On this day in the History of The Holocaust July 31st. 1919 sees Germany adopt the Weimar constitution. On July 29th. 1921 Hitler becomes Chairman NSDAP, enroute toward becoming der Fuhrer. On July 14th. 1925 the Allies commence withdrawal from the Ruhr and on July 18th. Hitler’s 1st. Volume of ‘Mein Kampf’, My Struggle, is published. On July 31st. 1932 the Nazi’s secure 37.3% of the Election votes cast, winning 230 of the 608 seats in the Reichstag. They are now the Largest single Party in German Government. On July 1st. 1933 the German government reiterates that Hitler still belongs to the Catholic Church and has no intention of leaving it. On July 14th. The Nazi Party becomes Germany’s only legally recognised political party. The Law Regarding Revocation of Naturalisation and the Annulment of German Citizenship removes German citizenship from Eastern European Jews and Gypsies resident in Germany.
The Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases is decreed and euthanasia, for those declared ‘lebensunwertes Leben,’ of a ‘life unworthy of life’, will be murdered. The law is endorsed by the American Eugenics Society and meanwhile, Jews will be refused entry into Law Schools under Hitler’s personal wishes. On July 20th. Reich Concordat with Pope Pius XI and the Vatican, a treaty protecting Catholic rights in Germany for the church while this gives Hitler ‘Political recognition’. On July 31st. approximately 30,000 people are by now interned in Hitler’s Nazi Concentration Camps. On July 4th. 1934 Theodor Eicke establishes the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps at Dachau. On July 10th. the Polish anti-Semitic organisation ‘Oboz Narodowo-Radykalny’ is banned by Polish leader Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, three months after its formation.
On July 20th. the SS is strengthened and becomes autonomous of the much weakened SA and the SS now overhauls the Camp system. On July 25th. a Nazi Putsch in Austria fails and the Austrian Prime Minister, Engelbert Dollfuss is murdered. On July 26th. Franz von Papen becomes special envoy to Austria. On July 1st. 1935 The Society for Research into the Teaching of Ancestral Heritage, ‘Ahnenerbe Forschungs und Lehrgemeinschaft’ founded. This will become an anti-Semitic undertaking, studying the racial history of the German people. On July 3rd. 1936 in the assembly room of the League of Nations in Geneva, Stefan Lux, a German Jew, kills himself in protest at Hitler’s, and Germany’s ill treatment of the Jews. On July 11th. Hitler agrees Austrian Sovereignty and the following day, on July 12th. Prisoners and civilian workers begin to construct Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, at Oranienburg, 32 Kilometres from Berlin.
On July 1st. 1937 Pastor Martin Niemoeller is arrested over his opposition to Hitler and on July 8th. Werner Otto von Hentig of the German Foreign Office issues a memorandum to his superior, Ernst von Weizsaker, suggesting that poorer Jews should be expelled ahead of richer Jews in order to extort a greater levy from Germany’s more prosperous Jews! On July 16th. Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens near Weimar and the first 300 prisoners arrive. On July 27th. the Trial of 5 Jews opens in Bamberg, Germany over alleged ‘ritual murder’. On July 2nd. 1938 40,000 Austrian Jews are taken into ‘protective custody’. On July 6th. Anti-Jewish limitations on their economic life are promulgated as a Refugee Conference is convened at Evian-les-Bains, France. The Evian Conference, of which 29 of the 33 Nations invited who turn up to meet and discuss the growing crisis for Jews under Hitler’s yoke, sort out nothing for the Jewish People! As if the Jews don’t feel isolated enough, or abandoned completely,
Evian hands Hitler the confirmation that he has captured the mood of indifference that the World holds for the Jewish predicament and this is reflected in a News Paper article the day before the Evian Conference ends on July 15th.. On July 14th. Pope Pius XI is ‘politically’ displeased and shares a hope that the Italian leader Benito Mussolini would not be inadvertently influenced by Hitler. However, an Italian Manifesto of the Racial Scientists is issued which suggests otherwise and this is barely 5 months after Mussolini declared he did not envisage a Jewish Problem.
Thursday July 14th. 1938 “..Jews for Sale at a Bargain price. Who Wants Them? No One!” German Newspaper Reichswart.
On July 15th. The Evian Conference ends with none of those present unwilling or unable to resolve the major issue, and that is to admit large numbers of Jewish refugees who are facing an increasing weight of abuse and isolation. After 10 days of deliberation, the Jews under direct threat from Hitler must certainly feel abandoned. On July 21st. Jews in Germany are made to apply for identity cards and on July 25th. The Medical Certification of Jewish physicians is cancelled. On July 30th. Henry Ford receives the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from the Third Reich. On July 4th. 1939 Jews cannot be employed in Government positions and German Jewry is to be placed under the Reich Association of Jews, ‘Reichsvereingung der Juden im Deutschland’, authority. On July 26th. Adolf Eichmann takes charge of Prague Emigration Office.
Sunday July 30th. 1939 “..No doubt Jews are not ..loveable people ..do not care about them myself. ..not sufficient to explain ..pogrom.” Neville Chamberlain.
On July 1st. in 1940’s Poland the Bedzin Ghetto is established and 30,000 Jews will be Enclosed. On July 2nd. Martin Franz Julius Luther of the German Foreign Ministry circulates a proposal on The Madagascar Plan. In theory, it was proposed to remove all of Europe’s Jews to this Island off the South East coast of Africa. It should also be noted here, that Mieczyslaw Lepecki headed a Polish Governmental Commission tasked, 3 years previously, in 1937, to investigate the likelihood of deporting their own Polish Jews to Madagaskar. On July 4th. the Ion Gigurtu Government takes over in Romania. On July 6th. Tadeusz Wiejowski, is the first successful escapee from Auschwitz.
“..local population is fanatically Polish and is ready to do anything against ..hated camp SS garrison. Every prisoner who manages to escape can count on all possible help as soon as he reaches ..first Polish homestead.” SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Hoess.
While this position is strictly true as it pertained to the position of the Poles detained in Labour Camp Auschwitz back in 1940, it would not hold out the same prospect for any of those escaping Jews when Hoess was given the directive to turn Auschwitz into a Death Camp with the structure of Birkenau ensuring the complete destruction of the Jews sent there. There was a two fold reason for this, as Poles would be automatically Murdered for their assistance of Jews, but it did not prevent some Poles from enriching themselves collaborating with Hitler’s attempts to destroy all of Polish Jewry. On July 10th. Collaborationist French Government is formed at Vichy as the Battle of Britain begin. On July 12th. Hans Frank declares that he has convinced Hitler to cease his deportation of Jews to General Government.
Here, with the mere suggestion that Frank spoke to Hitler about the Deportation of the Jews into his Generalgouvernment territory, it ensures our awareness of Hitler’s resolve for his Final Solution. On July 16th. the expulsion of Alsace’s Jews begins and on July 18th. Warsaw Jews are barred from Public Parks and their Benches. On July 19th. the Zychlin Ghetto in Poland is established and 3,200 Jews will be Enclosed as German Jews have their phones confiscated and Britain rejects Hitler’s peace overture in Reichstag speech. On July 21st. Hitler prepares for his attack on Russia, Operation Barbarossa. On July 23rd. Hitler visits Paris as the first Jewish mentally ill are murdered at the Brandenburg Institute and as Bishop Theophil Wurm objects to the ‘euthanasia’ project that is being conducted at Grafaneck also. On July 28th. Hitler meets the Slovakian leadership in Salzburg and urges a more radical solution to their own Jewish Question.
On July 1st. 1941 100’s of Plunge’s Jews are murdered and 100 Lyakhovichi Jews are murdered and the Wehrmacht now enters Riga. On July 2nd. Heydrich gives carte blanche to his Higher SS and Police Fuhrer’s, the HSSPF, to deal exclusively and systemically with the Jewish People. Meanwhile 800 of Novo-Selista’s Jews are Murdered as are 100’s of Kamenka’s Jews and 100’s of Stryj’s Jews, also Murdered. In earnest SS Standartenfuhrer Alfred Filbert’s Einsatzkommando ‘9’ sets about the murders of Vilna’s Jews as SS Standartenfuhrer Karl Jaeger’s Einsatzkommando ‘3’ has overall responsibility for murder duties in Lithuania. On July 3rd. 4,000 of Lvov’s Jews are murdered as are 3,500 of Zloczew’s Jews 100’s of Drohobycz’s Jews 100 of Bialystok’s Jews and 100 of Novogroduk’s Jews, also murdered. Meanwhile, Josef Stalin issues a scorched Earth policy.
Friday July 4th. 1941 “..we are not ashamed of our badges. Let those be ashamed who have hung them on us.” Yitzhak Rudashevski.
On July 4th. 5,000 of Tarnopol’s Jews are murdered and over 2,000 of Lutsk’s Jews are murdered at Lubard Fortress. 463 of Kovno’s Jewish Men and Women murdered at Fort VII and 100’s of Riga’s Jews are murdered, forced into the Great Choral Synagogue, Gogol Street, set alight with those rounded up still inside.5 of the 6 other Riga Synagogues are set alight with their congregations locked inside. Nly Peitavas Street Synagogue survives. The Jews of Schodnica are Murdered as the Jewish Badge decree was issued to the Jews of Vilna, who were ordered to wear it. This identifying process, a symbol meant to serve as a subjugating badge of dishonour, was a stage on the road to Ponary Woods and was a progressive approach which so confused and then engulfed the Jewish People. Led into believing that the Germans were actually an acculturated and enlightened people, these Jews of Riga, and wherever Hitler held sway, were soon convinced otherwise.
On July 5th. Rudolf Schmundt, Hitler’s adjutant, reports to his Fuhrer that thousands of Russian Jews have already been murdered as Zalman Tannenberg, the Piotrkow-Trybunalski Ghetto Judenrate Chairman is arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Along with 10 other Judenrate members, all are to be Murdered there. The Einsatzkommando are in Lvov and SS Hauptscharfuhrer Felix Landau affords the World a Testimony.
Saturday July 5th. 1941. “..There were 100’s of Jews walking along ..street with blood pouring down their faces ..holes in their heads ..hands broken ..eyes hanging out of their sockets. ..covered in blood. Some ..carrying others who had collapsed. We went to ..citadel ..saw things that few people have ever seen. At ..entrance ..were soldiers standing guard. .. holding clubs ..thick as a man’s wrist ..lashing out and hitting anyone who crossed their path. ..Jews were pouring out of ..entrance. ..rows of Jews lying one on top of ..other ..whimpering horribly. ..Jews kept streaming out ..completely covered in blood. ..just being hit out of rage and hatred.” SS Hauptscharfuhrer Felix Landau.
O July 6th. 3,000 of Chernovtsy’s Jews are murdered and 2,514 of Kovno’s Jews are murdered at the VII Fort. 600 of Skalat’s Jews are murdered and the Germans enter Czortkow where there are 8,000 Czortkow Jews to be resettled. The Lvov Jews are now ordered to wear the Yellow Star.
“..For ..past several months ..it has been reported that ..on instructions from Berlin ..patients who have been suffering for a long time from apparently incurable diseases have been forcibly removed from homes and clinics. Their relatives are later informed that ..patient has died ..that ..body has been cremated and that ..ashes may be claimed. There is little doubt that these numerous cases of unexpected death of ..insane are not natural but often deliberately caused ..and result from ..belief that it is right to take away life that is unworthy of being lived. This ghastly doctrine tries to justify ..murder of blameless men and would seek to give legal sanction to ..forcible killing of invalids ..cripples ..incurable and ..incapacitated. I have discovered that ..practice here in Westphalia is to compile lists of such patients who are to be removed elsewhere as unproductive citizens and ..after a period of time ..put to death. This very week ..first group of these patients has been taken from ..clinic of Marienthal near Munster.” Bishop Clement August von Galen.
The Bishop of Munster, Clement August von Galen stated in his missal, which was protesting the actions of the T4 Euthanasia Programme. This was fully in line with the Fulda Pastoral letter and meanwhile, the Church is still silent over what is happening to the Jewish People. Remember also that the Euthanasia Programme, T4, was in operation ever since Hitler’s Invasion of Poland. On July 7th. 2,000 of Khotin’s Jews are murdered, 32 of Marijampole’s Jews are also murdered with more than 8,794 of Marijampole’s Jews who will be eventually murdered. The Germans have entered Buczacz. On July 8th. 40 of Przemysl’s Jews are murdered, burned to Death in their Synagogue. 14 of Marijampole’s Jews are murdered as the Mass Murder of Jews begins in Ponary Woods while the German forces enter Lipkany and many Jews are immediately Murdered.
All Baltic Jews are forced to wear ‘Star of David,’ the Jewish Badge of Honour and Hitler declared that Goering’s Luftwaffe would reduce Moscow and Leningrad to rubble. This added to Hitler’s euphoria of the day, when he would be spared the necessary feeding of populations within 2 cities, so reduced to rubble, the Russian people would supposedly cease to exist. Elsewhere, Mihai Antonescu the Romanian President of the Council of Ministers makes plans for “ethnic purification’ as the Jews of Bessarabia and Bucovina are ejected from Romania. On July 9th. 34 of Wendziogala’s Jewish Men and Women murdered and 24 Kovno Jewish Men and Women are murdered at the VII Fort. Meanwhile, British intelligence has broken the ‘enigma’ code. Now, before the Allied Nations lay the strategic values Hitler placed upon the advance ‘East’ and the ‘resettlement’ programme for the Jewish People he will have encountered there.
The Operational Situation Reports of der Einsatzgruppe in the East, these OSR’s, are a clear indictment of the facts. However, as we read them today, they are cold and calculating and specify the relevance to Hitler of the Murder of every last Man, Woman and Child of the Jewish Faith. Also, and in depicting the Slaughter of the mainly Jewish People der Einsatzgruppe trawled the East for, all of what became known through the ‘intelligence’ led community, should have better prepared the West for all and any action to limit, decrease or even prevent the future terms of what The Holocaust would amount to. It is conceivably culpable, that given the knowledge which the Enigma cipher had presented, it is remarkable that any of the 6,000,000 Jews of Europe, Men, Women and Their Children still managed to be Murdered?
On July 10th. 1,600 of Jedwabne’s Jews, the entire Jewish Population are burned to death by local Poles. 200 Jews of Czortkow are Murdered and over 123 of Vilna’s Jews are also murdered. Hitler’s forces race toward Kiev, whose Jews are to receive, ‘the worst blow.’ HSSPF Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski issues an order that all Male Jews, 17 – 45 years of age, should be shot on the grounds of ‘looting.’
Friday July 11th. 1941 “..all Male Jews between 17 and 45 convicted as plunderer’s are to be shot. ..shootings to take place away from Cities ..Villages ..thoroughfares. ..graves ..levelled in such a way ..no pilgrimage site can arise. ..I forbid photographing and ..spectators at ..executions. Executions and sites are not to be made know. Colonel Max Montua.
The order from Bach-Zalewski is reissued for the benefit of Montua’s his own killing force, and as if Hitler needed some arbitrary excuse to Murder all the Jews he so wished, looting and plundering are given as some form of reasoning. It is clear however, that Colonel Montua has been given a directive which will allow for no future presence of the Jews to remain. Murdered and concealed, it will be the forensic status of Historical Archaeology which will deliver forward any Jewish Presence from the Killing Sites. As to the photographing of any of these atrocity’s, though limited, History is fully able to observe what Montua sought to forbid. On July 11th. 7,800 of Kovno’s Jews are murdered. 5,000 of Ternopol’s Jews are murdered in a 7 day action. 100’s of Vilna’s Jews are murdered in Ponary Woods and the Vitebsk Ghetto in Byelorussia is established and 16,000 Jews will be Enclosed.
Friday July 11th. 1941 “..already know what was going on. ..3 pm ..large group of Jews ..taken ..300 people. ..hour later ..volleys began. Ten ..shot at a time.” Kazimierz Sakowicz.
What the witness Kazimierz Sakowicz notes in his Diary is the procession of Vilna’s Jews toward Ponary Woods and their destruction at the hands of the Einsatz, Lithuanian and Ukrainian Kommando’s lined up to resolve the particular aspect of Vilna’s Jewish Question.
Saturday July 12th. 1941 “..At 6:00 in ..morning ..awoken from a deep sleep. Report for an execution. Fine ..so I’ll just play executioner and then gravedigger ..why not? 23 had to be shot ..amongst them 2 women. ..We had to find a suitable spot to shoot and bury them. After a few minutes we found a place. ..death candidates assembled with shovels to dig their own graves. Two of them were weeping. ..others certainly have incredible courage. ..Strange ..I am completely unmoved. No pity ..nothing. That’s ..way it is and then it’s all over. ..Valuables ..watches ..money ..put into a pile. ..2 women are lined up at one end of ..grave ready to be shot first. ..As ..women walked to ..grave they were completely composed. They turned around. Six of us had to shoot them. ..job ..assigned thus ..three at ..heart ..three at ..head. I took ..heart. ..shots were fired and ..brains whizzed through ..air. Two in ..head is too much. They almost tear it off. ..a few bodies ..rearranged with a pickaxe. ..I came back dog tired.” SS Hauptscharfuhrer Felix Landau.
On July 12th., the British Russian Mutual Aid Pact is signed in Moscow as the Einsatzkommando are in Drohobycz and Felix Landau affords the World a Testimony. On July 14th. 21 of Marijampole’s Jews are murdered as Adolf Hitler issues his War Directive, No. 32a, for the continuing conduct of operations in Russia. On July 16th. Hitler is now seen here, at the genesis of what must have been the early stages of what would intentionally become die Endlosung der Judenfrage, The Final Solution of the Jewish Question.
Wednesday July 16th. 1941 “..essential ..we do not proclaim our views ..before ..world. ..no need for that ..main thing ..we ourselves know what we want. ..all necessary measures ..shooting ..resettlement ..we shall take them.” Adolf Hitler.
Such was the disguise given over to Hitler’s more fundamentally murderous solution that in this, Hitler was fully prepared to immerse all arms of the Reich in the very detail of the atrocity and that immersion then fully arose at forthcoming Wannsee Conference. It must be recognised also, that while Hitler pronounced a death sentence upon ALL the Jews of Europe, his functionaries where consolidating this total view. While der Einsatzgruppe were rampaging through Russia at this time, the Ghetto’s of Europe were adding to this collective assault, with thousand’s upon thousand’s of Jews left to starve to death throughout Poland and further beyond. Here, according to SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Hoeppner, the Jews of the Warthegau were being forced toward an eventual resolve with the full implications of the disguised tenets of The Final Solution. Hoeppner directed his own comments to none other than Eichmann, with a charge that suggested:-
Thursday July 17th. 1941 “..There is a danger this winter that it will not be possible to feed all ..Jews. It should be seriously considered whether ..most humane solution would not be to do away with ..Jews ..unless they are capable of working ..by means of some quick method. In any case ..this would be more convenient than letting them starve to death.” Rolf Heinz Hoeppner.
While the contention of history remains that few knew fully what Hitler demanded, the world woke to a devastation unparalleled in all history, and the destruction of 6,000,000 Jewish People. A rubicon had been crossed and the civilising warrant towards humanity was tossed aside. Hitler fully articulated these ambiguous terms, and he himself set before time the methodology to disguise what hen himself intended for the Jews. For today’s understanding of what resettlement surely meant, and in these unambiguous terms, shooting, death and destruction for all of his enemies would follow. We know too that the Jews figured crucially in those terms of reference, where hatred was clearly uttered and countenanced and the intention can only ever have been that Hitler was intent upon the devastation and total destruction of the Jewish People. Hitler developed such a strategy along a line toward a final and destructive assault upon the integrity of the Jews, wherever Hitler found them.
While only Hitler knew all and every detail of a world view that encapsulated a discourse signalling the destruction of the Jews, few could then and now deny the truth of all that Hitler professed. On July 17th. 1,200 of Slonim’s Jews are Murdered and 6 Jews of Babtei are also murdered. Reinhard Heydrich once more escalates the search for Hitler’s final solution with an order to murder all captured Jewish Prisoner’s of War and Alfred Rosenberg is now appointed Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories. On July 18th 4,000 of Lipkany’s Survivors are further expelled toward Transnistria and many were Murdered en-route, few ever returned. Elsewhere, 53 of Marijampole’s Jewish Men and Women murdered. On July 19th. 19 of Kovno’s Jewish Men and Women are murdered at the VII Fort. Hitler now issues War Directive No. 33 for the further conduct of operations in Russia and while Hitler’s emphasis switches away from Moscow, after Army Group South takes Smolensk, there is the seeming certainty of victory in Southern Sector.
Sunday July 20th. 1941 “..we heard that for ..remaining Jews living in town ..a ghetto is being prepared on ..side of ..Grive.” Paula Frankel-Zaltzman
On July 20th. the Minsk Ghetto is established and there will be over 60,000 Jews Enclosed. Minsk is one of the Nine Major Ghetto’s Established. The Daugavpils Ghetto was hereby established with 23,048 Jews contained. On July 21st. 70 of Panevezys’ Jewish Men and Women are murdered while 30 Russians and 45 Jews of Minsk are also murdered. It should be remembered that these Russians had refused to murder the Jews and paid the ultimate price for their humanitarian bravery. Heinrich Himmler now orders for the Majdanek Death Camp plans to be altered as Majdanek is operational as a Concentration Camp. Romania recovers Besserabia.
Tuesday July 22nd. 1941 “..About 8,000 Jewish people with ..present ..SS personnel would take about 1 year ..which is untenable for pacification of ..Liepaja.” Naval Kommandant Hans Kawelmacher.
On July 22nd. 1 of Panevezys’ Jews is murdered and Vichy begins expropriation of Jewish businesses and property’s. Hitler proclaims to the Croatian leader, Marshal Sladko Kvaternik, that victory in Russia would be accomplished by September. Hitler also suggests to the Croatian leader for the need to exterminate its own internal enemies and also demands that rear-Army areas are suppressed ruthlessly and with the harshest methods. On July 23rd. 95 of Kedainiai’s Jewish Men and Women are murdered and Hitler issues his War Directive No. 33a for the further conduct of operations in Russia. On July 24th. 3,300 of Liepaja’s Jews are murdered at Skeden, over a three day period. Elsewhere the Kishinev Ghetto is established and Brest-Litovsk surrenders. On July 25th. 3,800 of Kovno’s Jews are murdered and with SS Brigadefuhrer Erwin Schukltz and his EK 5 here at Zhitomir, 2,500 of Zhitomir’s Jews are killed in those initial days.
An operation, the Petliura Days commences as 2,000 of Lvov’s Jews are murdered and 2,000 are arrested on this ‘Black Friday’. These Lvov Jews were taken to the Jewish Cemetery and to the Lunecki Prison and were systematically shot them. Many more 1,000’s were injured.
103 of Mariampole’s Jewish Men and Women are murdered. On July 26th. the Germans enter Stanislawow and a Jewish Council is immediately demanded in place as the Ghetto Judenrate Chairman is established to conduct matters ordered by the occupying forces. Israel Seibald has that dubious distinction.
Sunday July 27th. 1941 “..Jewish problem Liepaja largely solved by execution of about 1,100 male Jews by Riga SS commando on 24th., 25th., ..27th ..July 1941.” Naval Kommandant Hans Kawelmacher.
July 27th. ‘Action Petliura’ ends with 2,000 of Lvov’s Jews murdered mainly in the Janow Forest and elsewhere over 100 of Belgrade’s Jews are murdered at the Tasmajdan Camp by Wehrmacht troops. Heinrich Lorenz Lohse, the Baltic Commissioner issues guidelines on the treatment of Jews under his jurisdiction in Ostland. On July 28th. 900 of Vilkavisks’ Jews are murdered and 350 Jews of Buczacz are Murdered on Fedor Hill. Mendel Reich now heads the Buczacz Ghetto Judenrate. 249 of Panevezys’ Jewish Men and Women are murdered as are 100’s of Drogobych’s Jews, also Murdered. Meanwhile Jews of Kovno are excluded from Parks and Public conveyances, Jews of Kovno are not allowed to sit on benches and the Jews of Kovno are not allowed to walk on the pavements. The Murder of Russian POW’s at Smolensk commences. On July 29th. 4,000 of Iasi’s Jews are murdered. 254 of Rasainiai’s Jews are murdered and 40 Lodz Jewish mental patients are murdered in a nearby forest. Wehrmacht troops are busy murdering Jews in Belgrade.
On July 30th. 1,000 of Daugavpils’ Jews, mostly Eldrly and over 60 years old, were Murdered in the Mezciems and Pogulanka Forests. 27 of Agriogala’s Jews are murdered as Hitler issues his War Directive No. 34 for the conduct of operations in Russia. On July 31st. 10,000 of Kovno’s Jews are murdered as are 10,000 Kishinev Jews, also murdered. Over 2,500 of Zhitomir’s Jews are murdered as are 251 of Utena’s Jewish Men and Women, all murdered and 13 of Wendziogala’s Jews are also murdered. Elsewhere the Dvinsk Ghetto is established as Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering instructs Reinhard Heydrich to ‘resettle’ all of European Jewry. This is to come about in a final resolve that is now meant to employ the physical destruction of all of the Jews of Europe, All Men, All Women and every single Jewish Child included. Meanwhile, Rudolf Hoess is duly informed by Heinrich Himmler that this ultimate programme that Hitler has ordered is in its eventual phase ‘The Final Solution of the Jewish Question.’
Thursday July 31st. 1941 “..complete solution of ..Jewish question in ..German sphere of influence in Europe.” Hermann Goering.
On July 2nd. 1942 Reinhard Heydrich expands upon the Einsatzgruppe role to his HigherSSPolizeiFuhrer’s. The New York Times reports upon the Killing operations at Chelmno with radical elements and Jewish Officials to be dealt a deadly blow. The entire Jewish Community of Ropczyce are murdered at Belzec as Berlin Jews are being deported to Theresienstadt.
“..I decided to visit ..Belzec ..where ..I assumed ..my sisters had been killed together with all ..girls of ..Ropczyce. I reached Belzec. ..camp was on a hill ..bordered ..by a forest ..and ..railroad tracks which ..Germans had built for transporting their victims. ..Poles had ..turned ..camp into a museum ..without any mention of ..fact that all ..victims were Jews. ..In ..basement there were many human bones. I took one bone with me back to Israel ..it is buried beneath ..memorial for our shtetl ..erected in ..cemetery in Holon.” Yehoshua Gold.
On July 3rd. Sevastopol fell to the advancing Wehrmacht and the following day, July 4th. the Wehrmacht are at the Don. On July 7th. 14,000 of Rzeszow’s Jews are murdered at Belzec while 1,000 of Rzeszow’s Jews are murdered in the Rudna Forest. Dr. Irmfried Eberl, Treblinka’s Commandant, notifies Dr. Heinz Auerswald, the Commissioner of the Warsaw Ghetto, of his readiness to receive the Jews of Warsaw as Himmler conducts a meeting on the forced Sterilisation of Women inmates at Auschwitz. On July 8th. 7,000 of Lvov’s Jews are murdered at the Janowska Camp. On July 10th. 100 Jewish Women are experimented upon at Auschwitz while 50 inmates escape from Birkenau. The Times of London reports about the liquidation of Polish citizens and the deplorable situation for the Jewish People. It is clearly addressed that the Jews of Poland are being systematically murdered, transported to unknown destinations, which History acknowledges is toward their Destruction.
This information is contained within the report received by the Polish Vice President Stanislaw Mikolajczyk from the Armeia Krakowa, the Polish Home Army. On July 11th. the Extermination Camp at Treblinka is ready for operations. 9,000 of Salonika’s Jews are detained with 2,000 of them forced to labour for Wehrmacht as nearly 44,000 of Salonika’s Jews are expelled to Auschwitz. On July 13th. the action against Rzeszow’s Jews is now complete with 22,000 of the Jewish Community from the Town and its environs, all murdered Belzec. The Action against Rowne’s Jews begins and on July 14th. Dutch Jews are deported to Westerbork. Westerbork becomes the gateway to Auschwitz for the Dutch Jews. The Przemysl Ghetto is now sealed. On July 15th. 5,000 of Rowne’s Jews are murdered in 2 day action and are murdered at Janowa Dolina and over 25,000 of Rowne’s Jews will be eventually murdered.
1,000 of Sasow’s Jews are murdered as the first deportation’s from the Westerbork Transit Camp to Auschwitz takes place. On July 16th. 13,000 German and Austrian Jews in Paris are rounded up and sent to the Drancy detention Camp. On July 17th. Himmler tours Auschwitz and he witnesses his first ‘Gassings’ as Heydrich escalates the role foreseen for his Einsatz Kommandos to include ALL Jews. On July 18th. the Entire Jewish Community of Szarkowszczyna is murdered as Himmler departs Auschwitz.
Sunday July 19th. 1942 “..elimination of all Jews in Generalgouvernment by end of 1942.” Heinrich Himmler.
On July 19th. the Drancy detention Camp is expelling its Jews toward Auschwitz and Himmler issues orders for the final clearance of the Jews from the Generalgouvernment. On July 20th. 1,000 of Kleck’s Jews are murdered and Dr. Karl Gebhardt begins Sulfanilamide experiments at the Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp for Women. On July 21st. Nieswiez Jews resist, with 600 of their number being killed. Elsewhere the entire Kleck Jewish Community is murdered.
Wednesday July 22nd. 1942 “..eve of Tisha be-Av ..Day of Mourning ..liquidation of ..Warsaw ghetto was begun. ..Public Committee was immediately summoned to find out what ..situation was and to take measures. Those attending ..meeting included:
Dr. Adolf Berman
Lipc Eliezer Bloch
Shmuer Bresler
Yitzhak Cukierman
Zisha Friedman
Josef Finkelstein-Lewartowski
Daniel Guzik
Yitzhak Giterman
Josef Kaplan
Menachem Kirszenbaum
Alexander Landau
Maurycy Orzech
Dr. Emmanuel Ringelblum
Josef Sack
Szachna Sagan
Dr. Yitzhak Schiper.
..Opinions were divided. Representatives of ..left-wing Zionist parties and of He-Halutz ..and also some of ..men in public life called for active intervention in some way or other. ..majority wanted to wait. How long. Until ..situation became clearer. ..rumours ..circulating that no more than 50,000 to 70,000 Jews would be deported from Warsaw ..old people ..sick ..prisoners ..beggars ..after that ..Aktion would be finished.” Adam Czerniakow.
July 22nd. SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hermann ‘Hans’ Hoefle informs Adam Czerniakow of the Warsaw Jewish deportation. This is the First deportation of Warsaw’s Jews toward Treblinka and begins with the Large Resettlement. On July 23rd. Adam Czerniakow commits suicide as the first arrival of Warsaw’s Jews at Treblinka and the Mass gassing destruction of these Jews begins at Treblinka. The
Wehrmacht takes Rostov. On July 24th. the entire Dereczyn Jewish Community of 3,000 Jews is murdered while 120 escaped to help form a Partisan group under Dr. Jechiel Atlas. On July 26th. 24 Jews from Luxemburg are sent to Theresienstadt.
Tuesday July 28th. 1942 ..meeting was held of He-Halutz and its youth movement branches
Akiva
Dror
Ha-Shomer Ha-Za’ir
..It was decided to set up ..Jewish Fighting Organization YKA (Yidishe Kamf Organizatsie). ..organization signed proclamations which it issued in ..Polish language with ..initials ZOB ..Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa ..Jewish Fighting Organization. ..members of ..Command were..
Shmuer Bresler
Yitzhak Cukierman
Josef Kaplan
Zivia Lubetkin
Mordecai Tenenbaum.
..delegation was sent to ..Aryan side ..Poles..
Tosia Altman
Frumka Plotnicka
Leah Perlstein
Arie-Jurek Wilner
..in order to make contact with ..Polish Underground and to obtain weapons for ..ghetto.” Jewish Fighting Organisation.
Elsewhere the French conclave of Cardinals and Archbishops protest the cruel treatment of the Jews to Marshal Petain. On July 28th. 156 Jews from Luxembourg are sent to Theresienstadt. The Jewish Fighting Organization, ‘Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa,’ ZOB is founded in Warsaw.
Tuesday July 28th. 1942. “..Since July 22nd. ..train carrying 5,000 Jews ..daily from Warsaw to Treblinka. ..In addition ..a bi-weekly train carrying 5,000 Jews from Przemysl to Belzec.” Dr. Theodor Ganzenmueller.
In communicating the details of the resettlement operation to SS Obergruppenfuhrer Wolf, we have an acknowledgement, which Wolff was not too keen to admit to, that he was fully appraised of the killing operations conducted against the Jews. On July 29th. An extra food ration is offered as incentive for Warsaw Jewish ‘resettlement’ and starvation brings its dubious reward in Treblinka.
Wednesday July 29th. 1942 “..Nazi’s will not succeed in exterminating their victims.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
July 30th. Information is garnered by four German Business men,
1) Ernst Lemmer, a journalist, who spoke of the presence of mobile gassing vans and the establishment of static gassing chambers,
2) Edgar Salin, a professor at the University of Basel was privy to what Sommer had verified,
3) Eduard Schulte businessman reported what he had been informed of to where Gerhard Riegner ensured the World got to know of Hitler’s Final Solution and
4) Artur Sommer, was an economist and he stated that death camps were being prepared in the East for gassing of all sent there and this clearly added to a body of Evidence confirming Hitler’s clear cut intentions and his resolve was to Murder all of European Jewry.
All of this information converged upon Geneva and for Gerhart Riegner to wire Rabbi Wise of these facts. Rabbi Dr. Stephen Wise of The World Jewish Congress received Riegner’s message, as did the British MP Sidney Silverman. What was certain, and History has validated this truth was an apparent awareness already of Hitler’s Final Solution as it was related to the Jewish People. This Hitler resolve would commence with the Deportation East, and as confirmed by The Wannsee Conference, the aggregate killing of 11,293,300 Jews would be involved. All of these Jews would be subsequently sought out for extermination and in a concerted effort realise the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children. However, what Riegner had reported would remain conspicuous by its omission from World awareness till the coming November.
Friday July 31st. 1942 “..At present ..both of us ..ready to meet ..death. I wish my little daughter to be remembered. Margalit ..20 months ..today. ..I don’t lament my own life nor that of my wife. I pity only ..so little ..nice ..talented girl. She deserves to be remembered.” Israel Lichtenstein.
On July 31st. More than 65,000 of Warsaw’s Ghetto Jews are murdered in Treblinka in 9 day period of destruction and elsewhere, 30,000 of Minsk Jews are murdered in 4 day action. Meanwhile, Lodz Ghetto Jewish Deaths are escalating at an alarming Daily Rate. Israel Lichtenstein leaves to posterity his Last Will and Testament and as part of Emmanuel Ringelblum’s Oneg Shabbat, the Joy of the Sabbath, he secures the Planned accumulation of all records to be secretly hidden. These records, Diaries and fragments of information will add to the memory of a vanquished Jewish People. The endeavour to remember and recall what happened to much of Warsaw Jewry will be retrieved but the body of Warsaw’s Jewish existence will be devoured in Treblinka, and amongst the other Death Camps Hitler established in Poland.
On July 1st. 1943 all remaining German Jews are placed under Police jurisdiction and on July 4th. the Battle for Kursk begins. On July 5th. Himmler orders Sobibor, the Extermination Camp is be made into a Concentration Camp. On July 6th. over 2,400 more Dutch Jews are sent to Auschwitz and on July 8th. the Vilna Resistance Fighters blow up a Military Train. On July 10th. 5,000 Jews at Kamionka-Strumilowa are murdered and the Allies land in Sicily. On July 13th. over 1,900 Dutch Jews are sent to Auschwitz. On July 15th. The Wehrmacht offensive fails at the Kursk salient. On July 16th. the Gestapo take Yitzhak Wittenberg from the Vilna Ghetto Office as Wittenberg is credited with an assault upon a Nazi Train, 8 days before. However, Wittenberg was freed by his own men but was forced to hand himself over, or look on as the Nazi’s threatened to make Vilna’s Ghetto Jews collectively responsible. On July 18th. 1,000 of Paris’ Jews are deported from Drancy to Auschwitz.
Sunday, 18th. July 1943 “..How can I escape ..troubles of my people ..How can I avoid their anguish that is also mine.” Moshe Flinker.
On July 19th. the Allies bomb Rome and on July 20th. over 2,200 more Dutch Jews are sent to Auschwitz. Elsewhere 500 of Czestochowa’s Jews are murdered. Meanwhile the Waldkommando at Sobibor Death Camp, composed of 20 Polish Jews and 20 Dutch Jews, established as a special work unit which supplied wood for the crematorium by cutting down trees and digging out the stumps. At various times there were between 200 and 400 Jews who were kept alive for the purpose of this slave labour at the Death Camp. On July 20, 1943, after two Jews from the Walkommando, namely Shlomo Podchlebnik and Josef Kopf attacked a Ukrainian who was guarding them. The knife, which Podchlebnik had in his boot allowed them to flee and they even encouraged others Jews in the Waldkommando to make their escape.
According to Stanislaw Szmajzner, the other group of Polish Jews decided to flee on foot while eight guards were eating lunch on this same day. Several of them Shlomo Podchlebnik and Josef Kopf included, Josef Freitag, Zindel Honigman, Chaim Korenfeld, Aaron Licht and Abraham Wang escaped though both Josef Kopf was Murdered in August 1944 by his Polish ‘friends’ and Aron Licht was murdered by Polish anti-Semites, though in separate incidents after their escapes. These others survived the duration of the war. On July 21st. the order to liquidate all Jewish Ghetto’s given and on July 22nd. the Americans take Palermo. On July 25th. Benito Mussolini is deposed as Duce, The Italian Leader. On July 31st. 1,000 of Paris’ Jews are deported from Drancy to Auschwitz as the Russians breach a gap, 500 miles into the Wehrmacht’s rear.
On July 1st. 1944 8,000 of Kovno’s Jews are murdered and on July 2nd. 3,000 Jews are murdered in Ponary Woods. More than 70,000 Jews will be murdered here in the pits at Ponary Woods. The Vilna Census showed 54,600 Jews living within its confines 1931 but few of Vilna’s Jews will have Survived what awaits them at Ponary Woods, that is more than 60,000 of Lithuanian Jewry murdered there. As
Bishop Antonio Santin writes to SS Gruppenfuhrer Odilo Litario Globocnik, who is already wielding his authority removing Trieste’s Jews toward destruction, Santin intervened for the release of a Jewish Woman, Mrs. Pia Rimini Rivalta. Franz Stangl and Artur Liebenschel, Christian Wirth, Dieter Allers and Georg Michalezyk were assembled as part of this Trieste team. On July 3rd. Minsk liberated but not before more than 62,000 of Minsk’s Jews had been murdered. Few survived. The French take Siena.
On July 4th. 2,800 of Papa’s Jews are sent to Auschwitz. On July 5th. over 1,200 of Sopron’s Jews are sent to Auschwitz. Meanwhile, there is an appeal by the International Red Cross President, Professor Karl Burckhardt, for Admiral Horthy to cease Jewish deportations as the German Foreign Ministry intercepts a British Embassy Telegram on the essential for Bombing Auschwitz.
Wednesday July 5th. 1944 “..Bomb ..railway lines from Hungary to Birkenau. Zero in on ..facilities of ..death camp.” British Embassy Telegram Bern.
On July 6th. both Moshe Shertok and Chaim Weizmann, President of World Zionist Organisation meet with Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Minister to escalate the Allied response to the Jewish plight. On July 7th. the Hungarian government halts deportations with the reality that 438,000 Hungarian Jews have already been murdered at Birkenau. However, on July 8th. 50,000 more Hungarian Jews are transported to Auschwitz in week long action with more than 488,000 Hungarian Jews having already reached Auschwitz. 13,000 of Debrecen’s Jews are transported to Auschwitz in 5 day action and the Kovno ghetto is liquidated. Vilna is now approached by Russian forces as Russian Forces destroy German Army Group Centre.
“..Our transport was among ..last ones ..from Hungary July 8th. 1944 ..and due to ..unusual number of arrivals ..SS were forced to change their customary procedures. ..gas chambers ..crematoria could not accommodate everyone judged unfit for work ..so 100’s were piled along ..railroad tracks to be immolated. ..due to ..heartless haste ..clothed in rags ..marked with ..painted red cross ..hardly any food or water ..also due to this haste ..escaped tattooing.” Judith Magyar Isaacson.
On July 9th. Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish Diplomat and emissary of King Gustav V, arrives in Budapest where some 300,000 Hungarian Jews still remain alive. 170,000 of these Jews still survive in Budapest alone. The Allies now take Caen. On July 10th. the Russians are within 90 kilometres of Hitler’s Rastenberg, Wolf’s Lair Headquarters. On July 11th. Russians cross the Lithuanian border where more than 135,000 Lithuanian Jews have been murdered. The Russians also cross the Latvian border where more than 85,000 Latvian Jews have been murdered. Barely 1% of Latvian Jews Survived. On July 13th. Jewish partisans help liberate Vilna where more than 55,000 of Vilna’s Jews were Murdered. Some 2,500 of Vilna’s Jews Survive.
Saturday July 15th. 1944 “..In spite of everything I still believe ..people are really good at heart.” Anne Frank.
On July 18th. The Americans are at St. Lo and on July 19th. Joel Brand’s mission, Goods for Blood, is announced to the British Press. On July 20th. Reuters reports upon the murders of 500,000 Jews at Auschwitz and 400,000 of these are Hungarian Jews! The attempt to assassinate Hitler fails.
Thursday July 20th. 1944 “..German authorities would intensify all their efforts to blackmail deceive ..split ..Allies.” The Times.
On July 21st. over 560 Belgian Jews are transported to Auschwitz as the Russians recapture Buczacz while 400 Jewish Survivors of Buczacz have been Murdered by these defeated German Forces. On July 22nd. Lvov is liberated where more than 123,000 of Lvov’s Jews have been Murdered. On the eve of Liberation, 1,000 Jews of Majdanek are force marched out of the Camp. 800 of these reached Auschwitz. 435 of Corfu’s Jews are resettled in Birkenau after they refused to work on the Sonderkommando. On July 23rd. 1,700 of Rhodes’ Jews are sent to Auschwitz as the Russians now liberate Majdanek Death Camp. Meanwhile the Red Cross visit Theresienstadt. On July 24th. the Warsaw Jewish Camp in the Ghetto is evacuated. On July 25th. The remaining Jews of the Kovno Ghetto are evacuated where more than 34,700 Jews of Kovno were eventually murdered.
On July 26th. 3,000 of Radom’s Jews are sent to Auschwitz and on July 28th. On a march from Warsaw to Kutno is the First Major Death March. On July 29th. 1,300 Jews from Paris are sent to Auschwitz. On July 30th. over 160 Jews from Toulouse are sent to Auschwitz. Hitler has not given up his stranglehold over Jewish existence and persists while all around him crumbles, to deliver his only achievement in History, the Destruction of The Jewish People. On July 7th. 1945 Robert Jackson visits Nuremberg, a City that was 91% destroyed by Allied bombs. He inspects the Palace of Justice and decides to recommend it as a site for the upcoming War Crimes trials. The Soviets prefer that the trials take place in Berlin however, within their zone of occupation.
“..major operation of unit ‘1005’ is to destroy ..traces of mass murder ..so that it would not be possible afterwards to determine ..overall number of murdered people.” Nuremberg Trials Document.
On July 16th. The Potsdam Conference is held and on July 21st. Robert Jackson returns to Nuremberg with British and French representatives as they inspect the possible housing accommodations for the gathering legal teams. On July 31st. half of Belgium’s Jewish Population had been murdered at Birkenau and this represents 24,387 Belgian Jews murdered. Russian forces are now at Warsaw. On July 4th. 1946 42 Kielce Jews are murdered by local Poles, post Holocaust to add to the more than 18,042 Jews of Kielce who were murdered in total. Elsewhere, Defence summations begin in the Major War Criminals Trial at Nuremberg and on July 26th. the prosecution begins its own summation in these Trials. On July 30th. the defence of the seven indicted Nazi organizations begins. On July 3rd. 1947 the indictment is filed in der Einsatzgruppe Case. On July 11th. the ship Exodus is forced to return 4,550 Jewish refugees from Palestine to the detention Camps.
On July 15th. Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, Case Number 7, The Hostage Case, begins. Twelve defendants, officers in the German Armed Forces are charged with the murders of 1,000’s of Albanian, Greek and Yugoslavian civilians. They are equally charged with the committal of acts of devastation in Norway and other countries. They are likewise charged with the drafting of orders which seek to deny POW’s their human rights and for the ordering of the slaughter of surrendered troops. Franz Boehme had committed suicide between the indictment and the arraignment, and the case of Maximilian von Weichs was dismissed due to ill health.
1) Lt. General Franz Boehme, Commander XVIII Mountain Army Corps. Before his arraignment, Committed suicide. May 30th. 1947.
2) Major General Ernst Dehner, Korps Commander. Sentenced to 7 years in prison. Released 1951.
3) General Hellmuth Felmy, Commander of Army Group Southern Greece. Sentenced to 15 years in prison, Reduced to 10 years in 1951.
4) Major General Hermann Foertsch, Chief of Staff of the 12th Army. Acquitted.
5) General Kurt Ritter von Geitner, Chief of Staff Military Commanders, Serbia and Greece. Acquitted.
6) General of Engineers Walter Kuntze, Commander 12th Army. Sentenced to Life in prison. Released 1953.
7) Major General Hubert Lanz, Commander XXII Mountain Army Corps. Sentenced to 12 years in prison. Released 1951.
8) Lt. General Ernst von Leyser, Korps Commander. Sentenced to 10 years in prison. Released 1951.
9) Field Marshal Wilhelm List , Commander in Chief South-East. Sentenced to Life in prison. Released December 1952.
10) Colonel General Dr. Lothar Rendulic, Commander 2nd Panzer Army, Yugoslavia. Sentenced to 20 years in prison. Reduced to 10 years. Released 1951.
11) Major General Wilhelm Speidel, Military Commander Greece. Sentenced to 20 years in prison. Released 1951, and
12) Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs, Commander of the German 2nd Army, Balkans Campaign. Released on grounds of ill health.
July 30th. 1948 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, Case Number 6 ends with 13 defendants being found guilty. On July 31st. Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, Case Number 10, The Krupp Trial with 11 defendants found guilty and 1 defendant acquitted. On July 2nd. 1952 SS Obergruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop is hanged for his Crimes Against Humanity.
Thursday July 13th. 1961. “..Your Honour ..to give a clear answer here ..I must state that I regard this murder ..this extermination of ..Jews ..to be one of ..most heinous worst crimes in ..history of humankind.” SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Adolf Eichmann.
July 23rd. 1965 The Chelmno Trial takes place of former Camp personnel in Bonn, West Germany.
1) SS Hauptscharfuhrer Gustav Laabs, Sentenced to 15 years in prison,
2) SS Scharfuhrer Heinrich Bock, Acquitted,
3) Ernst Burmeister. Sentenced to 40 months in prison,
4) SS Unterscharfuhrer Walter Burmeister, 2 Sentenced to 13 years in prison,
5) SS Oberscharfuhrer Gustaw Fiedler, Sentenced to 1 year in prison,
6) SS Untersturmfuhrer SS Alois Haefele, Sentenced to 15 years in prison,
7) SS Unterscharfuhrer Karl Heinl, Sentenced to 7 years in prison,
8) SS Oberscharfuhrer Wilhelm Heukelbach, Acquitted,
9) SS Hauptscharfuhrer Friedrich Maderholz, Acquitted,
10) SS Unterscharfuhrer Anton Mehring, Acquitted,
11) SS Scharfuhrer Kurt Moebius, Sentenced to 8 years in prison,
12) SS Hauptscharfuhrer Wilhelm Schulte, Acquitted, and
13) Polizei Oberwachmeister Aleksander Steinke, Acquitted.
