Słonimski,190 and Hemar. Nowadays they make do with Szlengel, [72] Fokszański,191 and Włast. They are excited about “Prince” Goldfeder and Wiera Gran’s singing. You will hear neither spoken Yiddish nor any Yiddish songs here. Their mugs show that they are particularly discontented because they have to mingle with the ghetto masses. They want nothing to do with Jewry. Why, they never miss Sunday mass.192 They hate the street and being equated with the “lousy yids” with whom they have to share their fate.
Their yearnings become apparent in Sztuka. Its converted co-owner, Mrs Czarnecka, whose husband works for the Judenrat,193 walks proudly among the tables, making sure everything is in order. She watches over her sheep. Mrs [. . .] manages the café like an ambassador’s wife supervises her parties even though the [average] check is 11 zlotys. The waitresses are educated ladies “of quality,” adequately clumsy and with adequate chutzpah. They reluctantly serve the customers and make too many mistakes on the cheques. But the aristocracy went through a bad time some time ago in France and not so long ago in [73] Russia, too. So their martyrdom is also sacred. Hence their sweetly suffering superior smile. . . .
The cafés of the Small Ghetto (as long as there was Sienna Street, the uneven numbers in the ghetto)194 also catered to the converted, intellectual, bourgeois “aristocracy,” which enjoyed entertainment “on a higher level,” kept up its spirits, kept separate, and had quite a lot of fun. After all, just a year ago it had money—so, fewer problems and more illusions. Today there is only
