The Pittsburgh Press (December 23, 1944)
Soviet commission reports –
Nazis massacre 700,000; Americans among victims
Russians find proof in examination of bodies at concentration camp in Poland
Moscow, USSR (UP) –
The Soviet State Atrocity Commission reported today that the Germans tortured and massacred 700,00 persons, including some American and British citizens, at a big concentration camp near Lwów during the occupation of southern Poland.
The report was based on the examination of bodies, captured German documents, and the testimony of escaped prisoners. The victims were mostly Russians and Poles, but among them were Czechs, Yugoslavs, Netherlanders and Italians.
The commission said that after the fall of Benito Mussolini, the Germans demanded an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler from all Italians garrisoned at Lwów. Two thousand officers and men refused and were shot. Among them were five generals and 45 officers.
The report listed the names of Nazi war criminals accused of the Lwów atrocities. The list was headed by Dr. Hans Frank, chief of the Nazi-controlled General Government of Poland, several army generals and leaders of the Gestapo.
In addition to the notorious methods of asphyxiation, cremation and machine-gunning the commission said, the Germans devised a new torture by ice. In midwinter, a prisoner would be stripped, bound and put into a waterfilled barrel until he froze to death. Many victims were killed under trains.
A special composition called the “Tango of Death” was played by the camp orchestra during the mass murders, the report said, and the entire orchestra was shot later.
Pictures published by Moscow newspapers showed a performance of the “Tango of Death” while prisoners were being executed, heaps of hundreds of bodies, and a special machine for crushing human bones.
Many Polish intellectuals were reported among the victims. Among the humiliations inflicted on this group, the commission said, was forcing them to wash the staircase with their tongues and lips, then to gather rubbish in the prison yard with their teeth before they were shot.
Children of the intellectuals were reported handed over to Hitler Youth organizations and used for target practice.