Stroop Report



The Stroop Report is a 75-page official report prepared in May 1943 by Jürgen Stroop, commander of the forces that liquidated the Warsaw Ghetto, for the SS chief Heinrich Himmler. It documented the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Originally titled The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is No More! (Es gibt keinen jüdischen Wohnbezirk in Warschau mehr!), it is commonly referred to as "The Stroop Report".

Creation
The Report was commissioned by Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, high SS and police leader in Kraków and was intended as a souvenir album for Heinrich Himmler. It was a typed document, bound in black pebble leather, with over 50 photographs accompanied by hand-written Gothic script captions. It consisted of three parts:
 * an introduction and summary of SS operations
 * a collection of all daily communiqués sent to SS Police Leader East Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger
 * a series of approximately 52 photographs.

The report was prepared in three distinct leather-bound copies for Himmler, Krüger and Stroop, with one incomplete file copy for the SS Headquarters in Warsaw. Only one leather-bound copy and the file copy were recovered after the war. There are slight discrepancies in textual layout, and in photos they contain. The file copy, the one pictured to the right, is currently located at the National Archives in Washington D.C. The only surviving leather-bound copy is at the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw.

Both copies were introduced as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. It was first displayed by the chief U.S. prosecutor Robert H. Jackson for the judges during his opening address. The assistant prosecutor dealing with the persecution of the Jews referred to it as "the finest example of ornate German craftsmanship, leather bound, profusely illustrated, typed on heavy bond paper ... the almost unbelievable recital of the proud accomplishment by Major General of Police Stroop."

Text
Report confirmed many times participation of the Polish Resistance in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Jürgen Stroop referred to Polish underground fighters as "Polnische Banditen" - "Polish Bandits", he noted:

Photographs from the Stroop Report
Photographic captions in the Report are written in the German Sütterlin script.