 1942 the Germans gave black uniforms to all the prisoners. Volksdeutsche also wore black uniforms, but theirs were well tailored and of better material.

After the barracks had been constructed at Trawniki, the Germans gave instructions in the firing of rifles, such as field stripping and in marching. In the spring of 1942 defendant was sent to Lublin where at first the prisoners guarded their own camp and then were sent to the Jewish ghetto.

At Lublin the Soviet prisoners guarded houses, furniture – whatever was left. They were issued rifles which were not fired. The Soviet prisoners were converted from workers to guards at Lublin.

From Lublin defendant was sent to Warsaw along with 80 to 100 others. Defendant was transported to Treblinka as prisoner guard in approximately September 1942.

Yossef (Josef) Czarny testified at the same hearing in Fort Lauderdale:

Question:  You stated that you saw Mr. Federenko, the “American” and one other SS soldier in the Lazarett on that date. Who was that other SS soldier?

Answer:  The others were shooting there, too Miete, Sepp and Kiwe.

Question: On that one occasion where you claim to have seen Mr Federenko at the Lazarette, you stated that he was there with the “American” and one other SS guard. Who was that SS guard on that occasion, that one occasion?

Answer: I didn’t say that. I said that while I was throwing out the garbage, I saw Federenko shooting the people and also the Nazi called the “American,” the SS called the “American.”

Question: Then, Federenko and the “American” were the only two in the Lazarette at that time, is that correct?

Answer:  Yes, yes, yes.

Anton Ivanovich Streltsov under oath recalled serving with Federenko:

Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/trials/fedorenko.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009