The Pittsburgh Press (July 21, 1944)
Editorial: Extermination camps
For many months, there has been little doubt that the Nazis have been operating extermination camps in Upper Silesia, but official confirmation has just come from two European relief committees with headquarters in Switzerland. They give figures showing that in the two years ending last April, more than 1,715,000 Jewish refugees were put to death.
In addition, hundreds of thousands have been executed elsewhere, and many have died under the inhuman conditions prevailing during their removal to the camps. Since April, at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews have been sent to the execution halls.
Extermination has been the prime weapon in Hitler’s feindish plot to control Europe. There has been little difference between the execution chambers using poison gas and the firing squads using bullets. Even famine has been promoted to decimate populations in the occupied lands.
In the darkest days of barbarism, centuries ago, more inhuman treatment of conquered populations would have been hard to find.