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Alexandra -> The forgotten victims (12/8/2001 10:25:00 AM)
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Every year at this time, boards like this come alive with rememberences of Pearl Haror. I, however, am not going to talk about that.
I'm going to talk of others who died from Decemeber 7th to 14th, 1941. These people never get TV specials, never get crusding reporters doing 'speacials', none of thier freinds or relatives get to remember them, years later, because there are no freinds and relatives. They all died too.
We'll talk about 2 places, one in Poland and one in the Crimea.
The first place is Chelmno, a small town, then, near a rail junction. There was a camp there.
On the evening of December 7th, perhaps even as a famous speech was being given in America, 700 people arrived there, from a town called Kolo. Men, women, children, young, and old.
All were dead by the 8th.
1,000 more arrived, from seven villages, on the 10th, and were dead the next day.
On the 14th, 975 more arrived, the entire population of the village of Dabie, and were killed the morning of thr 15th.
How did they die? They were loaded into vans, 80 at a time, having been told this was an overnight rest facility, and that they were on thier way to labor camps. On the way, the carbon monoxide of the engine exhaust was pumped into the backs of the vans, killing the people. The vans stopped in the woods, just a few miles away, where a work detail had to bury them. The men on the detail were prisoners, and often buried freinds, relatives, entire families. If they broke down, wept, paused in the work, they were shot.
Nearly 2,700 people died at Chelmno in less than a week.
However, even that paled to Simferopol, in the Crimea. In 3 days, December 12, 13, and 14, 1941, 14,300 people died.
They were marched out of town, in groups of 1000. They were taken to tranches, dug peviously here. Then they were forced to strip, lined up, and shot.
And, if they volley didn't kill a person, they were not given a finishing shot, instead, to save time and ammuntiion, the weight of the bodies falling onto them was allowed to crush them to death, or to suffocate them.
16,000 dead, 2 places, 7 days - they had no weapons, no carriers, no bombers. They did have a courage, though, at least as great as a soldier does on a battlefield, if not a greater one.
Now, I'm not casting any stones at those who fought in WWII, like many here I have relatives who did. I am saying, though, that others should also be remembered as well.
Alex
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