[7] That day, he was on duty at the outlet at Twarda and Żelazna streets. It was raining, and he stood there in thin, soaked shoes. A gendarme came up to him and asked why he was not wearing good, high boots, and G. replied that he could not afford such footwear, but if the gendarme said yes, he could make some money. The gendarme replied that he would not notice anything from then on and this is how G. earned over 100 zlotys. Gradually, gendarmes also started to participate in getting income from smuggling. Characteristically, gendarmes almost never wanted to do business with the Polish police, only with Jews. This would usually begin with a gendarme telling a Jewish constable that he wanted a bottle of vodka, a chocolate bar, or a bar of soap. The constable, provided he was smart enough, would reply that he had no money, but that some could be made if only the gendarme would let a wagon with potatoes, flour, or other products into the ghetto. [8] Gendarmes came to like these earnings because some of them paid their commanders to be assigned to good posts, where there was a lot of smuggling. At the beginning of 1942, there was a change in the Warsaw gendarmerie. The old company was sent to the front as a punishment for allowing smuggling, and new gendarmes arrived in Warsaw. Only a few gendarmes from the old company remained as instructors to teach the newcomers about their tasks, work, and duty. These old instructors often came to the outlets, they controlled the smuggling wagons themselves, and let them into the ghetto for a charge.
In addition to those, there are gendarmes who let food into the ghetto, and do not take any money for it. It is not known whether this should be attributed to the character of such a gendarme, or rather his beliefs—suffice to say that some of them look the other way when there is smuggling and do nothing to hinder it. Only sometimes do they ask the Order Service for a “loan” of 100 zlotys. It’s especially children who are able to discern such [9] “good” gendarmes; they wait and watch at the outlet for a long time, and, sensing the right moment, they go to the other side and bring food into the ghetto undisturbed.
If a smuggler wants to bring a food wagon to the ghetto, he approaches a Jewish policeman and makes arrangements with him. The Jewish policeman tells him the time and agrees on a signal; then the smuggler telephones his supplier on the Aryan side and tells him to send the wagon. On signal, the wagon arrives, is checked by the Polish policeman, and a gendarme lets it in. There are constables who have “their” gendarmes and maintain contacts with
