built 22-year-old former student of a polytechnic, allegedly replied to the driver that he could do it himself and that according to the regulations he wasn’t supposed to drive there at all. The Pole apparently shouted “Lousy Yid!” To which Robak replied, “Hey, anything but lousy!” One word led to another, and the Pole pounced on the Jew and, seizing him by the throat, started strangling him.
In proximity to Robak was his constant work companion, the athletically built Grinberg, a former butcher from Żyrardów. First, he tried to drag the Pole away from Robak, but when he failed to do so he hit the attacker on the head with a spade that he was holding in his hand.
[2] The blow was fatal and split the Pole’s brain. He was rushed to the emergency room, but died while his skull was being bandaged.
Instantly, all the Polish workers who were in the vicinity appeared at the scene of the incident and soon both Grinberg and Robak fell, mortally injured beneath the blows delivered with spades, pitchforks and axes. Recently arrived German railway workers, finished them off with shooting, in order to end their sufferings.
But this wasn’t enough for the Polish workers. They threw themselves into attacking all the Jews who were present there, about 70 men. Soon, a pogrom atmosphere developed, both at the outpost and outside the station, where large masses of Poles began to assemble. Shouts were heard, “All Jews should be slaughtered! . . .” “Let’s do to the Jews what was done to us in Wawer. . .”677
The Jewish workers were escorted to the tram by summoned police and taken to the ghetto. On the way the tram was pelted with stones. All the windows were smashed and the whole tram was wrecked. Out of the 70 workers, 28 were injured, seriously or lightly, either as a result of the beatings at the railway station or from the stones thrown on the way. Of those, a group of 10 men was taken to hospital, and two have already died.
Tadeusz Robak was the only child of his mother, a widow. He had worked at the outpost for several months.
(heard from R-k and section supervisor via N.R.)
ARG I 524 (Ring. I/237).
Description: original or duplicate, handwritten, ink, Yiddish, 108x355 mm, 1 sheet, 2 pages.
