Zalman Shklyar
(Russia)
SELECTION OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ON LIQUIDATION OF THE JEWS OF SLUTSK
№ 44
From the report by the Commissioner General of Belarus Kube
To Reich Commissar Lohse
on fighting against partisans and repressions against the Jews in the General District of Belarus
Minsk City, 31 July, 1942
… In exhaustive discussions with SS Brigadier General Zenner and the exceedingly capable leader of the SD Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Jur. (attorney) Strauch, we have liquidated in the past 10 weeks about 55,000 Jews in Belarus. In the Minsk oblast Jewry has been completely exterminated”, which had no impact on labor recruitment. In the predominantly Polish area of Lida 16,000, in Slonim 8,000 Jews have been liquidated, etc.
The preparations for the liquidation of the Jews in the Glubokoe area were completely disrupted by the arbitrary action by the rear army area, which has already been reported to your office. In the rear army area-I was not contacted-10,000 Jews were liquidated who were scheduled for extermination by us anyway.
In the city of Minsk approximately 10,000 Jews were liquidated on the 28 and 29 of July, of whom 6,500 made Russian Jews, mostly old people, women and children. The remainder consisted of Jews unfit for work, most of whom had been sent to Minsk from Vienna, Brno, Bremen, and Berlin in November of the previous year at the Fuehrer's order.
The Slutsk area was also ridded of several thousand Jews. The same happened in Novogrudok and Vileika. Radical measures still remain to be taken for Baranovichi and Hantsevichi. In Baranovichi alone, approximately 10,000 Jews are still living in the city itself, 9,000 of whom will be liquidated next month.
In the city of Minsk, 2,600 Jews from Germany have been left over. Besides, 6,000 Jews and Jewesses are still alive who have been working during the action, with the units who had employed them previously. Even in the future the largest Jewish labor force will be in Minsk, since the armament industries and the burden on the railways makes this necessary for the time being.
In all other areas the number of Jews utilized for labor by the SD and myself will be fixed at 800 at the maximum, but at 500 if possible so that after the completion of the announced action 8,600 Jews will remain in Minsk and about 7,000 in the 10 remaining territories, including the territory of the Minsk region, which is already free from Jews.
The danger that the partisans will, in future, derive any important support from the Jews will then have ceased to exist. I myself and the SD would certainly much prefer that the Jewish population in the principal district of Belarus should be eliminated once and for all when the economic requirements of the Wehrmacht have fallen off. For the time being, the necessary requirements of the Wehrmacht who is the main employer of the Jewish population are still being considered.
The clear anti-Jewish attitude of the SD and the difficult task of the units in White Ruthenia to deliver again and again new Jewish transports from the Reich to their destination, both put an undue strain on the physical and spiritual strength of men of the SD and diverts them from their real purpose, which lies in the White Ruthenian region itself.
I should therefore be grateful if the Reich Commissioner could see his way to stop further Jewish transports until the partisan threat has finally been overcome. I must make 100 per-cent use of the SD against partisans and against the Polish Resistance Movement, both of which demand the use of the full strength of the SD units, which are none too strong as it is.
After the conclusion of the anti-Jewish action in Minsk, Dr. Strauch, SS Lieutenant Colonel, reported to me tonight, with justifiable wrath, that without any order from the Reich Leader SS and without notification of the commissioner, a transport of 1,000 Jews has suddenly arrived from Warsaw for use in this air fleet area.
I should like to ask the Reich Commissioner (who has already been advised by teletype), in his capacity as the highest authority in the Ostland, to stop such transports. The Polish Jew is, exactly like the Russian Jew, an enemy of all that is German. He represents a politically dangerous factor, the political danger of which exceeds by far his value as a specialized worker. Under no conditions must Wehrmacht agencies of the army or the Luftwaffe, be allowed to import, without the approval of the Reich Commissioner, into an area under civil administration, Jews from the General Government who might endanger the entire political work and security of the district general.
I am in full agreement with the commander of the SD in White Ruthenia, that we are to liquidate every Jewish transport which has not been ordered or announced by our superior officers, so as to avoid further unrest in White Ruthenia.
Commissioner General of Belarus Wilhelm Kube
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