Third Party Press

Ghetto Warsaw

Peter U

Moderator
Staff member
Hello,

Some time ago I was able to obtain a small photogrouping of the Warsaw ghetto; an unknown German soldier visited the Warsaw ghetto in the spring of 1941 and during his visit he made 10 pictures, so far nothing special, many Germans visited the Warsaw ghetto and took pictures of the jews inside the ghetto.
Two of the ten pictures are a bit more special; the photographer witnessed how two childern were caught trying to escape the ghetto to smuggle food inside the ghetto and he took two pictures: one of a German policeman kicking the childern and another of the jewish ghetto policemen beating the poor boys with clubs.

Regards,
Peter
 

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pictures of jewish childern in the Warsaw ghetto
 

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This "Dienstausweis" is also a part of my Holocaust collection; in the period these ghetto pictures were taken Kurt Lettau was part of the German guardgarrison of the Warsaw ghetto.
Kurt Lettau, born in 1905 in Herne, he was a Wachtmeister der Schutzpolizei der Reserve in Polizei Battalion 304.
Kurt Lettau was one of those "ordinary" Germans that actively particpated in the holocaust, like described in the book: Ordinary men by C.R.Browning.

The short history of Pol Bat 304:
Pol Bat 304 was founded in early 1940 in Chemnitz.
In September 1940 Pol Bat 304 was transfered to Warschau, were it became a part of the guardgarrison of the newly created jewish ghetto.
At the end of the summer of 1941 they were transfered to the Ukrain/Kiev.
In the spring of 1942, Pol Bat 304 was assigned to the SS Leibstandarte Division, but in the summer of 1942 they were back in the Ukrain/Kiev.
From July 1942 they are a battalion of SS Polizei Regiment 11, and in November 1942 they participated in the big anti partisan actions in the Pripjet swamps.
This is all not very special but while they were actif in the Ukrain Pol Bat 304 murdered 17.000 jews, thus they were one of the most actif participants of the holocaust in the Ukrain.
This was all no coincidence, the second in command major Kurt Deckert was such a big antisemite that even H.Himmler was of the opinion that he went to far.
As early as October 1940 they were guarding the jewish ghetto in Warschau and transports to the concentrationcamps; in January 1941 15 members of Pol Bat 304 went to a "Sonderlehrgang" (course) in Krakua to learn how to execute people with a neck shot, as a part of the training 75 jews were executed.
Later on in the Ukrain Pol Bat 304 members executed 17.000 jews in places like Starokonstantinow, Winniza, Ladyschin, Uman, Gaisin, Kirowograd, Snamenka, Polodien & Kiev.
After the war many members of Pol Bat 304 were brought to trial, for example Gruppenführer Walter Hofmann got a life sentence.

These pieces put a face on those that participated in the mass executions of jews in the Ukrain.
(I have used the images of the dealer that sold it, so the swatikas are masked)
 

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