participated in the deportation and offered donations for that purpose. Converts had initially wanted to stay, but only a small number of them succeeded, having bribed administrators, building superintendents, and policemen. Our barrister wanted to stay, but after some thought, he moved in with his brother on [5] Świętojerska Street. The old converted alderman, thanks to his Aryan birth certificate, stayed in the Polish district. I do not know what has happened to him. Since the ghetto was created, the assimilationist barrister has grown closer to the Jewish masses. Converts organised themselves at Charytas,632 which opened two branches, one in the All Saints parish in Grzybów, and the other one on Leszno Street in the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary.633 Priests preached from their pulpits that they would not forget their brothers in Christ. They fulfilled this promise in part. Kitchens which distributed dinners were organised, as were loan banks, and rooms at the rectory634 were given to converts. Priests carried messages from the Aryan side. Converts stay together. Their leader is a pre-war convert, former district judge. Many of them contribute to Jewish charities. Living on Wielka Street, I had the opportunity to come into contact with them and engage in long conversations. This gave me some information about their attitude towards Jewishness and the reasons for their baptism. There were two converts living in the house at Wielka Street: one newly converted employee of a department store, well-paid before the war, and an old Calvinist convert. The flat of the chairman of the House Committee, a Zionist, was a meeting place for nearly all residents. Many subjects were discussed, including our main problem, the Jewish issue. The convert was the first to participate. An intelligent person. He spoke sensibly about the Christian idea. He quoted the Gospel as a model. He spoke about the motives behind his baptism, not hiding the fact that he was still a Jew. He argued that Judaism was corrupted and thus that religion is performed mechanically. God must be in one’s heart, he said, and not on the outside. By way of example, he mentioned the lack of business ethics among Jewish merchants. It is such trade that is causing such a strong
