The end approaches in the Warsaw Ghetto

7th May 1943: A remarkable contemporaneous record of the last days of the uprising that only emerged long after the war

‘An assault squad’. Waffen SS troops at Nowolipie Street with Nowolipie 50 A, 52, 54 and 56 in the back.

Inside the Warsaw Ghetto, where the uprising had begun on the 19th April, there was no escape. Those in hiding were merely delaying the inevitable, hoping for a miracle. Only a very few would somehow survive. For the remainder, the most likely outcome was they would die in their hiding places, as they were either burnt down or blown up by the SS. Those who tried to escape through the streets knew the whole ghetto was surrounded, if they were caught by the Germans they would shot on the spot or put on a train to Treblinka. There was no longer any prospect of being able to fight back.

Our lives are extremely threatened now, the danger is constant. The living standard is very low. The people are half-naked, dressed in rags, running around morosely on the stone floor. They can't live and they can't die.