depressed. He became closer to the Jewish intelligentsia, and was involved socially with them. He still spoke on Jewish issues, making comments about the pre-war state-sponsored antisemitism. He argued that economic struggle was necessary as all trade and most industry was in the hands of Jews. He thought that a lot of people were migrating from the countryside to cities and that this forced the Polish government to establish Christian institutions, both for merchants and craftsmen. Referring to the ghetto, when the construction of walls was mentioned, he sought my advice on how to conceal his background. Playing on the irony, I directed him to the parish where he had been baptised. It turned out that this parish was within the district where we lived and our house was located. The convert failed to notice the irony and followed my advice. As it turned out, he was lucky to have done so. He got the birth certificate of a Catholic-born. Thanks to my joke, I did him a great favour, and he was very grateful to me. When the ghetto was closed, he stayed at home, but tried to help his Jewish neighbours by taking in their furniture for safekeeping. After I left the Aryan district, I lost contact with him. His role in the period 1939–1940 entailed persuading assimilated Jewish intelligentsia to be baptised. Unfortunately, this mission was successful in only a few cases. Who was baptised and under what conditions? Let me present the characteristics of these people. On the fourth floor lived a Jewish barrister from a serious middle-class Jewish family. He received a religious education and spoke excellent Hebrew. His father was a great follower of Judaism [4] and gave his children a very thorough Jewish upbringing, as well as a secular education. My neighbour, a barrister with an average practice, mostly Christian, had very little to do with Jewish life before the war. He used to spend most of his time among Christians and was very proud of that. A typical snob, very cocky and confident. As a barrister, he was considered average. He had his practice through the influence of his brother, who was a representative of major textile industry companies from Bielsko, and his brother-in-law, a capable lawyer in Łódź, who gave him cases in Warsaw. He remained under the influence of his wife, the daughter of a Jew from Łódź, a very smart man who had come from Białystok. This lady was completely devoid of feelings for Jews. Although she studied Hebrew as a child and there was a Jewish spirit in her home, she had no sentiment for the Jewish issue. Before the war, when charities organised collections for Jewish needs, she gave her contribution rather reluctantly and only a small amount. At the outbreak
