Read Online A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Samantha Power
Tags: United States, General, Social Science, History, 20th Century, Political Science, Holocaust, Violence in Society, International Relations, International Security, Political Freedom & Security, Genocide
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ghetto to her sister in another: "My hands are shaking. I cannot write. Our minutes are numbered. The Lord knows whether we shall see one another again. I write and weep. My children are whimpering. They want to live. We bless you. If you get no more letters from me you will know that we are no longer alive."The Bund report and the woman's letter, Zygielbojm said, were "a cry to the whole world."'
Earlier that year Jan Karski, a twenty-eight-year-old Polish diplomat and a Roman Catholic, had disguised himself as a Jew, donning an armband with the Star of David, and smuggled himself through a tunnel into the Warsaw ghetto. Posing as a Ukrainian militiaman, he also infiltrated Belzec, a Nazi death camp near the border between Poland and Ukraine. In late 1942 Karski escaped carrying hundreds of documents on miniature microfilm contained in the shaft of a key. He arranged to meet in London with Zygielbojm and his colleague, Ignacy Schwarzbart. On the eve of the meeting, Schwarzbart examined Karski's documents, and, aghast, cabled the World Jewish Congress in New York, describing the suffering of the Jews in Poland:
JEWS IN POLAND ALMOST COMPLETELY ANNIHILATED STOP READ REPORTS DEPORTATION TEN THOUSAND JEWS FOR DEATH STOP IN BELZEC FORCED TO DIG THEIR OWN GRAVE MASS SUICIDE HUNDREDS CHILDREN THROWN ALIVE INTO GUTTERS DEATH CAMPS IN BELZEC TREBLINKA DISTRICT MALKINIA THOUSANDS DEAD NOT BURIED IN SOBIBOR DISTRICT WLODAWSKI MASS GRAVES MURDER PREGNANT WOMEN STOP JEWS NAKED DRAGGED INTO DEATH CHAMBERS GESTAPO MEN ASKED PAYMENT FOR QUICKER KILLING HUNTING FUGITIVES STOP THOUSANDS DAILY VICTIMS THROUGHOUT POLAND STOP BELIEVE THE ITNBELIEI:4BLE STOP'
Karski net with Schwarzbart and Zygielbojm the next day in their office near Piccadilly Circus. He told them of naked corpses in the Warsaw ghetto, yellow stars, starving children, Jew hunts, and the smell of burning flesh. Karski relayed a personal message to Zygielbojm from Leon Feiner, the leader of the Bund trapped in Warsaw. Feiner had instructed Zygielbojm to stop with the empty protests and urge retaliatory bombing, leafleting, and the execution of Germans in Allied hands.' Karski said that when he had cautioned that the proposals were "bitter and unrealistic," Feiner had countered with: "We don't know what is realistic, or not realistic. We are dying here! Say it!"" Karski, who had a photographic memory, recited Feiner's parting appeal to Jewish leaders to do something dramatic to force people to believe the reports:
We are all dying here; let the Jews in Allied countries] die too. Let them crowd the offices of Churchill, of all the important English and American leaders and agencies. Let them proclaim a fast before the doors of the mightiest, not retreating until they will believe us, until they will undertake some action to rescue those of our people who are still alive. Let them die a slow death while the world is looking on. This may shake the conscience of the world.
Upon hearing Feiner's message, Zygielbojni leaped from his seat and began pacing back and forth across the room. "It is impossible," he said, "utterly impossible.You know what would happen.They would simply bring in two policemen and have me dragged away to an institution.... Do you think they will let me die a slow lingering death? Never.... They would never let me die." As he continued questioning Karski, an agitated Zygielbojm pleaded with his messenger to believe he had done all he could. Two weeks later in a BBC broadcast Zygielbojm declared, "It will actually be a shame to go on living, to belong to the human race, if steps are not taken to halt the greatest crime in history"
Karski traveled to the United States and met with Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, who graciously heard hint out and then responded, "I don't believe you."When a stunned Karski protested, Frankfurter interrupted him and explained, "I do not mean that you are lying. I simply said I cannot believe you."9 Frankfurter literally
Earlier that year Jan Karski, a twenty-eight-year-old Polish diplomat and a Roman Catholic, had disguised himself as a Jew, donning an armband with the Star of David, and smuggled himself through a tunnel into the Warsaw ghetto. Posing as a Ukrainian militiaman, he also infiltrated Belzec, a Nazi death camp near the border between Poland and Ukraine. In late 1942 Karski escaped carrying hundreds of documents on miniature microfilm contained in the shaft of a key. He arranged to meet in London with Zygielbojm and his colleague, Ignacy Schwarzbart. On the eve of the meeting, Schwarzbart examined Karski's documents, and, aghast, cabled the World Jewish Congress in New York, describing the suffering of the Jews in Poland:
JEWS IN POLAND ALMOST COMPLETELY ANNIHILATED STOP READ REPORTS DEPORTATION TEN THOUSAND JEWS FOR DEATH STOP IN BELZEC FORCED TO DIG THEIR OWN GRAVE MASS SUICIDE HUNDREDS CHILDREN THROWN ALIVE INTO GUTTERS DEATH CAMPS IN BELZEC TREBLINKA DISTRICT MALKINIA THOUSANDS DEAD NOT BURIED IN SOBIBOR DISTRICT WLODAWSKI MASS GRAVES MURDER PREGNANT WOMEN STOP JEWS NAKED DRAGGED INTO DEATH CHAMBERS GESTAPO MEN ASKED PAYMENT FOR QUICKER KILLING HUNTING FUGITIVES STOP THOUSANDS DAILY VICTIMS THROUGHOUT POLAND STOP BELIEVE THE ITNBELIEI:4BLE STOP'
Karski net with Schwarzbart and Zygielbojm the next day in their office near Piccadilly Circus. He told them of naked corpses in the Warsaw ghetto, yellow stars, starving children, Jew hunts, and the smell of burning flesh. Karski relayed a personal message to Zygielbojm from Leon Feiner, the leader of the Bund trapped in Warsaw. Feiner had instructed Zygielbojm to stop with the empty protests and urge retaliatory bombing, leafleting, and the execution of Germans in Allied hands.' Karski said that when he had cautioned that the proposals were "bitter and unrealistic," Feiner had countered with: "We don't know what is realistic, or not realistic. We are dying here! Say it!"" Karski, who had a photographic memory, recited Feiner's parting appeal to Jewish leaders to do something dramatic to force people to believe the reports:
We are all dying here; let the Jews in Allied countries] die too. Let them crowd the offices of Churchill, of all the important English and American leaders and agencies. Let them proclaim a fast before the doors of the mightiest, not retreating until they will believe us, until they will undertake some action to rescue those of our people who are still alive. Let them die a slow death while the world is looking on. This may shake the conscience of the world.
Upon hearing Feiner's message, Zygielbojni leaped from his seat and began pacing back and forth across the room. "It is impossible," he said, "utterly impossible.You know what would happen.They would simply bring in two policemen and have me dragged away to an institution.... Do you think they will let me die a slow lingering death? Never.... They would never let me die." As he continued questioning Karski, an agitated Zygielbojm pleaded with his messenger to believe he had done all he could. Two weeks later in a BBC broadcast Zygielbojm declared, "It will actually be a shame to go on living, to belong to the human race, if steps are not taken to halt the greatest crime in history"
Karski traveled to the United States and met with Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, who graciously heard hint out and then responded, "I don't believe you."When a stunned Karski protested, Frankfurter interrupted him and explained, "I do not mean that you are lying. I simply said I cannot believe you."9 Frankfurter literally
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