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"Obtaining testimonies about the atrocities – by those who returned from Poland". Inner circular letter, issued by the information bureau of the Jewish Agency, [probably July 1944].
A circular letter, typewritten and stenciled. The letter opens with the words: "while the Eretz Israelis were in Atlit and have been exchanged for the German citizens, talks have been conducted with them by representatives of the Jewish Agency Aliya Dept. We deliver part of the testimonies about the horrors in the occupied countries".
In 1941-1944 there were some exchange deals between people in Eretz Israel and Germany: Eretz Israel citizens who left the country before the war were exchanged for Germans of the Templers' community who lived in Eretz Israel. The first returned to Eretz Israel and the latter to Germany. The testimony presented here was obtained from one of the groups which returned to Eretz Israel and was, most probably, the fourth group which arrived on July 11 1944 (it is also possible that this was the second group that arrived in November 1942, but due to the abundance of testimonies from Holland, it is assumed that this was indeed the fourth group). The testimonies in this document include unbearable descriptions of cargo trains full of people, mass graves, death injections, actions, shooting in the streets, ashes crates, burning of synagogues and other atrocities. A couple from Warsaw who were in a prisoners camp from the beginning of the war and corresponded with relatives in Warsaw told that their relatives wrote to them that "Dr. Korczak with all of the orphans was among the deportees. Dr. Korczak survived the transport and it was unknown where to he disappeared". 8 pp, 30.5 cm.Fair-good condition. Dry and fragile paper. Minor tears. Folding marks, minor stains.