Operation Harvest Festival
Operation Harvest Festival | |
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SS, Order police, Trawniki men
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Operation Harvest Festival (German: Aktion Erntefest) was the murder of up to 43,000 Jews at the Majdanek, Poniatowa and Trawniki concentration camps by the SS, the Order Police battalions, and the Ukrainian Sonderdienst on 3–4 November 1943.
After a series of Jewish
The killings began on the morning of 3 November at Majdanek, where Jewish prisoners were separated from non-Jewish prisoners, and encompassed the
After the operation, about 10,000 Jews were left alive in various labor camps in the Lublin District. The bodies of the victims were burned by other Jews, who had been spared temporarily from death. With around 40,000 victims, Operation Harvest Festival was the largest single massacre of Jews by German forces during the Holocaust.
Background
In 1942, 360,000 of the Jews who lived in the
To avoid further resistance,
On 2 November, 2,000 to 3,000 SS and police personnel arrived in Lublin:
Killings
Majdanek
At 5:00 on 3 November 1943, prisoners at Majdanek were awoken as usual in the dark, but the camp had been surrounded by an additional 500 soldiers during the night.
About 600 prisoners, half men and half women, were selected at the
Trawniki
Previous to the operation, Polish residents who lived adjacent to the camp were forced to move and those who lived a bit farther away were forced to stay in their homes. Jewish prisoners who lived in the settlement outside the camp proper were returned to the camp. At 5:00 on 3 November, the prisoners were mustered for roll call,
Poniatowa
Many of the SS and police soldiers who had been at Majdanek continued to Poniatowa, about 50 kilometres (30 mi) distant, after the massacre had finished.[18][28] The units participating in the massacre at Poniatowa included Reserve Police Battalion 101,[28][29] Motorized Gendarmerie Battalion 1, Police Battalion 41, and Police Battalion 67.[29] There were 14,800 Jews at the camp before the massacre,[29] most of them having come from the Warsaw Ghetto.[5] On 3 November, the Jews were sent back to their barracks after roll call.[30] The camp was sealed and telephone lines were cut, so that the prisoners would not know what fate awaited them.[25] Some thought that there was going to be a selection, and tried to make themselves look healthier.[18] That evening, the camp was surrounded by 1,000–1,500 German and Ukrainian soldiers,[27] who formed three concentric security cordons around the camp by morning.[29]
The next morning (4 November), at 4:30, the prisoners were awoken for roll call.[26] Most were held in Hall 3, except 200 prisoners who were temporarily spared at the insistence of commandant Gottlieb Hering, to clean up after the massacre. They were locked in the camp kitchen. Policemen searched the barracks and factory for anyone who was hiding, and then stood guard on both sides of the Lagerstrasse (main avenue) in the camp. Prisoners were ordered to strip naked, hand over all valuables, and walk down the Lagerstrasse in groups of 50, starting with the men.[31] As loud music blared, the prisoners were herded to the two trenches by the entrance of the camp, 95 metres (310 ft) long, 2 metres (7 ft) wide, and 1.5 metres (5 ft) deep.[32][33] One soldier stood at the beginning of the trench with a whip to encourage the Jews to immediately lie down on top of the bodies of those who had already been shot. Two shooters stood on each of the long sides of the trench, shooting alternately at the victims, each equipped with a bottle of schnapps and an assistant to reload their weapons.[31] According to a witness, many of the victims were not killed and lay wounded in the trench as more bodies piled on top of them, cursing the SS.[34]
Around 14:00, the executions were halted for a lunch break and the drunk executioners were relieved. The trenches turned out to be too shallow and bloody corpses spilled out of the edges.[35] Some prisoners in Poniatowa had formed a resistance group and had acquired a few weapons. At 18:00, a group of around 100 Jews set fire to some barracks full of clothing and then barricaded themselves in another barracks. The Germans set this on fire, killing all of the resistance members.[27][35] Polish fire fighters were brought in to put out the fires and observed the Germans throwing wounded Jews into the flames.[27] The executions finished around 17:00.[35] Afterward, German soldiers checked the trenches, executing survivors.[26] The corpses were sprinkled with lime and covered with fir branches.[35] Three women survived, climbed out of the mass grave that night, and survived the war with the help of Żegota.[36] Overall, 14,500 people were killed within the span of a few hours.[37]
Coverup
Removing all traces of the killing was a priority of the Nazi leadership because of Soviet military victories on the
The Jews at Milejowo concentration camp were sent to Trawniki on 5 November to clean up the massacre. Six women had to work in the kitchen while the men were ordered to extract gold teeth and hidden valuables from the corpses. After eight days (or two to three weeks), the men were executed, except for Yehezkel Hering, who disguised himself as a woman and hid with them. The women remained at the camp and sorted the belongings of the murdered Jews until May 1944, when they were deported via Majdanek to
About 50 Jews hid from the shootings at Poniatowa, and 150 were left alive after the shooting to clean up and cremate the corpses. Upon refusing to do so, they were shot on 6 November.
Aftermath and significance
3 November was dubbed "Bloody Wednesday" by Majdanek prisoners.
The Harvest Festival operation coincided with other massacres of surviving Jews in
According to
After the war, Sporrenberg was tried, convicted, and executed by a Polish court for his role in organizing the operation, while Pütz committed suicide.[37] In 1999, Alfons Gotzfrid was sentenced to time served for his participation in the killings at Majdanek.[53] The Majdanek State Museum has hosted ceremonies to commemorate the victims.[54][55]
References
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 325–326.
- ^ Arad 2018, p. 440.
- ^ a b c d e f Silberklang 2013, p. 404.
- ^ Mędykowski 2018, p. 273.
- ^ a b c d Arad 2018, p. 422.
- ^ Mędykowski 2018, p. 276.
- ^ a b c Browning 2017, p. 232.
- ^ Arad 2018, pp. 421–422.
- ^ Mędykowski 2018, p. 285.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 403–404.
- ^ Mędykowski 2018, pp. 285–286.
- ^ Browning 2017, p. 233.
- ^ a b c d Arad 2018, p. 424.
- ^ a b c Mędykowski 2018, p. 286.
- ^ a b c Grudzińska & Rezler-Wasielewska 2008, p. 512.
- ^ a b c Browning 2017, p. 234.
- ^ Mędykowski 2018, pp. 286–287.
- ^ a b c d e f Silberklang 2013, p. 406.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mędykowski 2018, p. 287.
- ^ Arad 2018, pp. 424–425.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Silberklang 2013, p. 405.
- ^ Grudzińska & Rezler-Wasielewska 2008, p. 511.
- ^ a b Silberklang 2013, pp. 405–406.
- ^ a b c d e f g Arad 2018, p. 425.
- ^ a b c Browning 2017, p. 236.
- ^ a b c d e Mędykowski 2018, p. 288.
- ^ a b c d e f g Arad 2018, p. 423.
- ^ a b Browning 2017, p. 237.
- ^ a b c d Podgórski 2010, p. 443.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 404–405.
- ^ a b Podgórski 2010, p. 444.
- ^ Arad 2018, pp. 422–423.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 406–407.
- ^ Browning 2017, p. 238.
- ^ a b c d e f g Podgórski 2010, p. 446.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, p. 407.
- ^ a b Zegenhagen 2009, p. 890.
- ^ a b Mailänder 2014, pp. 54–55.
- ^ "The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ a b Mailänder 2014, p. 55.
- ^ a b Browning 2017, p. 239.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 408–409.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, p. 408.
- ^ Gryń 1966, p. 45.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 365, 409.
- ^ Silberklang 2013, pp. 412–413.
- ^ a b Gruner 2006, p. 271.
- ^ a b Mędykowski 2018, p. 289.
- ^ Mędykowski 2018, pp. 288–289.
- ^ Gruner 2006, pp. 271–272.
- ^ Browning 2017, p. 240.
- ^ Browning 2017, p. 230.
- ^ Traynor, Ian (21 May 1999). "Nazi sentenced to 10 years in Germany's 'last war crimes trial'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ^ "Commemoration of the victims of Bloody Wednesday". Majdanek State Museum. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ^ "Commemoration of the victims of "Bloody Wednesday" and a meeting devoted to perpetrators". Majdanek State Museum. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-253-02530-2.
- ISBN 978-0-06-230303-5.
- Grudzińska, Marta; Rezler-Wasielewska, Violetta (2008). "Lublin, Lipowa 7. Obóz dla Żydów-polskich jeńców wojennych (1940-1943)". .
- ISBN 0521838754.
- Gryń, Edward (1966). Majdanek Concentration Camp. Lublin: Wydawn. Lubelskie. OCLC 903511959.
- Mailänder, Elissa (2014). "A specialist: the daily work of Erich Muhsfeldt, chief of the crematorium at Majdanek concentration and extermination camp, 1942–44". In JSTOR j.ctt1wn0s3n.7.
- Mędykowski, Witold Wojciech (2018). Macht Arbeit Frei?: German Economic Policy and Forced Labor of Jews in the General Government, 1939–1943. Boston: JSTOR j.ctv75d8v5.13.
- Podgórski, Artur (2010). "Arbeitslager in Poniatowa 1941–1943". Kwartalnik Historii Żydów (in German). 236 (4): 425–448. .
- Silberklang, David (2013). ISBN 978-965-308-464-3.
- Zegenhagen, Evelyn (2009). "Poniatowa". In ISBN 978-0-253-35328-3.
Further reading
- Klemp, Stefan (2013). "Aktion Erntefest": Mit Musik in den Tod: Rekonstruktion eines Massenmords (in German). Münster: Geschichtsort Villa ten Hompel. OCLC 867179769.
- Lederman, Noah (27 January 2017). "How Does It Feel To Live Next to a Concentration Camp?". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- Lenarczyk, Wojciech; Libionka, Dariusz (2009). Erntefest, 3–4 listopada 1943: zapomniany epizod Zagłady (in Polish). Lublin: ISBN 978-83-925187-5-4.
- Żbikowski, Andrzej (2008). "Texts Buried in Oblivion. Testimonies of Two Refugees from the Mass Grave at Poniatowa". Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: 76–102. ISSN 2657-3571.