old. [But] she performs her most unpleasant, dirtiest duties with contempt. For if you have lived for nearly half a century at a certain cultural-social level, guaranteed through prosperity and the character of your job, you find it difficult to adapt psychically to your degraded position.
Before the war Mrs R. was “the printer’s wife.” Her husband owned an independent printing house on P. Street (R-ma Company). They were rather prosperous. Mrs R. did not help her husband in business—she only ran their house and raised their children. The date of 8 July 1940 marks the first deep crack in Mrs R.’s financial existence. That day at 8 a.m. her husband went to the printing house, as always. He had a lot of orders to fill. Around 10 a.m. a luxurious limousine pulled up outside the street door of the printing house [office]. Two uniformed German officers, a gendarme, and a Volksdeutsch civilian “interpreter” got out of the limousine. The Germans entered the printing house and in an imperious tone immediately ordered all work to cease. At that moment [141] Mr R. was totally alone. The officers left him under the supervision of the gendarme and went with the Volksdeutsch to the adjacent printing room for inspection. After their return they thoroughly searched each drawer and every nook and cranny. They examined the printed materials and the matrices ready for printing. Even though they did not find any illegal or suspicious prints they crumpled and tore up all the papers. After they had finished the “inspection,” one of the officers began to interrogate Mr R. He asked about his personal data, age, education, and professional experience. He noted down each answer. He then stood up and roared, Raus, aber schnell, schnell.419 It seemed to him that Mr R. carried out the order too slowly, so he kicked him towards the door. Hurried with commands, schnell, schnell,420 Mr R. hastily locked his shop by fixing the iron bars with chains and heavy padlocks. The Germans stamped the door with three seals—on top, in the middle, and on the bottom—clearly stating that the locale had been requisitioned.
That day at the same hour all Jewish printing houses were sealed as per order of the German authorities.
That day their financial situation became a source of deep concern for Mrs R. Before the war she had the lifestyle of a woman from lower middle class, to which which she belonged. Her everyday life changed little until
