Stroop Report

by Jürgen Stroop

Book Overview

The Stroop Report is the official German account of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto from April to May 1943, prepared by the Commanding Officer of the operation, SS-Brigade Leader J rgen Stroop.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394738179
• ISBN13: 9780394738178
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: German Enemy Credits Poles More Than Do Holocaust Materials. For Shame!

This chilling day-by-day diary recounts the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. It also contains photos and notes. Other than general references to bandits, Stroop frequently refers specifically to "Polish bandits" (e. g., Section I, p. 4, 8; Entries for April 22, 27, 29; May 10) and "Polish terrorists" (April 26, 27; May 10) fighting alongside the Jews. The terms are pejorative ones for partisans, and Milton acknowledges the fact that Himmler forbade the use of the word "partisan" in Germans' reports. (Note 7). In his introduction, Andrzej Wirth confirms them as Polish guerillas. (p. iv). (Literal bandits, of course, normally prey on the defenseless, and wouldn't be fighting the Germans in open and persistent combat!) Unfortunately, some Jewish commentators are so Polonophobic that they cannot bring themselves to admit the fact that Polish guerillas fought alongside Jews in their Uprising. Some of them make the ridiculous charge that the Poles participated against orders. Others make the even more bizarre insinuation that Stroop made up all those references to fighting Poles in his report because he couldn't bring himself to admit that Jews could fight and--worse yet--would fight against his forces. In his commentary, Sybil Milton makes a similar amazing claim (RE: April 27, May 8; his Notes 18 and 28): "When Stroop refers to the Jewish-Polish defense unit, he probably meant the Jewish Fighting Organization...It is probable that Stroop's confusion is deliberate, since he had to rationalize the fact that a small, underarmed Jewish force could oppose the German Army and Police for almost two weeks." Milton's first attempt to deny Polish involvement is patently absurd. If "Jewish-Polish defense unit" only meant that the Jewish fighters consisted of Polish Jews, why on earth would Stroop feel the need to record this? Everyone with an IQ above that of a peanut already knew that Polish Jews lived in Warsaw! Milton's second evasion is equally ludicrous. Stroop repeatedly admitted in print that the fighters he captured were Jews, and that Jews alone could offer tenacious resistance (e. g., Section I, p. 10; April 20, 21, 27; May 5, 7, and 13). Having done so, why would he suddenly turn around and feel the need to invent nonexistent Polish co-combatants in order to deny the fact that the combatants were Jews, or to hide the worthiness of Jews as combat opponents? Let's take this further. Virtually all Holocaust films and educational materials fail to convey the extent of Polish aid to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, if they do so at all. Weapons magically become available to the Jews out of nowhere, or a Pole is shown selling one measly rusty gun for a hefty price, etc. Few readers imagine, let alone realize, the fact that Polish guerillas fought alongside the Jews in this Uprising. Stroop elaborates on all this. See the detailed Peczkis review of Conversations with an Executioner.