changes and annexation of Łódź to Germany, the regulation included Łódź as well.489
The Jews were allowed to trade only in rags.
This very fact proves not so much that there was a tendency to push the Jews to the lowest level of the economy—although it was the main purpose of the regulation—but rather that the Germans had devised a plan in advance, in which the Jews would be incorporated into the German war economy. This plan was undoubtedly developed with substantial contribution from “experts in all things Jewish”, such as Mr Seraphim490 of Konigsberg, but the main contribution came from German entrepreneurs, who realised even before the war that the Jews, who played the most prominent role in the Polish rag trade, may prove very useful at a time when it would be difficult to get original raw materials, and rags would be valuable.
A rag processing company from Vienna—Bunzl, Biach et Co. A. G.—was most interested in the organisation of the Jewish rag trade. Representatives of this company, who arrived in Warsaw as soon as administrative relations within the General Government had stabilised, entered into an agreement with local wholesalers, among whom the most prominent was a Mr Urwicz, an owner of large rag warehouses. It is highly telling that rag traders were the first Jews to receive special passes enabling them to move freely in the occupied territories. The Germans, fully aware of relations in the profession before the war, soon designed a whole structure of rag collection for their own purposes. This structure retained the order which existed before the war, namely:
a) the basis of collection is the tuczkarz, or a yard rag picker,
b) the rag picker sells rags to a minor wholesaler,
c) the minor wholesaler brings them to a medium wholesaler,
d) the medium wholesaler turns rags over to a central warehouse, controlled by major wholesalers (such as Mr Urwicz), and which is in direct contact with the German headquarters, who supervise the entire rag trade.
Such was the official division of the scope of action for everyone involved in the rag trade. For the purpose of implementing this plan 1) a great collection and sorting house was created at Młocińska Street 13, which housed the
