women had her to thank for a temporary job as a maid. Mrs G. tried to provide refugees with [89] constructive aid. The money from the collections for the benefit of the House Committee was meager, so she found other sources. She introduced a “special percent for refugees” deducted during all evening games of cards. In addition, she organized tea parties during which guests played cards. Such events usually brought a substantial profit. Once Mrs G. was hurrying to invite her friend living on Nowiniarska to a game of bridge. A German soldier blocked her way on Krasińscy Square and with a harsh order, Komm, komm,397 and escorted her to the court building, where German soldiers were stationed. It was in the mid-summer of 1940. Other women who had been stopped by the soldier were waiting in the courtyard. When their number exceeded 20 they were escorted into the court building and ordered to clean the rooms. Some women were washing windows, while others washed doors, toilets, or floors. Mrs G. was ordered to scrub the floor. She had to carry buckets with water by herself. The soldier supervising their work kept reminding them, nur gut machen.398 He shouted and hurled abuse at them for even the tiniest sign of negligence. By contrast, those who did well were released earlier and were even rewarded with a loaf of bread and a bar of chocolate.
Mrs G. worked for about three hours. She got a 2-kilo loaf of bread.
Months passed filled with efforts to stay happy and to help the refugees. November 1940 came and Jews were locked in the ghetto. From then on Mrs G.’s life was on a downward trajectory. By order of the German authorities she had to dismiss her Aryan maid of many years. With the new [90] Jewish maid her household often required her personal involvement, which was time-consuming and boring for her. It was a painful change for Mrs G. Besides, the refugee traffic in October and November and the chaos during the initial period of the existence of the ghetto put an end to her husband’s prosperity. Several months without income severely depleted their savings. The need to start reducing her spending made her own life less luxurious and deprived her of the opportunity to help her sister, who went bankrupt after she had lost her business “on the other side” on 15 November 1940. Those two reasons pushed her onto a path to find gainful occupation. Mrs G. used her social contacts in rich middle-class spheres and became a middleman in the
