Stroop Report

The cover page of "american copy" of The Stroop Report with International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg markings.

The second copy of The Stroop Report from Institute of National Remembrance in Poland.

The Stroop Report is a 75-page official report prepared in May 1943 by Jürgen Stroop, commander of the forces that liquidated the Warsaw Ghetto, for the SS chief Heinrich Himmler. It documented the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Originally titled The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is No More! (Es gibt keinen jüdischen Wohnbezirk in Warschau mehr!), it is commonly referred to as "The Stroop Report".

Creation

The Report was commissioned by Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, high SS and police leader in Kraków and was intended as a souvenir album for Heinrich Himmler. It was a typed document, bound in black pebble leather, with over 50 photographs accompanied by hand-written Gothic script captions. It consisted of three parts:

• an introduction and summary of SS operations
• a collection of all daily communiqués sent to SS Police Leader East Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger
• a series of approximately 52 photographs.

The report was prepared in three distinct leather-bound copies for Himmler, Krüger and Stroop, with one incomplete file copy for the SS Headquarters in Warsaw. Only one leather-bound copy and the file copy were recovered after the war. There are slight discrepancies in textual layout, and in photos they contain. The file copy, the one pictured to the right, is currently located at the National Archives in Washington D.C. The only surviving leather-bound copy is at the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw.^[1]

Both copies were introduced as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. It was first displayed by the chief U.S. prosecutor Robert H. Jackson for the judges during his opening address.^[2] The assistant prosecutor dealing with the persecution of the Jews referred to it as "the finest example of ornate German craftsmanship, leather bound, profusely illustrated, typed on heavy bond paper ... the almost unbelievable recital of the proud accomplishment by Major General of Police Stroop."^[3]

Text

Report confirmed many times participation of the Polish Resistance in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Jürgen Stroop referred to Polish underground fighters as "Polnische Banditen" - "Polish Bandits", he noted:

"When we invaded the Ghetto for the first time, the Jews and the Polish bandits succeeded in repelling the participating units, including tanks and armored cars, by a well-prepared concentration of fire. ... The main Jewish battle group, mixed with Polish bandits, had already retired during the first and second day to the so-called Muranowski Square. There, it was reinforced by a considerable number of Polish bandits. Its plan was to hold the Ghetto by every means in order to prevent us from invading it. ... Time and again Polish bandits found refuge in the Ghetto and remained there undisturbed, since we had no forces at our disposal to comb out this maze. ... One such battle group succeeded in mounting a truck by ascending from a sewer in the so-called Prosta [Street], and in escaping with it (about 30 to 35 bandits). ... The bandits and Jews – there were Polish bandits among these gangs armed with carbines, small arms, and in one case a light machine gun – mounted the truck and drove away in an unknown direction."

— Jürgen Stroop, 1943^[4]

Photographs from the Stroop Report

Photographic captions in the Report are written in the German Sütterlin script.

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  Nr.1 "The building of the former Jewish Council"

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  Nr.4"The Brauer firm"

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  "The Jewish department heads of the armament firm Brauer"

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  Warsaw Copy # 6" March to the rail station" {Zamenhofa Street in Warsaw}

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  Nr.6 "Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs"

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  [NARA Copy # 7]"Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs" {Picture taken at Nowolipie street looking East, near intersection with Smocza street. On the right townhouse at Nowolipie 63 further the ghetto wall with a gate, behind the wall one can see burning house Nowolipie 61. On the left burning balcony of the townhouse Nowolipie 66.}

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  Nr.7/NARA Copy #30 "To the transshipping place"

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  Nr.8 "Search and interrogation"

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  Nr.9/Warsaw Copy # 10 "Jewish Rabbis" {Photo from Nowolipie Street. In the back one can see (from the left) townhouses at Nowolipie 32 (fragment), 30 and 28. According to at USHMM Among those pictured Rabbi Heschel Rappaport is in picture {Bearded man standing in center}. SD Corporal 2nd from right is thought to be Josef Blösche}

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  [Warsaw Copy # 11/NARA Copy # 10]
  "Jewish Rabbis" { Note according to [1] From left to right are Rabbi Lipa Kaplan, Eliyahu Levin (son of Rabbi Hersh Henoch of Bedzin), Mendel Alter (son of Rabbi Nechemya Alter); Yankel Levin (son of Rabbi Mottel Levin of Lodz and grandson of the rabbi of Bedzin), unknown and Rabbi Heschel Rappaport, a Gerer Chassid and mentor to young Chassidim. This picture was taken on Nowolipie Street. See File:Stroop Report - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 04.jpg}

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  Nr.11/Warsaw Copy # 13
  "An assault squad"{Nowolipie street in Warsaw Ghetto. Buildings in the image from the right: Nowolipie 50a, then 52, 54 and wall of the townhouse nr. 56.}

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  Nr.12 "Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs" {note according to [1] this was taken at Kupiecka Street near Nalewki Street}^[1]

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  Nr.13 "These bandits resisted by force of arms"

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  NARA # 18 "These bandits resisted by force of arms"

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  Nr.14 "Jews pulled from a Bunker" {Picture taken at Nowolipie street looking East, near intersection with Smocza street. In the back one can see ghetto wall with a gate. Also location of Photographs # 6/NARA Copy # 7/#13/NARA # 18

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  Nr.15 "Bandits"

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  Nr.16 "Bandits destroyed in battle"
  (Polish)"Bandyci zgładzeni w walce"

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  Nr.19/Warsaw Copy #21 "Smoking out the Jews and Bandits" {Picture taken at Nowolipie street, between Smocza and Karmelicka street. On the right visible building at Nowolipie 34.}

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  Nr.21/Warsaw Copy # 23/NARA # 27 "Destruction of a housing block"{Intersection of Zamenhofa and Wołyńska streets.}

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  [Warsaw Copy #37] "Fight against a Resistance Pocket" {Zamenhof street looking North. The cannon is aiming at building on the intersection with Gęsia street (Gęsia 20), now called Anielewicza Street.}

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  Nr.23/Warsaw Copy #26 "Hehalutz women captured with weapons" {Left to right: Rachela Wyszogrodzka?/Rukhele Lauschvits?; Bluma Wyszogrodzka; Malka Zdrojewicz Horenstein}

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  Nr.24 "A housing block being destroyed"

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  Nr.26 no original caption

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  "A woman hangs from a balcony, preparing to drop to the street and the waiting SS."

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  Nr.28 "Securing a street"

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  Nr.31 "Bandits jump to escape capture" {Taken at 23 and 25 Niska Street}

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  Nr.31a "Bandits after having jumped down" {Taken at 23 and 25 Niska Street}

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  Nr.34 "The leader of the grand operation" {Picture taken at Nowolipie street looking East, near intersection with Smocza street. On the left burning balcony of the townhouse Nowolipie 66, next to it ghetto wall.}

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  "Jewish Traitors" 14 May 1943. 2nd from right Maximilian von Herff

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  "Askaris used during the operation"

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  "Askaris assigned to the operation"

1. ^ The glaring German soldier in photograph Nr.12 has been identified as Josef Blösche.

See also

• Dachau Trials
• Nuremberg Trials

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stroop Report.

• The Stroop Report at the National Archives
• Stroop Report on Polish Institute of National Remembrance website (42 MB) - from p. 113 onwards