23/07/2026
On July 22, the eve of Tisha B’Av 1942, the death sentence for Warsaw’s Jews was issued. In the early morning hours, the Judenrat (Jewish police) was convened and the authorities for 'Resettlement Affairs' ordered the “resettlement in the east of all Jews residing in Warsaw regardless of age and sex.” The order called for 6,000 Jews per day to be rounded up and deported.
A week before the announcement of deportations, rumors had already spread in the ghetto, and the Jews were gripped with terror. Head of the Judenrat, Adam Czerniakow asked N**i officials for an explanation and received nothing but denials.
On the 22nd of July, at 7:30 in the morning, Czerniakow, along with the members of the Judenrat, were told that the deportations were to begin the next day – Tisha B’Av – and the expulsions would include children. He immediately realized the gravity of such an order and that his previous cooperation with the Germans was a grievous error. This was an order he would not sign. The night following the first deportation, he took his own life, leaving a note, “I am powerless my heart trembles in sorrow and compassion. I can no longer bear all this.”
Chaim Kaplan, in a diary on the Warsaw Ghetto, Scroll of Agony, foresaw the doom that awaited the Jews of Warsaw with the issuance of the decree. He had surmised that the deportations can only be a death sentence and those who deny it “grasp at straws.”3 In a July 26 entry, Kaplan wrote, “We, the inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto are now experiencing the reality. Our good fortune is that our days are numbered – that we shall not have to live long under conditions as these.”4
The decree ordered all Jews to be deported except those who worked in German industries and the Judenrat. Over the next nine days 66,701 Jews were deported to Treblinka.
At Treblinka, a sign displayed at the entrance intended to maintain calm stated, “Do not worry about your future. … all of you are headed for the east, to work; while you work, your wives shall take care of your houses. But first you must bathe and your clothes must be cleaned of lice.”5 Only moments later, after merciless beatings by SS and Ukrainian guards, the victims were sent to their ex*****on.
On July 29, the next round of Warsaw’s deportations began. The SS, along with Latvian and Lithuanian troops, closed off individual blocks and forced people from their homes. Many were shot on the spot; others were savagely beaten. When the crowd’s numbers reached a few thousand, they were herded off to the “Umschlagplatz”—a deportation railway yard, to be transported. Every morning and evening, the roundups took place.
Over the month of August, 142,525 Jews were deported, with 135,120 being sent to Treblinka. By mid August, it was widely understood that “resettlement” was a myth. Enough evidence had already reached the ghetto by witnesses to N**i atrocities.
Read the full article: https://aish.com/tisha-bav-in-the-warsaw-ghetto/
