Turek Jews Smeared with Excrement, 1939
22 September 1939
Turek, Poland
Turek was one in the long list of Polish communities that were occupied by the Nazis in September 1939. On September 22, 1939, a group of Jews were burned to death in the synagogue on Szeroka street. (Virtual Shtetl)
In Shraga Bar-Sela's telling of the occupation, he mentions the fire in the synagogue but not any loss of life. (Turek Yizkor Book, p303) Others mention that 600 or 700 Jews were gathered in the synagogue and then deported, but make not mention of killing in the building.
As in most places, the murder of Jews was accompanied by humiliations. In a report, General Walter Petzel wrote that "In Turek...a number of Jews were driven into a synagogue, forced to crawl through the bench seats while singing and constantly being beaten by SS men with whips. They were then forced to take down their pants, to be beaten on their naked behinds. One Jew, who out of fear had gone in his pants, was forced to smear excrement in the faces of the other Jews." (Christopher Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution, 74) In the Turek yizkor book, one man describes hearing shouts from outside the synagogue, and afterward being told about the ordeal, but could not bring himself to record the humiliations.
This was actually not the first time a Turek synagogue had been torched, as the Poles had done so in 1851 following a campaign by a Polish priest.
Turek, Poland
Turek was one in the long list of Polish communities that were occupied by the Nazis in September 1939. On September 22, 1939, a group of Jews were burned to death in the synagogue on Szeroka street. (Virtual Shtetl)
In Shraga Bar-Sela's telling of the occupation, he mentions the fire in the synagogue but not any loss of life. (Turek Yizkor Book, p303) Others mention that 600 or 700 Jews were gathered in the synagogue and then deported, but make not mention of killing in the building.
As in most places, the murder of Jews was accompanied by humiliations. In a report, General Walter Petzel wrote that "In Turek...a number of Jews were driven into a synagogue, forced to crawl through the bench seats while singing and constantly being beaten by SS men with whips. They were then forced to take down their pants, to be beaten on their naked behinds. One Jew, who out of fear had gone in his pants, was forced to smear excrement in the faces of the other Jews." (Christopher Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution, 74) In the Turek yizkor book, one man describes hearing shouts from outside the synagogue, and afterward being told about the ordeal, but could not bring himself to record the humiliations.
This was actually not the first time a Turek synagogue had been torched, as the Poles had done so in 1851 following a campaign by a Polish priest.
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