train stopped there, late at night and in the dark (the wagons were not lit) we heard the voices of soldiers walking with lanterns from compartment to compartment, asking the typical question: Sind hier Juden?220 They took all identified Jews with them – what their fate was, I have no idea. We survived only because Poles travelling in our compartment replied: “No, there aren’t any Jews here”, and the Germans did not take a look inside.
At the station in Małkinia,221 another adventure awaited us: soldiers were at the exit from the platform, stopping certain Jews. It happened to our little group, while we were looking helplessly around the platform for the guide, with the naïve hope that maybe he came on another wagon. After we waited for several hours, several officers arrived. They approached our group of detainees and started to interrogate us. The first question was, invariably: Jude? followed by others in rapid succession: “Where are you going? What for? Why? Do you have any money?” And so on. This was followed by a minor, fairly superficial search combined with beatings and sometimes with a bit of fun on their part, consisting of officers pushing the man they were searching between themselves like a ball and finally taking all his money and valuables, after which they shouted “Get out!”, signaling that the person was freeto go. When the group of detainees dwindled to only a handful of people, the Germans became bored and left, and the remaining group (including the three of us) stayed in the custody of a grumbling soldier who ignored our questions about our fate. After a few more hours of waiting, we were taken to a room located in the building of the station and placed under the guard of another German. After some time, we learned that we were to be searched, and that the room in which we had been placed was the waiting room, while searches were carried out in the adjacent one. When it was my turn and I crossed the threshold of the “apartment”, I saw a woman being searched there.
She stood in the middle of the room, completely naked, and several uniformed Germans systematically and thoroughly checked every part of her clothing. I avoided a similar fate, though I don’t know why. One of the Germans came over to me, grabbed me by the coat lapels, and asked if I had money. I handed him my wallet, which he emptied himself, and, having found 26 zlotys there, he asked his companions how much was allowed. “20 zlotys”,
