The battle of the Warsaw Ghetto continues
25th April 1943: An iconic image illustrates the terror that the Jews face in the Warsaw ghetto as the uprising continues
“SS vs. Jews, perpetrators vs. victims, military vs. civilians, power vs. helplessness, threatening hands on weapons vs. empty hands raised in surrender, steel helmets vs bare-headedness or soft caps, smugness vs. fear, security vs. doom, men vs. women and children.”
I have looked at the given photograph. Concerning the person in the SS uniform, standing in the foreground of a group of SS members and holding a sub-machine gun in firing position and wearing a steel helmet with motorcycle goggles, this is me.
The picture shows that I, as a member of the Gestapo office in the Warsaw Ghetto, together with a group of SS members, am driving a large number of Jewish citizens out from a house. The group of Jewish citizens is comprised predominantly of children, women and old people, driven out of a house through a gateway, with their arms raised.
The Jewish citizens were then led to the so-called Umschlagplatz, from which they were transported to the extermination camp Treblinka.
The statement of Josef Blösche at his trial in East Germany in 1969.
The unequal struggle between the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and the SS continued.
The SS had made a renewed attempt to close down the ghetto on the 19th April. They intended to murder all the occupants, either immediately by shooting them or by sending them to the extermination 'camp' at Treblinka.
With very few weapons available to them the Jews had put up what resistance they could. Now they were being hunted down by SS troops who systematically worked through the ghetto, forcing people out of hiding or burning down the buildings in which they hid. The daily reports of SS-und Polizeifuehrer Stroop documented the actions of the Nazis:
Progress of the Action on April 25, 1943, Begun at 1:00 P.M.1
Seven shock troops for thorough combing were formed for today, at a strength of 1/70, to which each was assigned a specific block of houses.
Mission: "Repeated thorough combing of all buildings, identification of bunkers and their blowing up, as well as capture of Jews. Where they meet any resistance or bunkers cannot be reached, the buildings are to be burnt to the ground."
In addition to the activity of these 7 shock troops for thorough combing, a special mission was undertaken against a bandit nest lying outside the former ghetto wall, which was inhabited only by Poles.
274 Jews were shot, and as on other days, uncounted Jews were buried alive in the blown-up bunkers and, as near as can be determined, burned.
Today's mission ended for almost all of the shock troops with the breaking out of giant fires which caused the Jews to leave their hiding places and refuges. In total, 1690 Jews were captured alive. According to stories from the Jews, there have definitely also been parachutists dropped here and bandits who have been supplied weapons from an unknown location.274 Jews were shot, and as on other days, uncounted Jews were buried alive in the blown-up bunkers and, as near as can be determined, burned. With today's bounty of Jews, a very large portion of the bandits and lowest elements of the Ghetto has, in my opinion, been captured. Immediate liquidation was not carried out due to the onset of darkness.
I will attempt to obtain a train for T II for tomorrow, otherwise the liquidations will be carried out tomorrow. Also today repeated armed resistance took place and in one bunker 3 pistols and explosive charges were captured. Further today, significant supplies of paper money, currency, gold coins and items of jewelry were secured.The Jews still control possessions of significant value. If last night the former ghetto was covered with the glare of fire, then today a giant sea of fire can be seen. Since the thorough combings, carried out in accordance with plans and the rules, revealed ever more Jews in large numbers, the Action will be continued on April 26, 1943. Start: 10:00 A.M.
The full Stroop report is available to read at the Jewish Virtual Library. Stroop was detained by the US authorities in 1945 and convicted of ordering the murder of nine US airmen who parachuted into the Rhein-Westark district of Germany where he was SS commander from late 1943 to the end of the war. He was executed in 1956.
The ‘Warsaw Ghetto boy’ image has been extensively analysed, and attempts have been made to identify the boy in the image, but none conclusively. The above quote is by Richard Raskin author of A Child at Gunpoint: A Case Study in the Life of a Photo.