On May 4th. 1924 the Nazi’s secure 6.4% of the votes in the ‘Reichstag’ Elections and 4 years later, on May 20th. 1928 Nazi’s secure a reduction to 2.5% of the votes in the Reichstag Elections. Hitler has a return of 12 Deputies. On May 6th. 1933 The Institute of Sexual Studies in Berlin is destroyed by pro-Nazi students over academic curiosity in the area of ‘homosexual behaviour.’ On May 10th. Ten’s of thousands of Books are burned on the Unter den Linden, Berlin. More than 20,000 Books are burned opposite the University of Berlin and these are books written by Jews, political dissidents, and others not approved by the state. Meanwhile, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise addressed 100,000 people in Battery Park, Manhattan, New York, to protest Nazi persecution of the Jews as we remind ourselves of what Heinrich Heine had to say:
“..Those who begin by burning Books end by burning People.” Heinrich Heine.
On May 15th. The Jews of Paris protest for two days over the campaign of anti-Jewish measures within Germany.
Wednesday May 17th. 1933 “..Our boundless love for and loyalty to our own national traditions make us respect ..national claims of others.” Adolf Hitler.
On May 17th. however, when it came to the Jewish People in Hitler’s mindset, no sovereignty would exist for them and no place would be found for them to live their lives. As a petition is handed to the League of Nations by a Jewish Delegation protesting Germany’s anti-Jewish legislation, Hitler presses on with his resolve to end all Jewish existence. On May 23rd. the American Consul General, George S. Messerschmith reported back to the Secretary of State that Hitler’s antisemitism had permeated German society to such a degree, that it would destroy Jewish private and business life for years to come, even if the persecution ceased immediately! On May 1st. 1934 Der Sturmer becomes one of Germany’s most popular periodicals with the virulently antisemitic Julius Streicher as its editor. Streicher regurgitates the ‘blood libel’ lie on his front cover.
With its charge, The Blood Libel, or Ritual Murder Charge, manages to stir the antisemitic hatred of Der Sturmer’s readers, regurgitating the Middle Ages accusation of Jewish guilt in the ritual murder of Christian’s, especially their Children. With the absurd claim of Jewish usage of the blood of Christians for Religious ritual purposes, even in 1930’s enlightened times, such ignorance manifestly persisted. This libel all dates back to the Middle Ages, and even with the Catholic Church’s later repudiation of the charge, this still had not stemmed the flow of antisemitic hatred. Adding this to Hitler’s growing anti-Jewish rhetoric, the assault upon the body of the Jewish People grew steadily more savage and prolonged. The Jewish People in all antiquity, who have been violated in assaults, pogroms and with the widespread destruction of entire Jewish Communities, it is little wonder that the Blood Libel lie festers and persists!
Also, and when we consider any aspect of this so called Blood Libel, we must regard it in light of Jewish Law, contained in Leviticus, that does not allow the consumption of any blood. This precipitates Der Sturmer becoming one of Hitler’s favourite reads. Rudolf Hess now creates the Racial Policy Office of the National Socialist German Workers Party, or ‘Rassenpolitisches Amt der NSDAP.’ On May 2nd. Congressman Louis T. McFadden delivers an antisemitic speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. On May 17th. German Jews are no longer entitled to health insurance and at New York’s Madison Square Garden, thousands attend a pro-Nazi rally sponsored by the German-American Bund. On May 3rd. 1935 Hjalmar Schacht, Hitler’s Finance Minister subordinates all other tasks to that of Rearmament:
“..fulfilment of ..programme for rearmament on a mass scale is ..basis of German policy ..everything else must be subordinate to this task.” Hjalmar Schacht.
On May 12th. the Polish dictator Jozef Pilsudski dies and anti-Jewish measures now escalate within Poland. The government and most Polish political parties will call for discrimination, economic boycott, expulsion, and physical violence against Jews. The Polish Catholic Church, most priests, the Catholic press, and schools will also sanction discrimination and/or violence against the Jews. On May 14th. German edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion declared a forgery by Swiss Court in Bern and on May 21st. Hitler gives his Reichstag speech on peace. Also, with the Army Defence Law, it sees ‘Aryan heritage’ as a clear demand for military service as ‘Jews Not Wanted’ posters and signs spring up on restaurants, shops and at the entry point to villages throughout Germany. Schacht now becomes Plenipotentiary General for a War Economy.
The fullest exploitation of Lands, Goods, Valuables and possessions of all those declared alien to the Reich commences. This will lead to the depreciating wealth of the Jews, a move in direct contrast with the accumulation of further Reich wealth. The policy of persecuting the Jews, and the larceny thus gained was a matter of principle in Economic circles. Plunder of all Jewish assets was a matter of decree. On May 31st. Jews are banned from serving in the German Armed Forces. On May 28th. 1937 Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister in Britain. The following year on May 3rd. 1938 the Flossenburg Concentration Camp is established and on May 20th. Sudeten Germans seek German rule as a partial mobilisation in Czechoslovakia commences along the German border.
On May 28th. there is a boycott of Jewish businesses in Frankfurt and on May 29th. Hungary restricts the rights of its Jewish Citizens. The following day, May 30th. Hitler tells his Generals he is set to invade Czechoslovakia. On May 3rd. 1939 Viacheslav Molotov replaces Maksim Litvinov as Russian Foreign Minister and on May 15th. 900 women prisoners are transferred from Lichtenburg Concentration Camp to the newly established Ravensbrueck Camp. Meanwhile, the St. Louis leaves Hamburg for Cuba, with 734 Jewish refugees on board. On May 17th. in Britain, the MacDonald White Paper sets the seal on Jewish immigration to 50,000 Jews being allowed into Palestine over the coming 5 years. On May 22nd. Germany and Italy sign their ‘Pact of Steel’ as on May 23rd. Hitler is prepared to attack Poland.
During May 1940 Rudolf Hoess becomes Auschwitz Kommandant and as the Ciezanow Ghetto in Poland becomes established, we are aware that 5,000 Jews are Enclosed. The
Jasinovka Ghetto in Poland is also established and 3,000 Jews here are Enclosed and as the Zamosc Ghetto in Poland is established, 13,000 Jews here too are Enclosed. On May 1st. Norway surrenders. On May 6th. with the Siedlice Ghetto in Poland established a further 15,000 Jews are to be Enclosed. On May 10th. Hitler invades Belgium, France, Holland and Luxembourg with his forces. Martin Luther is appointed to Foreign Office Department, Deutschland and as Neville Chamberlain resigns as Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill takes charge.
Friday May 10th. 1940 “..I felt as if I were walking with destiny ..that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.” Winston Churchill.
On May 14th. the Dutch Army surrenders and the following day May 15th. 1,000’s of Jewish refugee’s are caught out by the sheer speed of the German assault as Holland is overrun and surrenders. On May 16th. Hitler’s plan to eradicate Polish intellectuals is assessed and following on from that, on May 17th. Germans occupy Brussels and the following day May 18th. they take Antwerp. On May 19th. Arthur Seyss Inquart is appointed Reich Commissioner over Holland. On May 20th. Auschwitz is now functioning as a containment centre and a deportation train with Romany Gypsies from Hamburg was sent straight to Belzec. Meanwhile, on May 21st. SS Sturmbannfuhrer Herbert Lange’s Sonderkommando begins its operations in Soldau.
“..special command being under my command for particular tasks was sent to Soldau during ..time from May 21st. to June 8th. 1940 in accord with ..RSHA and has evacuated 1,588 insane persons from ..transition camp during that time.” SS Gruppenfuhrer Jakob Sporrenberg.
On May 25th. Hitler receives a memo from Himmler on the Jewish treatment ‘East’ and the following day May 26th. the commencement of the evacuation of 338,000 British and French troops from Dunkirk begins. On May 27th. 1940. the Le Paradis Massacre against British Prisoner’s of War was conducted by 14th Company, 3rd. ss Totenkopf Panzer Division. British Forces were in retreat toward Dunkirk at the time and troops from the 2nd Battalion, of the Royal Norfolk Regiment were defending a farmhouse surrounded by the waffen ss task force. Without ammunition, the British Troops surrendered. Of those 100 British Prisoner’s of War, they were Machine Gunned against a wall and Murdered! On May 28th. Belgium capitulates.
The following day May 29th. the Slovak Government agrees to deport 120,000 of its Jewish People to Germany as Slave Labourers. On May 30th. Belzec, approximately 10,000 Jews from Lublin, Radom and the Warsaw district arrived at Belzec village and were distributed on toward several local labour camps. During May 1941 120 of Bucharest’s Jews are murdered and the Lachva Ghetto in Poland is established and 2,000 Jews are Enclosed. The Jewish Homes, Businesses, Cemeteries and Synagogues in Zagreb are destroyed. On May 1st. the Natzweiler Concentration Camp is established as the Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp an independent camp. On May 2nd. at a meeting of Reich Secretaries, it was concluded that any territorial solution ‘East’ would not be feasible given the requirement for all produce and supplies for German growth.
Thursday May 8th. 1941 “..General Komissar ..Estonia ..Latvia ..Lithuania will take measures to establish ..German Protectorate ..possible in ..future to annex these territories to ..German Reich. ..suitable elements among ..population must be assimilated ..undesirable elements exterminated.” Alfred Rosenberg.
On May 10th. Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess lands in Scotland. On May 13th. Hitler issues Barbarossa Jurisdiction Order to all Military Commanders and the following day May 14th. 4,000 Jews from Paris are interned at Pithiviers. Meanwhile Romanian Jews are forced into labour and Martin Bormann succeeds Hess. On May 15th. some 12 or so Jewish Prisoner’s of War at the Biala-Podlaska detention camp are murdered at Konskowola. Meanwhile Marshal Petain pledges French cooperation with Germany. On May 16th. the Danica Concentration Camp is in operation as others in Croatia, Dakovo, Jadovno, Jasenovac where 4,000 Jewish Men are murdered, and Loborgrad where 4,000 Jewish Women are murdered seal the fate of their Jewish Citizens and Petain further approves collaboration with Hitler.
On May 20th. the Jews in France are prohibited from trading, from the ownership of banks, hotels or restaurants. These are all denied them. A regulation, signed by SS Gruppenfuhrer Walther Schellenberg, prevents all future Jewish emigration from Belgium or France in line with Goering’s decree to ban all future Jewish emigration. This is of course in line with Hitler’s derailed plan, his final solution, to resolve the presence of the Jewish People on the European Continent. As difficult as it becomes to accept, and we cannot ever know the full extent of the Catastrophe, 6,000,000 Murdered Jews of Europe represents a fraction of Hitler’s intended target as outlines at The Wannsee Conference, 11,293,300 Murdered Jews.
Tuesday May 20th. 1941 “..doubtless and imminent final solution.” Hermann Goering.
On May 22nd Croatian Jews are forced to wear yellow badges and on May 29th. Father Maximilian Rajmund Kolbe arrives at Auschwitz and will establish a recognition of what Christian Charity must mean. On May 31st. Heydrich and General Eduard Wagner, the Wehrmacht’s Quartermaster, agrees upon respective roles and logistics for der Einsatzgruppe actions to be articulated and progressed in Russia. During May of 1942 the first mass gassings in Sobibor Death Camp took place. By now, more than 50,000 Jews will have been murdered in Sobibor since initial operations commenced. Sobibor was one of the x3 sister Camps of the Aktion Reinhard Death Camp system, the other’s being Belzec and Treblinka. The designation for the mass murder of those Jews sent to these Aktion Reinhard Death Camps was to memorialise in some way SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich role in Hitler’s Final Solution.
There is no ambiguity in this statement as to whose name adorns the most evident device in the slaughter of Jewish existence! As it would appear that some had sought to accredit a member of the finance ministry with the dubious honour of the title, which is now attributed to in excess of 2,000,000 Jews of Europe, Heydrich is not only the instigator of Hitler’s personal resolve to destroy all of European Jewry, his forename is the given in relation to all these x3 Aktion ‘Reinhard’ Death Camps. During the month of May alo, Dereczyn Ghetto in Poland was established and would see to 3,500 Jews being Enclosed. Also, the Kovel Ghetto in the Ukraine was established which would harness the ability to destroy 14,000 Jews soon to be Enclosed. The Gorlice Ghetto in Poland was also established in Dszelnice Dworszeska as the West is being gradually woken to the facts of the Jewish Destruction.
“..From ..day ..Russo German war broke out, ..Germans undertook ..physical extermination of ..Jewish Population on Polish territory.” The German Bund.
Active in Poland, the Bund was the first organisation to notify the West, through the Polish Government in Exile of what the Germans were undertaking with regards to the Jewish Population. This was already recognised as the silently declared intention for the physical destruction of all Jews within Poland gathered pace. As accurate an analysis of the account raged against the Jews is made, we have the established details of the mass murder of so many Jews from so many Community’s. For all too many Jews, this is given in cold relief as sums, totals and figures which must never misrepresent the human presence they seek to define. Here we have 30,000 of Lvov’s Jews, Murdered and 15,000 of Stanislawow’s Jews, also Murdered! There are 5,000 of Tarnopol’s Jews, Murdered and 4,000 of Brzezany’s Jews, who are also Murdered!
Of Brzezany’s Jewish population, which existed prior to Hitler’s Invasion, of these 18,000 Jews, 16,300 had already been Murdered. The pace of the Slaughter does not waver as 2,000 of Zloczow’s Jews are Murdered. The length and breadth of Poland, Jewish Community’s are removed from the former homes, in full view of those former neighbours who failed to save so many of their Jewish Cousins. In Brody, Drohobycz, Kolomyja, Kuty, Przemysl, Przemslany, Rawa Ruska, Sambor, Sniatyn, Stryj, Zaleszczyki, Zbaraz and Zborow, the fate of their Jewish Population was being sealed, devastated in pogroms which had no measure other than with Hitler’s clear intention to eradicate them fully. The Bund document also included the fate of the Jews of Galicia and alongside those Jews of The Baltic Regions, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
On May 1st. Artur Greiser, the Wartheland Gauleiter, sends a letter to Himmler which recognises the destruction of 100,000 Jews in the Lodz region alone. Meanwhile, 1,000 of Dvinsk’s Jews are murdered, where some 12,200 Jews have already been murdered. There are 245 Jewish Men, 242 Jewish Women and 22 Jewish Children in Daugavpils who were also Murdered. Elsewhere, all Slovak Jews are expelled toward Poland and will see a fee of 500 Reichmarcs being paid to the Reich for them to undertake each resettlement. On May 3rd. more than 20,000 of Prague’s Jews have been ‘resettled’ and on May 4th. The selction for Gassing operations begins at Birkenau and by completion, more than 1,100,000 Jews would be Murdered there. Added to this assessment for the Jewish People, there is an untold ferocity also meted out to Gypsies, Poles, Homosexuals, Jehovahy’s Witnesses and so many others.
Tuesday May 5th. 1942 “..there’s a good deal of mopping up taking place ..particularly amongst ..Jews. ..we just get on with it. That way we’ll all be home quicker.” Fritz Jacob.
Though not explicit, the comments which Jacob here addressed to a close acquaintance, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Rudolf Querner, cannot disguise what both knew was an annihilation of the Jews in Kamenets Podolsky. Secrecy, it seems, did not stretch to the odd hand written communication between consenting officials in the slaughter of the Jews they were both involved in. On May 8th. 5,670 of Lida’s Jews are murdered. On May 9th. Dachau Concentration Camp is to have a Large Crematorium and Gassing chamber and this will be located at Barracks ‘X’. Meanwhile the Jews of Markuszow resist their captors and escape to the Wola Forest. On May 10th. 1,000 of Wolozyn’s Jews are murdered.
Tuesday May 12th. 1942. “..struggle against ..Jews ..implacable ..intensifying ..deportations ..mass executions. ..massacres of ..Jews in Ukraine ..nearly complete. In Poland and Germany they want to complete it ..with a system of mass murders.” Abbot Pirro Scavizzi.
On May 12th. 1,000’s of Gabin’s Jews are murdered at Chelmno while elsewhere, 2,500 of Ivye’s Jews are also murdered. On May 15th. 10,000 of Lodz’s Ghetto Jews are murdered at Chelmno and Hitler’s Belzec reopens for mass murder. More of Izbica Lubelska’s Jews expelled to Belzec as Jewish Family Transports to Lublin from Slovakia commence. Meanwhile there is a Russian counter offensive at Kharkov. On May 16th. 4,500 of Pabiance’s Jews are murdered at Chelmno. On May 18th. The New York Times carries the facts of Jewish slaughter so far, 100,000 Jews murdered in The Baltic States, 100,000 Jews murdered in Poland and 200,000 Jews murdered in Russia. This is the bare assessment of an on-going assault against the entire Jewish Population of Europe which was in evidence for almost an entire year now.
On May 21st. 3,000 of Brzeziny’s Jews are murdered in a 3 day operation at Chelmno as the I.G. Farben industrial enterprise establishes a factory at Auschwitz. This is Monowitz, or Auschwitz III and is now in operation. On May 23rd. 4,000 of Chelm’s Jews are murdered at Sobibor in a 3 day operation. Also, 2,000 of Ozorkow Jews are murdered at Chelmno in a 3 day operation. The entire Jewish Community of Dolginovo is murdered in a 2 day operation as 100’s of Wlodawa’s Jews are also murdered. On May 26th. both Britain and Russia sign a mutual assistance treaty. On May 27th. 2,000 of Zamosc’s Jews are murdered at Belzec as Heydrich becomes the target of an assassination. Elsewhere Belgian Jews are ordered to wear the Yellow Star as Hitler’s Wehrmacht beat’s back a Russian advance at Kharkov. On May 28th. 6,000 of Cracow’s Jews are murdered at Belzec and on May 29th. 3,000 of Radziwillow’s Jews resist with 1,500 of their community being killed. The Vichy Government of France bans ALL Jews from all Public places.
On May 31st. 1,000 Jews of Tyszowce are deported to Majdanek as an aktion takes place in Stryj and more than 600 of Parafianow’s Jews are also Murdered. All Jewish patients are Murdered in the Jewish hospital at Przemyslany as more than 600 of Luszki’s Jews are also Murdered. During May 1943 the Cluz Ghetto in Hungary established and as 16,000 Jews are Enclosed the approach of Hitler’s Final Solution has settled on Hungartian Jewry. The Drohobych Ghetto is Liquidated as ais the Ghetto of Stryj. On May 1st. 2,500 of Brody’s Jews are Murdered in the Liquidation of the Ghetto there. On May 4th. over 1,100 Dutch Jews are transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor.
Wednesday May 5th. 1943 “..In Poland there were ..about 4,500,000 Jews ..there remain ..only 100,000. ..Warsaw Ghetto containing ..650,000 ..only 20,000 ..25,000 Jews there. ..majority killed. ..Special death camps at Lublin (Majdanek) ..Treblinka near Brst-Litovsk. ..several hundred ..jammed into large rooms ..where they die by gassing.” Vatican Memo.
May 5th. The Vatican produces a Memo which clearly acknowledges what it declares it knows of the fate of more than 4,500,000 Jews of Poland. It is a matter of fact that with such knowledge, the Church could not see fit to protest in more vigorous terms. There were Catholics back then who would have obeyed each and every instruction administered by the Church and would no doubt have confronted even Hitler. The legacy however stands to accuse all and everyone who stood aside and witnessed the parade of Jewish People toward certain destruction.
Friday May 7th.1943 “..raiding parties shoot 30 ..50 Jews each night. ..a considerable number of Jews are still underground. ..best and only method for destroying ..Jews ..remains ..setting of fires.” SS Obergruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop.
On May 7th. 1,000 of Zagreb’s Jews are transported to Auschwitz as elsewhere, the last 370 of Nowogrodek’s Jews are murdered. On On May 8th. and in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Headquarters of Jewish Resistance at 18 Mila Street, is surrounded and liquidated. Along with Mordechai Anielewicz, a further 97 Jewish Resistance Fighters Died that Day. Their refusal to succumb to the Nazi brutality will point the way toward all future Jewish Persistence and Resistance! 2 Jewish Fighters managed to Survive the onslaught while more than 50,000 of Warsaw’s Jews have been murdered in recent months. On May 9th. over 600 of Skalat’s Jews as murdered as the German Afrika Korps surrenders in Tunisia.
Tuesday May 11th. 1943 “..responsibility for ..crime of ..murder of ..whole Jewish nationality in Poland rests first of all on those who are carrying it out ..but indirectly it falls also upon ..whole of humanity ..peoples of ..Allied nations and on their governments ..who up to this day have not taken any real steps to halt this crime. By looking on passively upon this murder of defenceless millions tortured children ..women and men they have become partners to ..responsibility…My friends in ..Warsaw ghetto fell. ..I did not succeed in dying ..same way or ..with them. ..I belong to them and ..mass graves there.” Shmuel Zygielbojm.
On May 11th. as over 1,400 Dutch Jews are transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor,
Shmuel Zygielbojm sees no other way out of his dilemma to at least save some of the Jews of Poland and commits suicide. The legacy of such an act is recognised as a resistance of the Jewish spirit to stand so much taller thyan those who could have helped the Jews of Poland and could have at least assisted the Jews of The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
“..Thus far ..in that forsaken land ..more than 3,000,000 have been killed.” Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel.
Rabbi Weissmandel was acting on behalf of the remnant of All European Jewry when he sought to persuade the West to negotiate through the ‘Europa Plan.’ With such a plan for the saving of what could amount to a further 1,000,000 Jewish People from destruction, this strong willed Jew went into the lions den. Weissmandel dealt with the Nazi cohorts, with Dieter Wisliceny, Eichmann’s Deputy and who was the representative in Slovakia at the time, but could not persuade the West to act in one accord. On May 13th. 1,000 of Zagreb’s Jews are transported to Auschwitz as elsewhere Hitler’s Army and all Axis Forces in North Africa surrender.
Monday May 17th. 1943 “..Warsaw Ghetto is free of Jews.” SS Obergruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop.
On May 17th. 395 Berlin Jews are transported to Auschwitz as the Ruhr Dams are attacked by the RAF. On May 18th. over 2,500 Dutch Jews are transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor and on May 19th. Berlin is declared ‘Judenrein,’ Free of Its Jews. On May 21st. 1,000 of Busk’s Jews are murdered and the following day May 22nd. 1,000 of Stryj’s Jews are also murdered.
Monday May 24th. 1943 “..of ..56,065 caught ..7,000 were destroyed in ..former ghetto. ..6,929 were destroyed by transporting them to TII (Treblinka).” SS Obergruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop.
On May 24th. there is a further rebellion which strikes at the Bialystok Ghetto, where 15,000 Jews have already been removed to Treblinka. Meanwhile, a protest by Sofia Jews saves over 19,000 of their number as the Bulgarian Government scatters its Jews to avoid German resettlement. Himmler transpers SS Oberfuhrer von Sammern-Frankenegg to Croatia over his inability to crush Jewish Resistance in Warsaw.
Tuesday, 25th. May 1943 “..holiest thing in ..world ..faith explains and defines all we ought to be ..how we ought to conduct ourselves and what we ought to believe.” Moshe Flinker.
On May 25th. over 2,800 Dutch Jews are transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor and on May 27th. 3,000 of Tluste’s Jews are murdered and 2,500 of Sokal’s Jews are also murdered. During May 1944 the Des Ghetto in Hungary is established and 8,000 Jews will be Enclosed as the Kaposvar Ghetto in Hungary is also established and will have 5,000 Jews Enclosed. Elsewhere, the Lodz and Kosice Ghetto’s are Liquidated. On May 9th. the Russians retake Sevastopol and on May 11th. Allied forces mount a major offensive in central Italy. On May 15th. over 2,500 Jews from Theresienstadt are transported to Auschwitz and more than 870 Jews from Drancy are deported to Kovno and Reval. Meanwhile, Eichmann begins the deportation of Hungary’s Jews to Birkenau with the assistance of the Hungarian Gendarmerie.
On May 16th. 2,500 Jews are transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz and over 500 of Fossoli’s Jews are also transported to Auschwitz as the full Hungarian action in Birkenau begins. On May 18th. 2,500 Jews are transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz as Polish Forces take Monte Cassino. On May 19th. over 680 Dutch Jews are deported to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. The SK 1005 Exhumation and obliteration of the evidence at the Killing Site at Ponary Woods has ended. On May 22nd. The Auschwitz Protocol, compiled by Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler is given to Giuseppe Burzio, the Vatican’s Charge d’affaires to Bratislava, for it to be handed to the Pope. On May 24th. Oswald Pohl’s detailed report on the Hungarian ‘resettlement’ exercise reaches Himmler and on May 27th. two Jews, Arnost Rosin and Czezlaw Mardowicz escape from Auschwitz.
Monday May 29th. 1944 “..Do you know where ..Jews of Austria ..and of Germany ..Holland ..Czechoslovakia and France. ..in Poland ..taken in cattle cars ..70 into each car. What happened to them I do not know ..I can only guess.” Eva Heyman.
On May 31st. Hungarian Jews are being Gassed in Birkenau at an ever increasing rate as US Aerial Reconnaissance captures the progress of a ‘resettlement’ toward Death Camp Birkenau. Are these the Hungarian Jews? Allied insistence that the Death Camp at Auschwitz/Birkenau is out of their reach has been laid to waste here. There has been an historical debate as to the reasoning for the inability to see Auschwitz/Birkenau as a legitimate target and a widespread insistence has been aired that no one requested nor demanded that such an attack should be mounted. Elsewhere, 3,500 of Nyiregyhaza’s Jews are deported to Auschwitz.
Wednesday May 31st. 1944 “..The destruction of all roads leading from Hungary to Poland.” Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel.
On May 1st. Admiral Karl Doenitz now heads the German Government and on May 2nd. The Russians occupy Berlin and is surrendered. President Truman now appoints Robert Jackson as chief U. S. counsel for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals. On May 3rd. 17,247 Theresienstadt Jewish inmates are handed over to the Red Cross. Adolf Eichmann’s commando is last seen at Alt Ausee, Salzkammergut. On May 5th. Mauthausen Concentration Camp is liberatedas the Wehrmacht surrenders in Denmark. Of the 5,600 Danish Jews under German threat, most escaped though 116 Danish Jews were murdered. The Wehrmacht now surrenders in Holland where some 106,000 Dutch Jews were murdered and the Wehrmacht also surrenders North Germany.
Saturday May 5th. 1945. “..word we indulged ourselves with in ..most secret corner of our being and feared to pronounce aloud. That sacred word ..contains so many beautiful ..unbelievable things ..liberty ..freedom…end of tyranny ..misery ..slavery..hunger. ..it has come true. ..Peace.” Helga Weiss.
On May 6th. Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering surrenders to the Allies and is at first toasted with champagne, but later is transferred to Bad Mondorf in Luxembourg. On May 7th. Colonel General Alfred Jodl signs Germany’s unconditional surrender at Reims and Hitler’s dream of a 1,000 year Reich ends. It barely lasted 12 years as World War II in Europe ends. On May 8th. as the Russians liberate Theresienstadt we come to realise that more than 140,000 Jews have passed through the Camp and 90,000 of these Jews perished during, in and or enroute to The Death Camps. With more than 33,500 Jews from Theresienstadt having also been murdered, the insistence of this as a model Camp is exposed. 30,000 Jews were liberated. It is Victory in Europe, VE Day and meanwhile, there are still some 700,000 inmates, Jews and other’s in Concentration Camps at War’s end still awaiting repatriation!
The question is being asked by those Jews who managed to Survive, to where should they return. To lands defaced with their previous existence? To lands which do not wish them to return? To Country’s which abandoned them to their enormous losses. We are still attempting to get to grips with the full assessment of the Jewish Catastrophe when we realise that more than 3,000,000 Polish Jews have been Murdered and 1,100,000 Russian Jews alone were murdered. On May 9th. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signs Unconditional German surrender and reality makes us all too aware that some 171,000 Jews of Germany were murdered. On May 10th. 1945 Peter van Pels, who had shared the Secret Annexe with Anne Frank and her Family died. Peter was forced marched from Auschwitz on January 25th. 1945. These ‘death marches’ and there were many, this one from Auschwitz to Mauthausen in Austria, all were designed for the eventual destruction of those Jews who had Survived thus far. Peter died at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, no doubt as a result of the debillitating effects of his abuse.
On May 21st. Odilo Globocnik commits suicide in detention centre, Weissensee, Austria and on May 23rd. Himmler is captured and commits suicide as British tanks enter Flensburg, Germany. In Flensburg, the British Army take several of the highest ranking Nazis into custody. These will be tried in the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial of the Major Nazi’s, including Donitz, Jodl, Keitel, Rosenberg and Speer. On May 3rd. 1946 Walther Funk testifies at his Nuremberg Trial and on May 8th. Grand Admiral Karl Donitz testifies at his Nuremberg Trial. On May 20th. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder testifies at his Nuremberg Trial. On May 23rd. Baldur von Schirach testifies at his Nuremberg Trial and on May 28th. Fritz Sauckel testifies at his Nuremberg Trial.
On May 8th. 1947 the Nuremberg Tribunal on ‘IG Farben’ commences. On May 14th. 1948 with the establishment of the State of Israel heralds forth a commemorative which seeks to comprehend the loss to the state of Israel that is measured in the 6,000,000 Jews murdered in The Holocaust. On May 18th. 1953 YadVashem, The Holocaust Martyr’s and Hero’s Remembrance Authority is established.
“..I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters ..I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off.” Isaiah 56:5.
On May 11th. 1960 Adolf Eichmann, the Architect of The Holocaust slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews of Europe, Men, Women and Their Children, is captured in Buenos Aires and is flown to Israel. On May 29th. 1962, with Eichmann’s appeal against his Death sentence rejected, on May 31st. Adolf Eichmann is marched toward his execution. His scheduled Hanging, Midnight is only slightly delayed. On May 10th. 1964 The Treblinka Monument is unveiled.
