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Click on an image to see a larger, more detailed picture.
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| 1942: The "Final Solution" |
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pg. 304 |
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The saga of the ship Struma demonstrates the desperate measures Jews took to flee Nazi persecution and reach Palestine. Crammed with 769 Romanian Jews, the ill-equipped cattle boat left port in December 1941. It barely reached its first destination of Istanbul, Turkey, where the British refused visas to Palestine and the Turks would not permit the passengers to disembark. Desperate pleas proved fruitless, and the Turks at last towed the boat to open seas and ordered it to sail, even though it lacked both food and fuel. The final tragedy struck on February 24, 1942, when the boat was sunk by a torpedo, possibly fired mistakenly by a Russian submarine.
Photo: David Stoliar / United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive
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Only one person, 19-year-old David Stoliar, survived the sinking of the Struma. Like other men living in Bucharest, Romania, Stoliar had been compelled to perform forced labor. Fearing for his son's well-being, his father bribed the authorities and bought him a ticket for the Struma in the hope that he would reach safety in Palestine. Hit by a torpedo, the ship sank before rescuers could reach it. Stoliar was rescued by Turks from a lighthouse, and after his recovery was granted an immigration visa by the British.
Photo: David Stoliar / United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive
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Extreme shortages of food encouraged the development of active black markets in the ghettos. The Nazis, who hoped that all of the ghettos' inhabitants would die of disease or starvation, naturally frowned on these activities. Those caught engaging in black-market commerce were summarily executed, including these four men who were publicly hanged in the Zdunska Wola (Poland) Ghetto.
Photo: Jerzy Tomaszewski / United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive
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January 24, 1942: Four hundred Jewish intellectuals are arrested and subsequently murdered in Kolomyia, Ukraine.
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January 30, 1942: In a speech to the German public, Hitler commemorates the ninth anniversary of his taking power, declaring that the end result of the war will not be the destruction of the Aryans but will be the complete annihilation of the Jews. The speech is monitored in Washington, D.C., and London.
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| 1942: The "Final Solution" |
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pg. 304 |
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The Holocaust Chronicle
© 2009 Publications International, Ltd.
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