|
June
10, 1942
...At
a gathering of a few people there was a discussion concerning
what should be done if there were a chance now of sending out
one person into the wide world. Everyone agreed that, at all
costs, the world must be awakened to the process of
extermination being carried out against the Jews. There was no
need to take into consideration that this might worsen our
situation; we have nothing at all to lose. The extermination
scheme will be carried out according to plan, systematically,
in accordance with the scheme set out in advance. Only a
miracle can save us: a sudden end to the war, otherwise we are
lost. Should one demand revenge? Some [of the people] held
that we should. One should gather together the few tens of
thousands of Germans in America, lock them up in a
concentration camp behind barbed wire, without food or water,
and let them perish of hunger and needs, as is done here in
Poland. Others thought that the demand for retaliation would
incite the Germans even more and bring about the total
extermination of the Jews....
A
second question that was discussed on this occasion was
whether one should send abroad a list of the names of valuable
persons in order to get foreign passports for them and save
them in this way. Some pointed out that the elite should stay
with the people and go down together with them. Others, again,
made their stand on examples from Jewish history and
tradition, which demand that even one single soul in Israel
must be saved....
Ringelblum,
I, p. 372. |
