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May
11, 1943
To
His Excellency
The
President of the Republic of Poland
Wladyslaw
Raczkiewicz
Prime
Minister
General
Wladyslaw Sikorski
Mr.
President,
Mr.
Prime Minister,
I
am taking the liberty of addressing to you, Sirs, these my
last words, and through you to the Polish Government and the
people of Poland, and to the governments and people of the
Allies, and to the conscience of the whole world:
The
latest news that has reached us from Poland makes it clear
beyond any doubt that the Germans are now murdering the last
remnants of the Jews in Poland with unbridled cruelty. Behind
the walls of the ghetto the last act of this tragedy is now
being played out.
The
responsibility for the crime of the murder of the whole Jewish
nationality in Poland rests first of all on those who are
carrying it out, but indirectly it falls also upon the whole
of humanity, on the peoples of the Allied nations and on their
governments, who up to this day have not taken any real steps
to halt this crime. by looking on passively upon this murder
of defenseless millions tortured children, women and men they
have become partners to the responsibility.
I
am obliged to state that although the Polish Government
contributed largely to the arousing of public opinion in the
world, it still did not do enough. It did not do anything that
was not routine, that might have been appropriate to the
dimensions of the tragedy taking place in Poland.
Of
close to 3.5 million Polish Jews and about 700,000 Jews who
have been deported to Poland from other countries, there were,
according to the official figures of the Bund transmitted by
the Representative of the Government,** only 300,000 still
alive in April of this year. And the murder continues without
end.
I
cannot continue to live and to be silent while the remnants of
Polish Jewry, whose representative I am, are being murdered.
My comrades in the Warsaw ghetto fell with arms in their hands
in the last heroic battle. I was not permitted to fall like
them, together with them, but I belong with them, to their
mass grave.
by
my death, I wish to give expression to my most profound
protest against the inaction in which the world watches and
permits the destruction of the Jewish people.
I
know that there is no great value to the life of a man,
especially today. But since I did not succeed in achieving it
in my lifetime, perhaps I shall be able by my death to
contribute to the arousing from lethargy of those who could
and must act in order that even now, perhaps at the last
moment, the handful of Polish Jews who are still alive can be
saved from certain destruction.
My
life belongs to the Jewish people of Poland, and therefore I
hand it over to them now. I yearn that the remnant that has
remained of the millions of Polish Jews may live to see
liberation together with the Polish masses, and that it shall
be permitted to breathe freely in Poland and in a world of
freedom and socialistic justice, in compensation for the
inhuman suffering and torture inflicted on them. And I believe
that such a Poland will arise and such a world will come
about. I am certain that the President and the Prime Minister
will send out these words of mine to all those to whom they
are addressed, and that the Polish Government will embark
immediately on diplomatic action and explanation of the
situation, in order to save the living remnant of the Polish
Jews from destruction.
I
take leave of you with greetings, from everybody, and from
everything that was dear to me and that I loved.
S.
Zygielbojm
Yad
Vashem Archives, O-55.
*
Zygielbojm committed suicide early on the morning of May 12,
1943.
**
Authorized representative with full powers in the Polish
Underground on behalf of the Polish Government-in-Exile in
London. |
