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REPORT
for the period 22 July to 30 September 1942
A. Resettlement
On 22 July, the following guidelines were transmitted by the Plenipotentiary for Resettlement1 at the meeting of the Jewish Council:
"The following has been declared to the Jewish Council:
1. All Jews residing in Warsaw, regardless of age or gender, will be resettled in the East.
2. Excluded from resettlement are:
a. all Jews employed by the authorities or by German companies who can present corresponding evidence of this;
b. all Jews who are members or employees of the Jewish Council as per their status on the day of publication of this directive;
c. all Jews employed by companies belonging to the German Reich who can present corresponding evidence of this;
d. all Jews able to work who thus far have not been involved in the employment process; these should be placed in barracks in the Jewish sector;
e. all Jews belonging to the Jewish Order Service;2
f. all Jews belonging to the personnel of Jewish hospitals as well as those belonging to Jewish disinfection columns;
g. all Jews who are immediate family members of the persons designated in a to f. Family members are exclusively wives and children;
h. all Jews who on the first day of resettlement are in one of the Jewish hospitals and who do not qualify for release. The inability to be released must be certified by a physician, who will be designated by the Jewish Council.
3. Each resettled Jew is entitled to take with him from his property 15 kg as luggage. Luggage weighing more than 15 kg will be confiscated. All valuables such as money, jewelry, gold, etc. may be taken away. Food for 3 days should be taken along.
4. The resettlement will start on 22.7.1942 [July 22, 1942] at 11 AM.
For the duration of the resettlement, the Jewish Council has been given the following guidelines, for whose strict observance the members of the Jewish Council vouch with their lives:
1. The Jewish Council receives instructions for resettlement exclusively from the Plenipotentiary for Resettlement or his deputy. During the period of resettlement, the Jewish Council may select a special commission for resettlement whose chairman is to be the chairman of the Jewish Council, and the chairman's deputy is to be the Chief of the Jewish Order Service.
2. The Jewish Council is to ensure that Jews designated for loading report each day.
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For the purpose of carrying out this task, the Jewish Council employs the Jewish Order Service (1,000 persons). Starting on 22.7.1942, the Jewish Council ensures that 6,000 Jews are delivered to the assembly point every day by 4 p.m. at the latest. The assembly point for the entire duration of the evacuation is the Jewish hospital on Stawki St. On 22.7.1942, 6,000 Jews are to be delivered directly to Transshipment Square3 at the transfer station. For the time being, the Jewish Council can draw upon contingents of Jews who are to be delivered daily from among the general population, then the Jewish Council will receive a definitive recommendation in accord with which sections of streets or blocks of houses will be designated for evacuation.
3. On 23.7.1942 [July 23, 1942] the Jewish Council is to evacuate the Jewish Hospital on Stawki St. and transfer the residents and inventory to another suitable building inside the ghetto, so that by the evening of 23.7.1942 the hospital is prepared to receive the Jews delivered daily for the purpose of resettlement.
4. The Jewish Council must then ensure that the objects and goods left behind by the resettled Jews, provided that they are not contaminated, are collected and registered at assembly points that are still to be designated. For this purpose, the Jewish Council is to make use of the Jewish Order Service and a suitable quantity of the Jewish labor force. This activity shall be supervised by the Sicherheitspolizei,4 which shall provide the Jewish Council with special instructions in this regard. Illegal appropriation of these objects and goods shall be punished by death.
5. Furthermore, the Jewish Council ensures that Jews employed by German companies or German authorities continue to perform their work during the resettlement. In order to implement this order, the Jewish Council shall issue a corresponding announcement to the Jewish population, under the threat of the severest penalties. The Jewish Council shall also see to it that there is continuous operation of Jewish supply enterprises in such numbers as will ensure the sustenance of the Jews at the assembly point and of the remaining Jews.
6. The Jewish Council is also responsible for burying Jews who pass away during the period of resettlement on the day of their death.
7. The Jewish Council shall post the following announcement for the Jewish population of Warsaw:
"On the order of the German authorities, all Jews will be resettled in the East .... (etc. from Item 1-4)"
8. Penalties:
a. Any Jew who is not among the persons designated in item 2, parts a and c, who up to the present has not been so authorized and who, starting from the moment resettlement begins, leaves the Jewish sector will be shot;
b. any Jew who undertakes an activity that may circumvent or hinder execution of the resettlement orders will be shot;
c. any Jew who aids an activity that may circumvent or hinder execution of the resettlement orders will be shot;
d. all Jews encountered in Warsaw following completion of the resettlement who are not among the persons designated in item 2, parts a to h, will be shot.
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The Jewish Council is notified herewith that in the event of less than 100% execution of the orders and guidelines imparted to it, an appropriate number of hostages detained in the interim will be shot in each case.
Warsaw, 22 July 1942 Dictated by the Plenipotentiary for Resettlement"
At the same meeting, the directive was supplemented with a remark that was set out in the announcement, which was posted in accord with the above guidelines. The remark reads as follows:
"At the meeting on 22.7.1942 in the main building of the Jewish Council in Warsaw, the Plenipotentiary for Resettlement issued an order to the effect that all institutions in the Jewish sector such as the Supply Company, Jewish Social Self-Help, Association for Deliveries, Cooperative Bank, Chamber of Health, Craftsmen's Union, Garbage Removal Company St. Heyman and Partners, etc. are subordinated to the chairman of the Jewish Council in Warsaw. Employees of these institutions are treated as employees of the Jewish Council in Warsaw. This also applies to persons employed by the Receivership of Secured Real Estate in Warsaw on the territory of the Jewish Sector in Warsaw."
In addition, the following announcement was posted:
"By order of the Plenipotentiary for Resettlement, this will serve notice that all Jews working in German companies or on behalf of German business interests for German businesses must carry out their work during the resettlement single-mindedly. Whoever does not comply with this directive can expect to receive the severest punishment.
The Jewish Council in Warsaw"
On the same day, the resettlement began and it lasted until mid-September of this year.
On 29.VII. [July 29] the following appeal to the population, signed by the director of the Order Service, was posted:
"I hereby inform residents subject to resettlement that, as ordered by the authorities, each person who on the 29th, 30th and 31st of July of this year reports voluntarily for the purpose of resettlement will be supplied with provisions comprising 3 kg of bread and 1 kg of marmalade.
The assembly point and the location where the provisions will be issued is Stawki Square, corner of Dzika St."
Among other major directives from the authorities on this subject are the following:
1. Allotment of an additional quota of 180,000 kg of bread and 36,000 kg of marmalade.
2. Allotment of normal quotas for the months of August and September.
3. Allotment of a quota of 200,000 kg of vegetables per week.
4. Discontinuation of mail traffic—all correspondence (packages, money, letters, etc.) was to be placed at the disposal of the authorities. This directive was subsequently rescinded.
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On 1 August, further appeals to the population appeared in the Jewish Sector (for the third time):
"In accordance with the authorities' directive of 22 July 1942, all persons not employed in institutions and enterprises will be subject to resettlement.
Mandatory resettlement shall be continued without interruption. I again call upon the population that is subject to resettlement to report voluntarily to Transshipment Square, whereby I extend for another 3 days, i.e., to 2, 3 and 4 August 1942 the issuing of 3 kg of bread and 1 kg of marmalade to each person who reports voluntarily. Families who report voluntarily shall not be separated. Assembly point for volunteers: 3 Dzika St.- 27 Stawki.
The Director of the Order Service"
The directive of 9 September concerning the reduction and resettlement of some of the personnel of the Jewish Council has been provided below (p.11). By order of the authorities, the following announcement concerning changes in the boundaries of the Jewish Sector was posted by the Jewish Council:
"On order of the authorities, the Jewish Council announces that all Jews residing in the southern part of the Jewish Sector (i.e., south of Chłodna St.) are to leave the apartments they are occupying by 6 PM Monday, 10 August 1942. This directive does not apply to employees of the companies W.C. Többens and Wilhelm Döring.5
Whoever does not comply with this directive will be shot."
The next directive concerning the exclusion of further parts of the sector appeared on 13 August:
"On order of the authorities, the Jewish Council announces that all Jews residing in the housing blocks specified below are to leave the apartments they have heretofore occupied by 15 August of this year at 6 PM. Jews not subject to resettlement are to move to the remaining parts of the Jewish Sector located north of Leszno St.
List of the blocks from which the Jews are to move:
Elektoralna St. 4 to 34, Chłodna St. 2 to 26, Orla St. 1 to 14, Solna St. 1 to 21, Ogrodowa St. 1 to 35, 2 to 10, 16 to 34, Leszno 1 to 3, 7 to 51, 57 to 77, Żelazna 72 to 86, Biała."
On 15 August, a third announcement was issued pertaining to exclusions within the confines of the northern part of the sector:
"On order of the Authorities, the Jewish Council announces that all Jews residing in the housing blocks specified below are to leave the apartments they have heretofore occupied by 6 PM Thursday, 20 August of this year.
Nowolipki 22-98, 2, 4, 6, 5-17, Nowolipie 4-22, 64-80, 1-17, Dzielna 15-75, 2-60, Smocza 12-32, 1, 3, 5, 15-39, Pawia 1-51, 36-100, Więzienna St. 2-4, Lubecki 1, 3, 5, Gęsia St. 39-105, 32-50, Gliniana St. 1-6, Okopowa 40-56, Zamenhof 2-28, 7, 9, Nalewki 3-29, 10-24, Wałowa St. 1-15, 8-10, Franciszkańska 21-39, Mylna 2-10, Leszno 2-14, 18, 28."
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Finally, on 16 August the following announcement was posted by order of the authorities:
"On order of the authorities, the Jewish Council in Warsaw announces:
1. Only Jews employed in the enterprises located in the part of the Jewish sector in Warsaw located south of Leszno St., can reside there. Whoever unlawfully resides in an area of the sector located farther north will be shot.
2. All unemployed Jews are to report voluntarily to the Transshipment Square—under penalty of cancellation of their food rations and forced resettlement.
The above also applies to family members of employed persons."
The Jewish population employed in the enterprises, posts, and administration of the Jewish Sector was placed in housing blocks and buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the enterprises (with the exception of those employed at posts outside the Jewish sector). The action for quartering this population began at the beginning of August and lasted until the end of this month. The allotment of blocks or buildings to individual enterprises was carried out on the basis of rulings from the Resettlement Authorities, which ordered the residents living in them up to that point to evacuate the buildings. The blocks as well as the buildings in which the workshops were supposed to be located or in which the employees of the workshops were to live were fenced off with a wooden fence or barbed wire.
The Jewish Council, whose headquarters was at 26 Grzybowska St. up to that point, had to abandon it—in accordance with the order of 9 August—and relocate its headquarters to the building at 19 Zamenhof (which up to this point was the headquarters of the Office of Reception of Mail Parcels), to where the files and furnishings soon had to be moved. Along with the branches of the Jewish Council, the employees and workers of the J.C. were moved as well, being placed in the Pawia-Lubecki-Gęsia-Zamenhof residential block that was assigned to them. Some branches of the Jewish Council were also placed in that block.
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Among the most important objectives of the Jewish Council in regard to the directive on resettlement was implementation of the directive on delivering 7,000 persons from among the employees of the Jewish Council as well as members of their families. A report on steps taken to that end with the following content was subsequently submitted to the authorities:
A specially convened commission carried out a reduction of the personnel of individual departments and institutions of the Jewish Council, whereby the reduction amounted to 50% of the total in the vast majority of departments and institutions.
In the afternoon of the day preceding the deadline designated by the authorities and on the morning of 10 August, the individual departments and institutions received lists of names of persons who remained in the Jewish Council. At the same time, the department heads were ordered to inform the employees who were affected by the reduction of their duty to report along with their family members for resettlement, whereby the following announcement was posted:
"On this day, by virtue of a directive from the authorities, a reduction in 50% of the total number of employees of the Jewish Council in Warsaw has been enacted.
Lists of employees affected by the reduction are posted in the offices of the individual departments and institutions of the Jewish Council in Warsaw and at headquarters.
Employees affected by reduction in accordance with the above directive are required to report with their families on Monday 10 August 1942 at 12 PM at the assembly point, 3 Dzika St., for the purpose of resettlement. Food aid will be given to all resettled persons. Those who do not comply with the above will be penalized in accordance with the directive of 22 July 1942.
The above also applies to institutions subordinate to the Jewish Council in Warsaw and designated in respect to the announcement from 1942."
In the morning hours of 10 August, functionaries of the Order Service received an order to carry out inspections in the offices of the Jewish Council and to block from work those persons who did not have certificates proving that they would remain employees of the Jewish Council.
The number of employees of the Jewish Council who were subject—in accordance with the completed reduction—to resettlement fluctuated around 2,500; this was going to be augmented by the family members of these employees.
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Aside from the reduction completed within the Jewish Council, the subordinate institutions were also given corresponding instructions for the reduction and resettlement of the laid-off employees.
The Jewish Council is no doubt aware that a substantial number of the persons affected by the J.C. reduction were resettled or voluntarily reported for resettlement.
Precise data on this matter could not be obtained because of technical and communication difficulties.
It should be pointed out that the decrease in the number of employees of the Jewish Council continued through all of August, as illustrated by the following table:
Designation Before 10 August Aug. 10 Aug. 18 Aug. 27
Departments
directly subordinate
to the Jewish Council
(except those designated
below) 3,113 1,488 989 965
Department of Health 470 235 224
Hospital Service 1,530 1,019 903 1,069
Department of Labor 312 312 250 206
[Intermediate total] 5,425 3,054 2,366 2,240
Departments currently
subordinate to the Jewish
Council:
Supply Company 502 502 338 331
K.O.M. 2,980 700 180 180
Craftsmen's Union 123 36 6 6
Quarantine (organized
on order of the
authorities) - - - 40
Total 9,030 4,292 2,890 2,797
Changes in the numbers of employees took place simultaneously and as a result of internal organizational revamping of the Jewish Council.
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The purpose of the revamping was to differentiate the branches of the Jewish Council into administrative units and enterprises. In this manner, the Jewish Council intended to adapt to the necessity of creating, on its own, workshops and posts that could primarily implement the directives of the authorities and also fulfill orders for its own needs.
Connected with this, exact numbers on the reduction and the new division of the Jewish Council’s branches were presented to the authorities for confirmation.
Among the remaining tasks of the Jewish Council connected with the resettlement was also the storage of objects and goods left behind in apartments and shops abandoned by their previous owners. These objects—in accordance with the instructions of the authorities—were to be deposited with the Werterfassungstelle6 at 20 Niska St. The associated work involved a number of difficulties resulting from the fact that the employed workers were taken to the Umschlagplatz as the resettlement roundups were ongoing.
During the night of 5 to 6 August, the following announcement—on order of the authorities—was issued by the Jewish Council:
"On order of the Plenipotentiary for Resettlement, the Jewish Council announces the following:
1. By 10 AM Sunday 6 August 1942, all Jews within the boundaries of the large ghetto are without exception to assemble for registration purposes in the area bounded by the streets:
Smocza, Gęsia, Zamenhof, Szczęśliwa, Parysowski Square.
2. Transit of Jews during the night of 5 to 6 August 1942 is also permitted.
3. Food for two days and containers for drinking should be taken along.
4. Apartments should not be locked.
5. Whoever does not comply with this order and remains in the ghetto (outside the area designated above) will be shot."
The registration lasted two days, 6 and 7 August, during which part of the population was sent away to the workshops in which they were employed and to the blocks where they had heretofore resided. Upon completion of the action, the remaining part of the population was led to Transshipment Square for resettlement.
According to semiofficial statistics, the successive numbers of resettled persons were as follows (cf. table on the next page):
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The gradual changes in the boundaries of the Jewish sector during the months of July and August were followed in September by further directives, on the basis of which the line of future boundary walls around the quarter would run along the following streets:
Smocza, Gęsia, Franciszkańska, Bonifraterska, Muranowska, Pokorna, Stawki, Dzika, Szczęśliwa, Parysowski Square.
Accordingly, the enterprises and institutions located outside the boundaries of the new Jewish sector—with only a few exceptions—along with their workers and employees were to move to the new territory of the sector. This included, among others, the evacuation of the office facilities and apartments occupied by certain divisions of the Jewish Council located outside the building at 19 Zamenhof and by workers and employees of the Jewish Council resident up to this point in the Pawia-Lubecki-Gęsia-Zamenhof block. Offices, workers and employees located within the boundaries of the new territory of the sector were moved.
The move was completed—in accordance with the order of the authorities below—on 27 September at 4 PM.
1. The move will be completed on 27 September at 4 PM. Whoever has not moved by that time will lose his possessions.
2. Starting on 27.9 [September 27], the Order Service is to receive at Nalewki St. and Leszno the workers' columns arriving from the Aryan section of the city and lead them in closed formations to their residential blocks.
3. Starting on 27.9, the Order Service is to send out patrols to the section of the large ghetto located south of Gęsia and Franciszkańska. The mission of these patrols is to preserve order and ensure that no unauthorized persons are present on the streets.
4. Starting on 28.9 [September 28], the Order Service will station sentries along the line of the future walls of the Jewish residential quarter, i.e., along Smocza, Gęsia and Franciszkańska Sts.
5. Starting on 27.9, the Order Service will station sentries at sewer outlets in the larger ghetto in order to prevent illegal trading.
6. The Order Service is to attend to regulation of street traffic within the confines of the new residential quarter.
7. The walls along the Jewish residential quarter are to be completed in the first phase of construction to a height of 1.50 m, and after this height is achieved they are to be raised to 3 m along their entire length. Implementation of the first six directives is the responsibility of the director of the Order Service.
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Outside the boundaries of the Jewish sector, there remained a number of workshops that—in accordance with the authorities' orders—were to be walled in. Among others, the following workshops were to be walled in:
The workshops of the Heeresunterkunftverwaltung7—along the streets Wałowa, Franciszkańska, Bonifraterska, Stojerska;
The workshops of the companies Többens, Schultz, Röhrich, Hoffmann, Schilling—along the streets Leszno, Karmelicka, Nowolipki, Smocza, Nowolipie, Żelazna;
The workshops of the Hallmann company—across from Nowolipki St.;
The workshops of the Toebbens company—along the streets Ciepła, Twarda, Prosta, Ceglana
The Labor Office building—around the building at 84 Leszno.
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ORGANIZATIONAL DIAGRAM OF THE JEWISH COUNCIL
adopted at the meeting of the executive committee of the Jewish Council on 15 August 1942
Section I, Executive Committee
Engr. Marek Lichtenbaum, Chairman8
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APPENDIX
Warsaw, 8 August 1942
Announcement
The Supply Company of the Jewish Sector in Warsaw announces that starting today, the consumer's obligation to register cards at retail stores has been rescinded.
Each consumer can pick up the food rations to which he is entitled at any retail store by presenting his ration card.
Chairman of the Jewish Council in Warsaw
Engr. M. Lichtenbaum
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Announcement
Warsaw, 9 August 1942
On order of the authorities, the Jewish Council announces that starting on 10 [?] August 1942, all stores in the Jewish Sector are to be open daily from 8 AM to 7 PM.
Jewish Council in Warsaw
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Announcement
Warsaw, 25 August 1942
On order of the authorities, the Jewish Council announces the following:
Starting today, 25 August 1942, from 8 PM, no rickshaw driver is permitted to move in the street, and from 9 PM, no Jew is permitted to be in the street with the exception of the Jewish Order Service, which is on duty at that time.
Jewish Council in Warsaw
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Warsaw, 25 August 1942
On order of the Labor Office in Warsaw, the Jewish Council announces
Labor Office, Warsaw
Jewish Sector Department
Directive
"A change in place of employment may occur exclusively with the prior permission of the Warsaw Labor Office, Jewish Sector Section.
Whoever leaves his place of work will be immediately deported."
Labor Office, Warsaw
Ziegler, Superintendent of the Administration
Warsaw, 8/24/1942