Assimilated Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, 1940-1943

Timeline

xi Timeline 1939 September 1: The outbreak of the Second World War. Beginning of the German air assault on Warsaw. September 23: Adam Czerniaków becomes the Chairman of the Jewish Community. September 28: Capitulation of Warsaw. October 7: Establishment of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in Warsaw. October 26: Introduction of compulsory labor for Poles aged 18 to 60 and Jews aged 14 to 60. December 1: All Jewish men, women, and children over 10 years of age are ordered to wear a white armband with a blue Star of David. Jewish shops and enterprises also have to be marked. 1940 January 1: Jews are forbidden from changing their place of residence without permission. January 14–25: Repressions against Jewish intelligentsia after the escape of Andrzej Kott. February 8: Jews in the Generalgouvernement are forbidden to travel by rail. July 23: The first issue of “Gazeta Żydowska” is published. October 12: Decree establishing a ghetto in Warsaw is announced over the street megaphones. November 16: Warsaw ghetto is sealed off. November 25: The first concert of Żydowska Orkiestra Symfoniczna (pol. Jewish Symphony Orchestra). December 6: The first theater performance in the ghetto. xii | Timeli ne 1941 July–September: Height of the typhoid epidemic. October 1: Elementary schools are opened in the ghetto. October 23: Reduction of the ghetto’s borders. About 75,000 Jews are required to relocate. October 29: The opening night of Miłość szuka mieszkania (pol. Love Seeks a Lodging). November 10: Introduction of death penalty for leaving the ghetto without permission. November 7 and December 15: Twenty-three Jews are shot in the prison at Ge ˛sia Street for illegally leaving the ghetto. December 25: Ghetto inhabitants are required to hand in all fur coats. 1942 January 26: Foot bridge over Chłodna Street is opened. April 17/18: Gestapo murders 52 people in the ghetto. Among them are Gestapo collaborators as well as members of the underground. July 22: The beginning of the great deportation action. First transports leave from the Umschlagplatz to the Treblinka killing center. July 23: Adam Czerniaków commits suicide. August 5 or 6: Janusz Korczak is deported to Treblinka together with the children and personnel of his orphanage. August 20: Attempted assassination of Józef Szeryński. September 6 to 12: Roundup (“cauldron”) at Miła Street. September 21: The end of the great deportation action in the Warsaw ghetto. October: Establishment of Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (pol. Jewish Fighting Organization). Establishment of contact with Armia Krajowa (pol. Home Army). 1943 January 18 to 21: The second deportation action in the Warsaw ghetto, interrupted by the first armed resistance. January: Józef Szeryński, the head of the Jewish Order Service, commits suicide. April 19: Outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Timeli ne | xiii May 8: Mordechai Anielewicz, commandant of Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa , commits suicide in the bunker at 18 Miła Street. May 16: Demolition of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw and the symbolic end of the Uprising. 1944 August 1: Outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. October 2: Capitulation of the insurgent forces. 1945 January 17: The Red Army enters Warsaw. Assimilated Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, 1940–1943 ...