women received a bonus in the amount of 50 zlotys. They also receive regular allowances and have other privileges, which significantly help them survive. Jews do not get any aid or bonuses of such kind and their extra vouchers are for half a kilo of bread less. “By order of the authorities,” explains the director. In order to [patch up?] her budget Mrs F. sold cigarettes, sugar, cookies [. . .] among her colleagues. This did not escape the vigilant foreman’s attention. He filed a complaint with the director and Mrs F. was told to discontinue her secret trade or be dismissed. She gets by doing pedicures and manicures. She even reads cards [. . .] stands on the street outside a gate in some [. . .] and sells sweets. She has a biological urge to survive. Moreover, she has a subtle sense of self-respect resulting from her longstanding financial independence. Mrs F. is not ashamed to perform any labour as long as it does not contradict her ethics or decency. But she flinches at the thought of stretching out her hand for charity. She turned to her Landsmannschaft364 only once to ask for a discount for lunch at the self-supporting kitchen.
Mrs F. has adjusted to the sharp turns in her everyday life with a certain fatalistic resignation. She has worked out a philosophical attitude to life, characteristic of many Jewish [30] women nowadays. “Everything I need to endure is a necessary evil. I must survive. After the war I will make up for my present misery,” she claims.
And Mrs F. boldly faces all the obstacles threatening her survival.
* * *
(April 1942) Today Mrs K. got up earlier than usual. The other day she had received a letter from the Gestapo to come collect her husband’s belongings. He had been in a concentration camp for two years, at first in Oranienburg,365 then in Dachau,366 and recently in Buchenwald.367 Due to this visit Mrs K. has changed her daily routine. She did not tidy up first or go shopping to [. . .].
