August 25: High-Speed Murder

Over 15,000 Jews of Nowy Sacz, a town of 35,000 in Poland that had been occupied by the Nazis since September 6, 1939, were shipped out to the Belzec extermination camp between this date and August 28th in 1942. Some 600,000 Jews were murdered in that camp between March and November, 1942. “On August 23, 1942,” writes Alan Elsner, a Reuters reporter with family roots in Nowy Sacz, “all the Jews were told to gather in a central square wearing their best clothes and carrying personal possessions up to a weight of 15 kilograms. About 800 of the youngest and strongest were selected for labor camps. The rest were squeezed into a narrow area where there was no food or water and told to wait . . .” For an extensive archive on Nowy Sacz, with photographs and testimonials, click here.

“Throughout the passage, Jews constantly tried to break out through the walls and ceiling of the train cars. Many succeeded but were shot by soldiers guarding the train or hunted down by police units. On several occasions, the train guards used up all their ammunition shooting escaping Jews before the train reached Belzec and had to resort to stones and bayonets.” —Alan Elsner