“When flames engulfed the upper parts of a building, Jews appeared on the top floors. These were their last minutes. They ran from window to window. They gestured vigorously. They climbed onto the windowsills. Their black silhouettes stood out against the fiery background, against the moving wall of flames.
“To save themselves from a painful death by fire, they jumped down. Not onto pillows, but onto the asphalt of courtyards and streets below. There lies some black suicidal mannequin with a red head. The skull is cracked. Piles of brain next to it. The house continues to burn. The roof collapses with a crash and the house is on fire. And it continues to glow for many days. Only the May rain choked everything that smouldered.”
These were the recollections of Jürgen Stroop, the SS commander who served as SS and police leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He is remembered primarily as the liquidator of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw. The final result of his orders was its complete demolition and liquidation, during which his forces committed terrible crimes. He described the action in his report: “Jewish residential district in Warsaw no longer exists”
The uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto raged between 19 April and 16 May 1943 and is recognised around the world as a symbol of great heroism. It was also the first largescale armed action undertaken by Polish underground organisations against the Germans, and the first urban uprising in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Bu hikaye History of War dergisinin Issue 119 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye History of War dergisinin Issue 119 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES
In their quest for evermore novel and bloody entertainment, the Romans staged enormous naval fights on artificial lakes
OPERATION MANNA
In late April 1945, millions of Dutch civilians were starving as Nazi retribution for the failed Operation Market Garden cut off supplies. eet as In response, Allied bombers launched a risky mission to air-drop food
GASSING HITLER
Just a month before the end of WWI, the future Fuhrer was blinded by a British shell and invalided away from the frontline. Over a century later, has the artillery brigade that launched the fateful attack finally been identified?
SALAMANCA
After years of largely defensive campaigning, Lieutenant General Arthur Wellesley went on the offensive against a French invasion of Andalusia
HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE
Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive
LEYTE 1944 SINKING THE RISING SUN
One of the more difficult island campaigns in WWII's Pacific Theatre saw a brutal months-long fight that exhausted Japan’s military strength
MAD DAWN
How technology transformed strategic thinking and military doctrine from the Cold War to the current day
BRUSHES WITH ARMAGEDDON
Humanity came close to self-annihilation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Broken Arrows’ and other nuclear near misses
THE DEADLY RACE
How the road to peace led to an arms contest between the USA and USSR, with prototypes, proliferation and the world’s biggest bomb
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Einstein, Oppenheimer and the race to beat Hitler to the bomb. How a science project in the desert helped win a war
