| Original caption: “This mass of bricks and wreckage is all that remains of the ghetto quarter of Warsaw, the first European capital captured by German in September 1939.” Piles of bricks were all that remained of the Warsaw Ghetto after demolition squads destroyed it during the uprising of April 1943. The steeple of Kościół Swięty Augustyna w Warszawie (“Church of Saint Augustine”) can be seen behind the remnant wall at right. This view looks towards the Polish Catholic section of the city, which was heavily damaged in the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army) uprising in the summer of 1944. Schutzstaffel SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Jürgen Stroop (September 26, 1895 – March 6, 1952) directed the reduction of the Warsaw Ghetto over 4 weeks during the largest act of resistance by Jews during the Holocaust. The most terrible calamity the bunkers had to endure was the fires. Most of the bunkers had been constructed under the houses in existing cellars or tunnels that were built for this purpose. The buildings were burned to their very foundations, and within the bunkers the concrete, bricks, and smoldering embers created a dreadful heat. 1 memoir described the events in a bunker beneath a burned building: “We can think of nothing but a breath of air. The heat in the bunker is unbearable. This is not simply a burning heat. The seething walls exude odors, as if the mildew of decades was released and spread out under the influence of the temperature. I sit with my mouth open and everyone around me does likewise, with the illusion and effort that we are swallowing air. One does not talk in the bunker. When one talks, it is even more difficult to breathe. But from time to time there is shouting, quarrels, nervousness and tension without end, and generally the quarrels are nonsensical. We have not eaten now for twenty-four hours. Only rusks can be gnawed at, and the water is still more or less possible to drink. All the food supplies have been spoiled. The moldy smell has seeped into the food and it cannot be used. Some try to console themselves with the fact that when the house cools down, it may be possible to save some of the food stores. But the talk of cooling down is just an illusion. The house was burnt down two days ago and the heat has not only not subsided, but increases hour by hour. Everyone has taken off their clothes and no one gives a thought to the fact that the men and women sitting about are almost naked…This afternoon, an argument started which implicated almost everyone in the bunker. Someone went to the entrance, moved the hidden cover, and started to swallow the fresh air coming in from outside. To do this in the middle of the day was like committing suicide. The Nazis above us are poking around and looking for us — at any moment they may be just above our heads. Frequently, the sound of their heavy boots can be heard above us. They sniffed round, searched, and went off, without finding anything. But we know that many bunkers have been penetrated and we must be very careful. The sounds and stifling air escaping from the entrance can lead to our discovery.” The entire Warsaw Ghetto was set ablaze. Thousands of people suffered near physical and mental collapse — virtually on the verge of madness — not only maintained this way of life but viewed its disappearance as a great catastrophe. There were no instances in which the inhabitants of an entire bunker capitulated. There were many cases, however, in which, when a bunker was discovered and the Nazis called to surrender, the inhabitants responded with bullets. The Polish press ignored “the war of the bunkers,” nor was there much evidence in the survivors’ accounts that were sent abroad at the height of the war. In fact, even after the war, not much was revealed on the subject. Paradoxically, alone among those retelling the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Stroop was greatly concerned with the campaign against the bunkers and the efforts required to conquer them. On May 24, Stroop reported to Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger (May 8, 1894 – May 10, 1945): “As the bunkers had to be blown up immediately, it was impossible to take the weapons into account…Apart from eight structures (the police hostel, the hospital, the hostel for factory guards), the former ghetto was completely destroyed. What was not accomplished by blowing up the place were a few burnt walls. What could be retrieved from the ruins were quantities of bricks and scrap iron.” In September forced laborers, accompanied by armed guards, were sent to demolish the burned framework of the walls still standing in the Warsaw Ghetto. The ruins had been the site of executions of Polish prisoners, as well as of many Jews who had tried to live on the Aryan side. Later, Polish workers and prisoners were sent into the ruins to collect bricks and scrap iron. On April 19, 1944, exactly 1 year after the final expulsion began, SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Doctor Hans Kammler (August 26, 1901 – May 9, 1945), the SS man responsible for planning and construction, reported 22.5 1,000,000 bricks had been collected from the ruins and that 4,675 people had been engaged in the effort. This photo is by Associated Press photographer Henry Griffin (May 19, 1916 – August 22, 1992). Griffin accompanied American Ambassador Arthur Bliss Lane (June 16, 1894 – August 12, 1956) and his wife, Cornelia Thayer Baldwin Lane (March 20, 1892 – November 18, 1994) with United States Army officers as they inspected the wrecked city of Warsaw. The entourage visited the former United States Embassy; its “shell splattered” walls were all that remained. Griffin flew in an aircraft over the area of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the only recognizable landmark was Kościół Swięty Augustyna w Warszawie (“Church of Saint Augustine”) a Catholic Church that was within the confines of the Warsaw Ghetto. It was the only building the Nazi Germans left standing. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0765.jpg |
| Image Size | 429.17 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1536 x 1160 |
| Photographer | Henry L. Griffin |
| Photographer Title | ACME |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | October 13, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Warsaw |
| State or Province | Warsaw |
| Country | Poland |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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