porated into the Reich in October and in that same month a ghetto was established there. The new regime had a more negative effect on the morale than on the economic situation of the Jews. For the smuggling of goods into the ghetto was blossoming and the cost of living was very low. There was scarce a Jewish home where chicken was not served for lunch, even on weekdays. Mrs Z. is a 26-year-old refugee from Krośniewice. Her husband was a locksmith and mechanic. He worked in his occupation and earned good money. As a matter of fact almost all of the Jews in Krośniewice earned their living one way or another. Even though their existence had been crammed into those most narrow frames, they still lived a peaceful and steady life.
It was so until January 1942. In early January posters announcing the compulsory registration of all men were posted on the walls of the houses. The ghetto stirred. Nobody knew the real aim of that ordinance but people had a bad feeling and expressed different opinions. Mrs Z.’s father, husband, and brother came to the registration office on the specified day and were apprehended right away. Only a few very old men returned home.
At first, the Jewish men were locked in a shed on the outskirts of the town, and after several days they were deported in an unknown direction. Nobody heard anything about them ever again. The remaining Jews in the ghetto were overcome with panic and feared a new wave of repressions. In a fit of despair a fast was ordered twice [96] a week: on Mondays and Fridays. People believed that the force of this ritual and prayers could save the deported and protect those who remained in the town from new tragedies.
For ten days they lived in constant fear of their life. Finally, in late March terrible news arrived: all Jewish women had to pay a polltax (Kopfsteuer)403 immediately. “What for? What’s going to happen?” the women asked. The tax collectors explained that in three days they would be transported in locked cars to Bessarabia.404 The money from Kopfsteuer was to cover the cost of the “journey.”
But at that time nobody believed those words to be true. Everybody knew that they were going to death instead of to Bessarabia. So when they came to collect the polltax Mrs Z. decided to escape to her sister, who lived in Warsaw.
