they possessed. The sum of money demanded was delivered, with 4[?] kilo-grams of gold and several kilograms of silver. But that was not the end of it. Hick told the Judenrat that he was convinced that the Jews had buried a lot of gold and silver in the ground. Later another levy was imposed. Every other day all Jews from age 14 to 60 had to work on the highways around Słonim [and] in the town itself, clearing the rubble caused by the bombing. Fromdawn till dusk, thousands of Jews from age 14 to 60 worked at hard labour, clearing rubble from the highways under the murderous blows of the guards.
Soon a ghetto was established [16] for the Jews of Słonim, especially for the former merchants and shopkeepers, who were thrown into a few narrow, dirty alleyways. On the other hand, all the craftsmen and workers who worked for the Germans were allowed to live on a separate street. This was done from the outset for a particular dreadful purpose, as we shall see later, when we come to write about the terrible massacre. After the collection of the first forced levy, the Judenrat that had been appointed before the arrival of the civil authorities was dissolved. Its members were arrested and sent awayin an unknown direction. Another Judenrat was appointed by Hick himself.
In the middle of October a few Jews from the nearby shtetl of Żyrowice228fled to Słonim and brought the terrible news that the Germans had taken allthe men of the shtetl into the nearby forest and shot them. Only those who ran away had miraculously survived. It also became known that the Jews of Lachowicze and Mir, the famous town Mir with the great yeshiva, had met the same fate. [17] Jewish survivors arrived in Słonim from all these places. They said that a kind of a penal expedition was going around all the towns and shtetls, shooting all the Jews in every town they came to … without distinction: men, women, and little children. The survivors’ stories froze the blood in the veins and cast mortal fear on everyone. Just when the Jewish population of Słonim was crushed and broken by its own misfortunes and the terrible news from the surrounding towns, suddenly a second levy of another 2 million roubles and 5 kilograms of gold was imposed on the Jews, ignoringthe fact that they had earlier been ordered to hand over all the gold in their possession. The second levy was also paid.
Meanwhile, the anxiety among all the Jews, a truly mortal fear, grew from day to day. People became indifferent to everyday life. Only one thought
