This Date in History: April 23
Jürgen Stroop (center) at the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto
On April 23, 1943 the fifth day of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a pivotal day. Stroop heeded the instructions from his SS superiors and focused the fighting on Leszno and Nowolipie Streets. A Jewish resistance squad at Nowolipie and Karmelicka Streets set out, according to a post-war source, to attack a headquarters of the Gestapo at 103 Zelazna Street. However, the Germans intercepted the group and killed most of the fighters. Stroop reported that 150 of the “Trawniki Men” were detached from his command for special purpose duties. We do not know exactly what this duty entailed. On this day it appears that the Germans expanded their tactic of setting fires to burn out the resistance fighters. Zugwachtmeister d. Sch. Erich Waclawik (grenade shrapnel), Wachtmeister d. Sch. Karl Neidhard and Wachtmeister d. Sch. Oskar Hexel (right lower leg; later amputated below the knee), of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd SS Police Regiment and Wachmann Grigor Iwanyschyn, Trawniki camp, were wounded in action. (The Ghetto Men: The SS Destruction of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto April-May 1943)
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John C. Woods surveying his latest hanging
A Board of Medical Survey for Seaman John C. Woods convened on April 23, 1930 at the U.S. Naval Hospital at Mare Island. The report, submitted by Commander W.M. Kerr, Lieutenant Commander L.J. Roberts and Lieutenant Junior Grade B.L. Roberson, read:
“This patient, though not intellectually inferior, gives a history of repeatedly running counter to authority both before and since enlistment. Stigmata of degeneration [moral degeneration] are present and the patient frequently bites his fingernails. He has a benign tumor of the soft palate for which he refuses operation. His commanding officer and division officers state that he shows inaptitude and does not respond to instruction. He is obviously poor service material. This man has had less than five months service. His disability is considered to be an inherent defect for which the service is in no way responsible. [He] is not considered a menace to himself or others.”
(American Hangman: MSgt. John C. Woods: The United States Army’s Notorious Executioner in World War II and Nürnberg)