decided to remove the Polish disinsection brigades away from the Jewish district. This does not mean that the Jewish disinfection brigades were without any blame: quite the opposite—bribery abounded among them, but at least it lacked the character of harassment and extortion, which was typical for the Polish brigades. There were active Germans disinsectors involved with disinsection columns. Their task was to monitor the activities of the brigades. Some of them beat and tortured people horribly [5]. They were summoned mostly to those tenement houses where resistance was initially encountered. In such houses the operation was repeated, this time with the German disinfectors beating and torturing people, which was called “penal steaming.” It was a kind of collective punishment. The Order Service assisted with locking the tenement, preventing the residents from leaving or getting in, as well as escorting them to the compulsory bath. This was an opportunity for the Order Service to make some money. A craftsman or some other worker had to go to work. For a small fee of 50 groszes, 1 zloty, or 2 zlotys paid to the constable at the gate, such a person could leave the tenement. If someone did not want to go to the bath—again, the constable would let them go for a fee. Ultimately, the scope of the operation was limited to the poorest, who perhaps needed the bath the most. It should be noted, however, that the duty of the Order Service officers was very hard. In the winter, they had to escort people to the bath in freezing temperatures of minus 15 or 20o centigrade—people who were not dressed, who were starving to the point that they were too weak to walk. In some cases, the Order Service was helpless. Let us imagine a pauper’s flat: the blanket is lice-ridden, but it is often the only cover for several people, who do not have any other clothing. Originally, constables were temporarily assigned to the Anti-Epidemic duty. Since June 1941, there were officers who were specially delegated to that task, and finally, in November 1941, a special Anti-Epidemic Company was established as an assistance company of the Anti-Epidemic Commissioner.
The height of typhus epidemic, which occurred in the months of September, October, and November, was also the time when doctors who treated the so-called hidden cases of typhus in the Jewish district were particularly busy. It cannot be said that Jewish doctors [6] passed the exam on basic principles of medical ethics and integrity. They ruthlessly took advantage of the patient’s reluctance to go to the hospital and the fact that they were treating a “hidden” case of typhoid. In hospitals, conditions were terrible.
