Aloysius Baurer Report-Victim

This has been a horrible day for me.

The Germans launched their first attack today, unfortunately on the street that has become my current home. They started taking casualties, so their commander, I think his name was Stroop ordered a retreat. After they had fallen back though, Stroop ordered that all the buildings in the Ghetto were to be burned down. My building was one of the first to go up in flame. As I ran into the street coughing uncontrollably, I heard some shouts and through the smoke glimpsed a soldier pointing at me and yelling. I darted around a building that wasn’t yet burning, but heard footsteps coming in my direction. I started to run around a turn, but before I was around the soldier shot me in the leg, and left me for dead. I jumped into a basement widow and dragged myself into a closet where I am now writing this entry. Previously I had been thinking of joining the Z.O.B. but now with my crippled leg I barely have enough strength to be writing in this journal. Even if I miraculously heal, knowing what these Germans can do will keep me from joining the Z.O.B. for fear that I will have to fight the man who shot me.

Charlie Macdonald Report-Bystander

 

I’m not sure what to do.

I was reading the news paper outside a coffee shop in the United States, and found an article tucked in the back so small it looked completely insignificant. It sparked my curiosity, so I went on and read it. It was talking about some Jews in Europe who were being killed or forced into labor by some political group called the Nazis.

What was happening seemed pretty significant to me, and I wondered why it was tucked into the back of one of the largest papers in the U.S. I figured that the U.S. should help at least some of these poor Jews. But then I had a thought, what if there was a reason for all this, maybe the Jews brought this upon themselves. I wondered what they could have possibly done to make the Germans so angry. Maybe destroy a building of worship, or assassin a major political leader? Anyhow I probably shouldn’t lose any sleep about it, if its tucked into the back of a paper it can’t have any real meaning, and like I said before the Jews probably brought it upon themselves, so who would I be to interfere with another countries problems when I have enough hardship’s to worry about already.    

Mordechai Anielewicz Report-Upstander

Things are going well, we have combined numbers with the Z.O.B. and our numbers are around 750. The Germans have started burning a couple buildings because of the retreat we forced against them yesterday, but by now most of our resistance fighters are safe in our underground bunkers making more of the weapons that worked so well for us. The Germans are claiming that they will have us out of the Ghetto in three days, but looking on how well we beat their “highly trained” officers I suspect that we will last many weeks. I just hope that news of us will reach other Ghettos and encourage other Jews to stand up for themselves, not sit down and take a beating from some soldier hoping that it will end soon.

I must go, there is news that the Nazis are coming back for more, so I must rally the troops, and show the Germans that we will not be pushed around.

Jurgen Stroop Report-Perpetrator

I don’t understand why those Jews think that they actually have a fighting chance against us. They may have forced a retreat and disoriented my troops, but I’ve already sent for reinforcements of flamethrowers and a few tanks, to add to my already large number of troops. The first burning buildings are already coming down around them, and many are being sent to Treblinka as I’m writing. Several bunkers have been gassed, but I have reports that there are still some 750 Jews armed with some weapons that look mostly “homemade” my troops have reported what in other bunkers or otherwise scattered around the Ghetto. I am not very worried about these Jews, because there is a rumor going around that they should all be exterminated, or at Treblinka in under four days. I don’t see how difficult it can be to kill a couple hundred Jews, if Hitler’s already killed thousands at this point. I must get back on duty, already there are scouts with reports outside my tent.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Summary

In the Warsaw Ghetto 300,000 Men, Women, and children were sent to the death camp Treblinka. Once news got out that the rest of the Jews remaining in the Ghetto were going to be deported, two resistance groups were formed, the Z.O.B. and the Z.Z.W. There was some tension between the two groups, but because they were for the same cause, they tried to work together. Using smuggled weapons, the two groups surprised the Nazis forcing their commander, Jurgen Stroop to call a retreat. Soon after the attack, Jurgen Stroop ordered that all buildings be burned down, forcing many Jews into the streets, where they were rounded up, and sent to Treblinka. Many bunkers were also gassed killing, or exposing Jews to German officers. The operation for the Warsaw Ghetto was meant to take place in under three days, but the Jews managed to hold out for over a month. To symbolize German victory, Stroop announced that the synagogue outside the Ghetto was going to be blown up. In totalabout 300 German soldiers were killed by the resistance fighters, and almost 7,000 Jews were killed or otherwisedied during the Germans attempts to quell the uprising. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising ended badly for the Warsaw Jews but caused a string of revolutions in other Ghettos that benefitted the Jews i the long run.