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1942 July 24, - ADAM CZERNIAKOW (1880-1942) (Warsaw, Poland)
The leader of the Jewish council of Warsaw, the
Judenrat, committed suicide. Czerniakow had held the position for 3 years and kept a diary of over 1,000 pages that chronicled the formation of the ghetto up to the beginning of the forced transports. The Germans had ordered him to provide them with a list of names for deportation. His response was a list of his own name written hundreds of times. The day before his suicide, the Nazi officer in charge of the deportation procedure, Sturmbannfuehrer (major) Hoefle, threatened to shoot his wife if he didn't cooperate. In his suicide note he writes "I am powerless, my heart trembles in sorrow and compassion. I can no longer bear all this."
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