organised patriotic demonstrations that failed to attract any significant numbers within the Jewish community, while government agents simply ignored such efforts. Demonstrations commemorating the 25th anniversary of Wohl’628 death were very small, with only a few dozen people in attendance.
Then the memorable month came, August 1939. Antisemitic attitudes had receded a little, although baptisms were still a daily occurrence. Among those baptised were people not [only] from the assimilated circles—the author of this study had a list of those who renounced their Jewishness. Converts had names like Moszek [and] Chaja, clearly indicating that they did not come from assimilated groups, as they have been giving Polish names to their children for nearly 75 years. Then the war broke out. Warsaw was taken over by the occupation authorities. Reprisals against Jews immediately followed. Some financiers and intellectuals left the capital even during the memorable September days, including many converts and assimilationists. Germans introduced a semi-racist law, but assimilationists, hoping that our vital records and birth certificates were not accurately maintained, chose conversion and baptism. I remember when I organised an operation for ŻSS and visited the flats of such people, where I saw pictures of saints, large crosses, and images of the Virgin Mary. When I talked to a certain convert, and I absolutely know that she was from the first generation of a well-known family of industrialists from Żyrardów, she mentioned that she had nothing in common with Jews, and refused to donate a single penny. At that time a barrister friend of mine was baptised, while he still worked for the ŻSS (I know it well). He carefully kept his baptism a secret.
Upon the return of my next-door neighbour—a barrister baptised a long time ago, my school classmate and childhood friend—I asked him about Polish–Jewish relations. Initially, I spoke with him about the relationship in the Russian-occupied territories. He explained to me quite impartially that Jewish intellectuals acted friendly towards the Polish population, while the ordinary mass was hostile. He told me that Poles swore revenge on the Jews. He said it with sadness, as he had hoped that, having shared such profound experiences, Poles and Jews would grow closer. My friend was very kind to Jews until the ghetto was established. He maintained social relations with
