The Ghetto Fights Read online

  In the meantime legends about "hundreds" of dead Germans and the "tremendous" power of the ZOB started circulating throughout Warsaw. The entire Polish Underground was full of praise for us. At the end of January we received 50 larger pistols and 50 hand grenades from the Home Army Command. A reorganization of the ZOB was carried-out. All battle groups were now divided among four major areas. We commanded the "brush-makers' area" (Marek Edelman was in command), where we had, among others, our own battle group led by Jurek Blones. The battle groups were quartered in the immediate vicinity of their operational posts. The purpose of the billeting arrangement was to prevent the groups from being taken by surprise by new German regulations, as had happened before, and to accustom the partisans to military discipline, military ways, and a continual use of their weapons. In the vicinity of the ghetto walls we established guard posts and guards, instructed to inform immediately about approaching danger, which kept vigil 24-hours a day.

  All that time the German propaganda machine worked and tried once more to distract the Jews with invented stories about "Jewish reservations in Trawniki and Poniatowa" where the Tobbens and Schultz factories were allegedly to be evacuated and "where productive Jews devotedly working for the Germans would be able to live through the war in peace". In the beginning of February 1943, the Germans brought into the ghetto twelve Jewish foremen from the Lublin Concentration Camp who were to persuade the ghetto population to volunteer for work "under excellent conditions". The night following the arrival of these individuals ZOB members encircled their quarters and forced their immediate departure from the ghetto. But the Germans tried once more. They nominated W.C. Tobbens, the proprietor of the largest ghetto factory, manufacturing German uniforms, to the post of Deportation Commissar. This move was designed to create further impression that the "evacuation to Trawniki and Poniatowa" was closely related to the need for workers in German enterprises.

  The ZOB also conducted large-scale propaganda activities. Several proclamations were published and posted on the ghetto walls and houses. In reply, Tobbens prepared his own appeal to the Jewish population both editions of which, however, were confiscated in the printing shop by the ZOB. During this period the ZOB alone ruled the ghetto. It was the only force and the only authority recognized by public opinion.

  When, at the end of February 1943, the Germans appealed to the workers to evacuate Hallman's joinery shop, of the more than 1,000 workers employed there only twenty-five heeded the call. At night, in a daring patrol, two battle groups set the shop's stores afire (Comrade Fryszdorf took part in this action), causing losses of more than 1,000,000 zloty to the Germans. Once again well-laid German plans were upset. The following morning the Germans issued a communique blaming the fire on parachutists. Nonetheless, the Jewish population knew perfectly well who had actually been behind the fire and who had really caused the Germans to lose face.

  At the beginning of March the Germans again appealed to the brush-makers' shop to register for evacuation, but not a single one of the 3,500 workers registered. The ZOB, on the other hand, carried out its plans to the last detail: the transport of brush-making machinery loaded onto railway cars on the "Umschlagplatz" burned up on its way due to our planting of specially prepared incendiary bottles with delayed-action fuses.

  The Germans became more and more uncomfortable in the ghetto. They became increasingly aware of the hostile attitude not only of the battle groups, but also of the population as a whole, which willingly carried out all ZOB instructions.

  The ZOB broadened its activities and was supported by the entire ghetto. Bakers and merchants delivered quantities of food for its members. The wealthy inhabitants were taxed by it, and the funds thus secured were used for the purchase of arms and ammunition. The ZOB determined the amount of contributions to be paid by the Jewish Community agencies. The discipline was such that everybody had to pay either voluntarily or forcibly. The Jewish Council contributed 250,000 zloty. The Office for Economic Requirements paid 710,000 zloty. Revenues over the period of the first three months amounted to about ten million zloty. These sums were smuggled over to the "Aryan side" where our representatives organized the purchase of weapons and explosives.

  Arms were smuggled into the ghetto in precisely the same manner as other contraband. Bribed Polish policemen closed their eyes to heavy parcels thrown over the ghetto walls at designated spots. ZOB liaison men immediately disposed of the packages. The Jewish policemen guarding the ghetto walls had no voice in the matter. Our most active liaison men with the "Aryan side" were Zygmunt Frydrych (who arranged the first transport of weapons), Michal Klepfisz, Celemenski, Fajgele Peltel (Wladka), and many others. Michal Klepfisz in cooperation with the PS and WRN groups made the necessary arrangements for a large-scale purchase of explosives and incendiaries (e.g. 2,000 litres of gasoline) and later, after transporting the shipment to the ghetto, set up a factory for the production of Molotov cocktails and hand grenades. The production process was primitive and simple, but the large output of the shop greatly increased the firing-power of our detachments. By now every partisan was equipped. on the average, with one pistol (and 10-15 rounds for it), 4-5 hand grenades, 4-5 Molotov cocktails. 2-3 rifles were assigned to each "area". There was just one machine-gun in the entire ghetto.

  The ZOB now carried out a programme designed to rid the Jewish population of hostile elements and of those individuals who collaborated with the Germans. It carried out death sentences pronounced by its Command on almost all Jewish Gestapo agents. Those whom our justice did not reach were forced to steal away to the "Aryan side" and did not dare return to the ghetto. Once, when four Gestapo members appeared unexpectedly in the ghetto for half an hour, three were killed and the fourth was heavily wounded. The notorious Gestapo agent, Dr. Alfred Nossig, was also killed, and a Gestapo identification card issued as far back as 1933 was found on his person.

  During a meeting of the ZOB Command in the first days of April we resolved to extend our activities to include the entire area of the General Government. A special committee was appointed. At the same time the Bund Central Committee also appointed a committee comprising M. Orzech, Dr. L. Fajner, Bernard Goldsztejn, S. Fiszgrund, Celemenski, Samsonowicz to operate on the "Aryan side".

  The Germans apparently came to the conclusion that the remaining Jews could not be persuaded to leave the Warsaw ghetto voluntarily. "Nabbing patrols" were, therefore, organized once again to operate in the ghetto. At the same time German factory guards jailed several dozen Jews, arrested on the ghetto streets for minor violations and destined to be evacuated to the Poniatowa Camp the following morning. The ZOB Command, however, decided otherwise. At 5:30 p.m. armed ZOB men appeared in the-guard-house where the victims were being held, terrorized the policemen and freed the arrested Jews. The German detachment on guard next door was afraid to intervene.

  The Germans, therefore, tried still another method. People arrested in the streets were now immediately loaded on trucks and directed to the "Umschlag". But the Jewish Fighting Organization was still faster, the victims were freed in the areas between the particular blocks (in the so-called ''inter-ghetto"), where ZOB battle groups were deployed.

  In the period immediately preceding the final extermination drive the Bund maintained four barracked battle groups: (1) in the brush-makers' area, led by Jurek Blones; (2) in the Schultz factories area, under the leadership of W. Rozowski; (3) two groups in the central ghetto area, led by L. Gruzalc and Dawid Hochberg, respectively.

  Finally, the Germans decided to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto completely, regardless of cost. On April 19th, 1943, at 2 a.m. the first messages concerning the Germans' approach arrived from our outermost observation posts. These reports made it clear that German gendarmes, aided by Polish "navy blue" policemen, were encircling the outer ghetto walls at 30-yard intervals. An emergency alarm to all our battle groups was immediately ordered, and at 2:15, i.e. 15 minutes later, all the groups were already at their battle stations. We also informed the entire pop
ulation of the imminent danger, and most of the ghetto inhabitants moved instantly to previously prepared shelters and hide-outs in the cellars and attics of buildings. A deathly silence enveloped the ghetto. The ZOB was on the alert.

  At 4 a.m. the Germans in groups of threes, fours, or fives so as not to arouse the ZOB's or the population's suspicion, began penetrating into the "inter-ghetto" areas. Here they formed into platoons and companies. At 7 o'clock motorized detachments, including a number of tanks and armoured vehicles, entered the ghetto. Artillery pieces were placed outside the walls. Now the SS-men were ready to attack. In closed formations stepping haughtily and loudly, they marched into the seemingly dead streets of the central ghetto. Their triumph appeared to be complete. It looked as if this superbly equipped modern army had scared off the handful of bravado- drunk men, as if those few immature boys had at last realized that there was no point in attempting the unfeasible, that they understood that the Germans had more rifles than there were rounds for all their pistols.

  But no, they did not scare us and we were not taken by surprise. We were only awaiting an opportune moment. Such a moment presently arrived. The Germans chose the intersection at Mila and Zamenhofa Streets for their bivouac area, and battle groups barricaded at the four corners of the street opened concentric fire on them. Strange projectiles began exploding everywhere (the hand grenades of our own make), the lone machine-gun sent shots through the air now and then (ammunition had to be conserved carefully), rifles started firing a bit farther away. Such was the beginning.

  The Germans attempted a retreat, but their path was cut. German dead soon littered the street. The remainder tried to find cover in the neighbouring stores and house entrances, but this shelter proved insufficient. The "glorious" SS, therefore, called tanks into action under the cover of which the remaining men of two companies were to commence a "victorious" retreat. But even the tanks seemed to be affected by the Germans' bad luck. The first was burned out by one of our incendiary bottles, the rest did not approach our positions. The fate of the Germans caught in the Mita Street-Zamenhofa Street trap was settled. Not a single German left this area alive. The following battle groups took part in the fighting here: Gruzalc's (Bund); Merdek's (Hashomer); Hochberg's (Bund); Berek's (Dror); Pawel's (PPR).

  Simultaneously, fights were going on at the intersection of Nalewki and Gesia Streets. Two battle groups kept the Germans from entering the ghetto area at this point. The fighting lasted more than seven hours. The Germans found some mattresses and used them as cover, but the partisans' well-aimed fire forced them to several successive withdrawals. German blood flooded the street. German ambulances continuously transported their wounded to the small square near the Community buildings. Here the wounded lay in rows on the sidewalk awaiting their turn to be admitted to the hospital. At the corner of Gesia Street a German air liaison observation post signalled the partisans' positions and the required bombing targets to the planes. But from the air as well as on the ground the partisans appeared to be invincible. The Gesia Street-Nalewki Street battle ended in the complete withdrawal of the Germans.

  At the same time heavy fighting raged at Muranowski Square. Here the Germans attacked from all directions. The cornered partisans defended themselves bitterly and succeeded, by truly superhuman efforts, in repulsing the attacks. Two German machine-guns and a quantity of other weapons were captured. A German tank was burned, the second tank of the day.

  At 2 p.m., not a single live German remained in the ghetto area. It was the ZOB's first complete victory over the Germans. The remaining hours of the day passed in "complete quiet", i.e. with the exception of artillery fire (the guns were in positions at Krasinski Square) and several bombings from the air.

  The following day there was silence until 2 p.m. At that time the Germans, again in closed formation, arrived at the brush-makers' gate. They did not suspect that at that very moment an observer lifted an electric plug. A German factory guard walked toward the gate wanting to open it. At precisely the same moment the plug was placed in the socket and a mine, waiting for the Germans for a long time, exploded under the SS-men's feet. Over one hundred SS-men were killed in the explosion. The rest, fired on by the partisans, withdrew.

  Two hours later the Germans tried their luck once again. In a different manner now, carefully, one after another, in extended order formations, they attempted to penetrate into the brush-makers' area. Here, however, they were again suitably received by a battle group awaiting them. Of the thirty Germans who succeeded in entering the area, only a few were able to leave it. Once again the Germans withdrew from the ghetto. Once again the partisans' victory was complete. It was their second victory.

  The Germans tried again. They attempted to enter the ghetto at several other points, and everywhere they encountered determined opposition. Every house was a fortress.

  In one of the attics we are suddenly surrounded. Nearby, in the same attic, are the Germans and it is impossible to reach the stairs. In the dark corners of the attic we cannot even see one another. We do not notice Sewek Dunski and Junghajzer who crawl up the stairs from below, reach the attic, get behind the Germans, and throw a grenade. We do not even pause to consider how it happens that Michal Klepfisz jumps straight onto the German machine-gun firing from behind the chimney. We only see the cleared path. After the Germans have been thrown out, several hours later, we find Michal's body perforated like a sieve from two machine-gun rounds.

  The brush-makers' area could not be taken.

  Now something unprecedented took place. Three officers with lowered machine-guns appeared. They wore white rosettes in their buttonholes-- emissaries. They desired to negotiate with the Area Command. They proposed a 15-minute truce to remove the dead and the wounded. They were also ready to promise all inhabitants an orderly evacuation to labour camps in Poniatowa and Trawniki, and to let them take along all their belongings.

  Firing was our answer. Every house remained a hostile fortress. From every storey, from every window bullets sought hated German helmets, hated German hearts.

  On the fourth storey, at a small window, our old soldier Diamarit is at his combat post. His is a long rifle whose glorious history reaches back to the Russo-Japanese War. Diamant is phlegmatic, his movements are slow but deliberate. The young boys near him impatiently try to hurry him along. But Diamant is imperturbable. He aims at the stomach, hits the heart. Every shot finishes off another German.

  At the second storey window is Dwojra, firing away rancourously. The Germans spot her: "Schau, Hans, eine Frau schiesst!" They try to get her, but somehow their bullets miss. She, apparently, does not miss often, for, strangely enough, they withdraw quickly.

  On the first floor, on the stairway (Post No. 1) are Szlamek Szuster and Kazik throwing one hand grenade after another. After a while the supply of grenades becomes exhausted, while two Germans are still moving about the courtyard below. Szlamek reaches for an incendiary bottle and throws it at the German so accurately that the latter, hit squarely over his helmet, instantly catches fire and is burned to death.

  The partisans' stand was so determined that the Germans were finally forced to abandon all ordinary fighting methods and to try new, apparently infallible tactics. Their new idea was to set fire to the entire brush-makers' block from the outside, on all sides simultaneously. In an instant fires were raging over the entire block, black smoke choked one's throat, burned one's eyes. The partisans, haturally, did not intend to be burnt alive in the flames. We decided to gamble for our lives and to attempt to reach the central ghetto area regardless of consequences.

  The flames cling to our clothes which now start smouldering. The pavement melts under our feet into a black, gooey substance. Broken glass, littering every inch of the streets, is transformed into a sticky liquid in which our feet are caught. Our soles begin to burn from the heat of the stone pavement. One after another we stagger through the conflagration. From house to house, from courtyard to courtyard, with no air to breathe, with a hundred h
ammers clanging in our heads, with burning rafters continuously falling over us, we finally reach the end of the area on fire. We feel lucky just to stand here, to be out of the inferno.

  Now the most difficult part remains. There is only one possible way into the central ghetto--through a small breach in the wall guarded from three sides by gendarmes, Ukrainians and "navy-blue" police. Five battle groups have to force their way through this breach. One after the other, their feet wrapped in rags to stifle the sound of steps, under heavy fire, tense to the utmost, Gutman 's, Berlinski's and Grynbaum's groups force their way through. Success! Jurek Blones' group covers from behind. While the first of this group emerge on the street, a German search-light illuminates the entire wall section. It seems as if not a single person more will be able to save his life here. Suddenly Romanowicz's single well-aimed shot puts out the search-light and, before the Germans have time to collect their wits, our entire group manages to cross over to the other side.

  We continued the fight in the central ghetto in cooperation with the battle groups existing in that area. As in the brush-makers' area before, it was almost impossible to move freely through the area. Entire streets were sometimes blocked by tremendous fires. The sea of flames flooded houses and courtyards, wooden beams burned noisily, walls collapsed. There was no air, only black, choking smoke and heavy, burning heat radiating from the red-hot walls,from the glowing stone stairs.

  The omnipotent flames were now able to accomplish what the Germans could not do. Thousands of people perished in the conflagration. The stench of burning bodies was everywhere. Charred corpses lay around on balconies, in window recesses, on unburned steps. The flames chased the people out from their shelters, made them leave the previously prepared safe hide-outs in attics and cellars. Thousands staggered about in the courtyards where they were easy prey for the Germans who imprisoned them or killed them outright. Tired beyond all endurance, they would fall asleep in driveways, entrances, standing, sitting, lying and were caught asleep by a passing German's bullet. Nobody would even notice that an old man sleeping in a corner would never again wake up, that a mother feeding her baby had been cold and dead for three days, that a baby's crying and sucking was futile since its mothers arms were cold and her breast dead. Hundreds committed suicide jumping from the fourth or fifth storeys of apartment houses. Mothers would thus save their children from terrible death in flames. The Polish population saw these scenes from Swietojerska Street and from Krasinski Square.