THOUSANDS DEAD IN WARSAW

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20078, 26 October 1939, Page 5

THOUSANDS DEAD IN WARSAW

VICTIMS STILL LIE IN CITY DEBRIS

PERSECUTON OF JEWS BY GERMANS

SOVIET CHANGING LIFE IN EAST

(Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Oct, 2G, .11.15 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 25

Details of the fate of Poland are now filtering out.

Two American Quakers, Messrs. William MacDonald and Homer Morris, who arc doing relief work, stated that 50,000 persons were killed in Warsaw and many times more were Wounded. They said that the devastation was heartrending. Thirty-five per cent of the buildings were reduced to heaps of rubble and another 25 per cent badly damaged.

The worst havoc was caused in the crowded tenements of the old city and the Jewish quarters. Thousands of bodies were still buried in the debris. The survivors have, neither homes, money nor work. The Nazi relief organisation is distributing 250,000 hot meals daily. Jews, however, get nothing. Thousands of Polish soldiers straggle the roads, hungry and desperate. Gangs of prisoners and Jews are forced to clean up the streets of Warsaw. Typhoid is spreading. The city water supply cannot be used.

A message from Berlin states that the Nazi decree appointing Dr. Frank as Governor-General of German Poland, nominates Dr. Seyss Inquart, as deputy. The Governor will be personally responsible to the Fuehrer. The occupied territory bears the cost of administration. Power of Decrees.

The existing Polish law remains in effect, but such provisions as arc incompatible with the new administration are abrogated. The Governor-General, or Marshal Goering, as head of the four-year plan, may promulgate decrees. The Governor-General prepares the Budget for submission to the Reich Minister of Finance, while the Reich Minister of ,the Interior remains the central authority in the occupied territories.

A Budapest message states that the Russians are changing the whole structure of life in East Poland, Small shops are not allowed to -remain in the hands of the owners. Big shops and factories are vested in workers’ committees. The land reforms bring each, peasant.l2 acres, a pig and a cow. Russian is prescribed as the main language in the cities. The teaching of religious knowledge is banned in the schools. A report'from Moscow states that a Russo-German mixed commission is proceeding to Warsaw finally to demarcate the frontiers. Moscow reports that the National Assembly of “Western White Russia” meets at Bialystok on Saturday. The assembly of “West Ukraine” meets at Lwow (Lemberg), on Thursday. *

It is announced that 9G per cent of registered voters participated in the White Russian elections. Only two of 939 candidates failed to receive majorities. The percentage of adverse votes of the remainder was never above 15 per cent. Eleven out of 1495 candidates in West Ukraine did not receive the necessary majority. Special by-elections are being held.