History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

History - Essay Example The Jewish police even shot at sight if they spied the inmates trying to escape. For example, they had shot at Leib Zelkowicz with a 7.65 pistol in July 1941, when he tried to escape. Leib had been at the Litzmannstadt Ghetto since June 1940, but made his escape in 1941 and thereafter worked on the farms in the county of Gostynin. The speech by Chaim Rumkoivski on May 15th 1944 (L9) sheds light on the deportation of the Jews. He explains that though the ghetto already had a population of 140,000 people, yet they were going to take in an additional 23,000. Nevertheless, the authorities have taken a decision of deporting about 10,000 from their ghetto. The people assigned to be deported are those individuals who were harmful to the ghetto and the underworld dons. Chaim refers to these people as a ‘festering boil’ and because of their behavior they asked for this kind of fate. (L9) He tells them that his commission of trusted aides chooses the people for deportation and he asks them not to make an appeal to remain at the ghetto. He also assures them that these deportees will not remain behind wire but would be given a chance to work on the farms. In the (W2) document by Michael Berenbaum2 (ed.) we come to understand how innocent people in the ghetto face the death row even though they were not guilty of any crime. The order that was passed was that 100 Jews and 10 Order Service men would be executed because they had opposed order by the German policemen. The atrocity was that the 10 patrolmen were not guilty of any crime but yet were given orders by the German City Police to be executed. Though a petition was put in for a curfew, the action taken for it was very slow. In the (W4) document we get a clear picture of the brutality exhibited by the Jewish police. They were violent and merciless and dragged women and children by their hands and feet and threw them on the wagons to be executed. The police also beat those who tried to escape. The Jewish poli ce did not mind killing their own kind too. They meted out inhuman treatment to those criminals who refused to go voluntarily to their death. In the (W4) the document gives evidence of ‘The Jewish Council’ being part and parcel of the illegal activities of the police and this was the group that took many decisions involving the deportation of the ghetto inmates. The following sentence in (W4) is proof of their nefarious activities - The officials of the Jewish Council also cooperated in the "operation," as did the service of the KAM-City Aid Committee. The Jewish police were considered to be the ‘chief culprits’ for the mass slaughters that took place. (W4) According to the documents of (K1) about the Kovino Ghetto,3 there was a great massacre of around 10,000 people at one time on 28th October, 1941. Neither the Jewish Council nor the police show any sympathy during the ‘selection’ (K1) The heartrending screams and cries of the people fell onl y on deaf ears as they were led to their miserable death. These details we come to understand through the (K1) document which was a letter from a father to his daughter who was an eye witness to the