friends and among people in general. The street displays all these phenomena in a stark and graphic way. It is not necessary to delve into the matter. It is enough to observe the life of the ghetto street for a few days, [. . .] [2] [. . .]. From a stall, from a basket, from a suitcase, from a shop window, from a cart, from a wagon, or from a box whose contents are the merchant’s entire property. Those careless enough not to hold on tightly to their briefcases, bags, or baskets full of food products are bound to lose them—an adolescent beggar will rush past them, snatch the handle out of their grip using a practiced “method,” and run away. If he fails he does not run away, unless the owner is an overzealous advocate of lynching. Clearly unashamed, the attacker stops and looks into the eyes of his [would-be] victim without any embarrassment, as if there were nothing out of the ordinary. The people around have learned to ignore this everyday sight. Unresponsive, they remain passive. Sometimes somebody kicks such an adolescent thief, settling the whole matter. If the theft is successful, the thief devours the food on the run, stuffing the entire loot into his mouth. After all, he knows that what he eats is his. Afterwards they can grab him, kick him, and beat him. For now he needs to focus on swallowing. And if they disturb him, he gets angry at them for trying to take his hard-earned bread away from him. The number of thefts is steadily increasing. So is the scale of pauperisation, misery, and hunger. Such a skeleton of a man has nothing to lose when his body is swollen out of hunger. He simply does not care, [. . .] he does not have them, because the hunger [. . .] but the emptiness in the stomach is not the most painful. [. . .] no inhibitions whatsoever [. . .] they steal rags from other beggars [. . .] easy, uncomplicated. [. . .] not only beggars, starvelings, paupers, but [. . .] who fishes in turbid water [. . .] The economic conditions are great. [. . .] [3] [. . .] the Blue Police80 will detain them at their station until the petty thief buys himself out. But street thieves can be sure of impunity! Despite the strong competition in this occupation, a skillful thief can have no complaints about the existing conditions.
Aside from theft, fraud is another common plague. Even before the war in Jewish Warsaw there were too many, far too many, swindlers, frauds, quacks, con men, and crooks. But nowadays having such a flair is an asset
