ple have wished for a long time. With utterly thoughtless and callous cheer they glance at the bridge over Chłodna Street, at transition ramps on Żelazna Street, and at forced labourers being searched at the entrance upon their return to the ghetto! We must not—as we know—generalise. Compassionate silence is often seen, the horror in people’s eyes, the silent expressions of solidarity. But the things done by the mob, the young, the wenches, the hooligans, “lumpenproletariat”, ruffians, and outcasts warped in ND schools—all this sets the tone, hurts the heart, and injures the dignity of the Jews, deprived as they are of even that little satisfaction that they have friends and comrades among the Poles. What makes this even sadder is that it is not organised, governed, and managed. On the contrary—no political reason commands the Poles [to act this way]; it is even contrary to their own dearest interests and most honest calculations. Therefore, it is not due to sympathising with parties, cliques, or social groups, but only because of a direct, genuine attitude of spontaneous joy that their wishes are finally realized. And how easily, without their own involvement. After all, the Poles never even dreamed of the walls of the ghetto. Nonetheless, everything here has been organised so wonderfully.
Doing business with the Jews? Indeed. It can and should be done. As broadly as possible, at that. Here there is equality, there are no racial or national differences, and it is not a sin to cheat a Jew. This is not a one-sided presentation of the problem, because we want to state that in general Poles [8] make sure their business with the Jews is straightforward and honest, even though they always have an advantage over a Jew, because it is him who, in case of a dispute, will be put in prison without discussion by any authority. Indeed, the Poles allow the Jews to live, because if they could not do business with them, if they did not smuggle goods, if they did not bring food in and take out used items (clothing, furniture, decorations), the Jews would not have any money or food. They would starve to death. But this is a business relationship.
Often, however, it happened and it still happens that furniture left for safekeeping, as well as clothing, carpets, bedding, household goods, and other valuables were lost, and are lost forever. This cannot be helped. When a Polish commissioner of a house, shop, or factory is honest, he pays the Jew his monthly salary. But if he does not want to, no one stands up for the Jew. And such people of ill will are, unfortunately, numerous. Whether they are in the majority, we do not know. No one can provide the relevant statistics,
