to arrive in the quarantine. Consequently, the director released those who had accommodation in Warsaw, but without their parcels. Nonetheless, we were all happy about this and ran to register our wives and children for release. People began to gather in the courtyard at 1 p.m. An hour passes, then another. The gate remains closed. The women and children are getting cold. Everybody is hungry. Purportedly it was possible to buy bread from the staff for a sum of 6−8 zlotys per loaf, but you had to register in advance and we did not know that.
I am looking for the director, but he is nowhere to be found. Instead, a middleman approaches us and tells us that for 10,000 zlotys those gathered can [6] be released right away and have their parcels delivered intact. He adds that the price is not exorbitant, because we would pay more in the Community. We decide not to give in to blackmail and do not engage in any negotiations. We wait. It is as late as 4 p.m. when the gate opens and the first group is released. We quickly decide that we will leave our delegation behind to watch over our parcels in the storeroom, just in case something goes wrong. They rest of us are to leave the quarantine. I am among those who are to go and I stand in line.
We are packed like sardines. The release proceeds slowly. I make avail of the delay and go upstairs several times for my suitcase. It is in the director’s office, purportedly safe, but only the director can give it to me, and he is not there. After an hour I am one of the lucky ones leaving the hospitable walls of the quarantine under escort of the Order Service. I notice the director. I ask him to give me my suitcase. He flatly refuses because he cannot leave his post on the other side of the gate to take care of private matters. But he promises that he will give it to a functionary authorised by me. [7] So I stop thinking about the bedding [. . .] parcels rescued from Jeziorna. At this moment I am focused on finding a place for my family to sleep, calm down, and recover after the ordeals of the past days.
ARG I 488 (Ring. I/22).
Description: duplicate (two copies), handwritten, pencil, Polish, 145x205 mm, minor damage and fragments missing, 14 sheets, 14 pages
Edition based on the original, 7 sheets, 7 pages.
