the deportation of 4,000 to 5,000 Jews to Prużany,328 where they were assigned work by the Germans. Entire families were deported in alphabetical order – names beginning with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J – after which the deportation stopped. The deportees were recruited from those Jews who were not yet working for the Germans in Białystok. After a certain time, those sent away to Prużany began a stealthy re-emigration to Białystok.
When the number of returnees became known, the German authorities ordered the Judenrat to issue an announcement that the “Prużany Jews” should go back to their workplaces. The announcement had little effect: the Jews remained in Białystok. There were no further consequences for them. In general it must be noted that the registration department of the Białystok Judenrat is organised in exemplary fashion; there exists a detailed card index of the 35,000 Białystok Jews; the index is checked frequently by the German authorities, who do so thoroughly and scrupulously, and any addition to the number of persons registered arouses great attention on their part.
After the deportation was halted, the mood among the Jewish population became a little calmer; the usual worries were pushed aside – until the spring.
Besides those returning from Prużany, there also came to Białystok Jews fleeing from the hell of Vilna and Słonim, a few hundred in all. For the second time the German authorities demanded that the kehilla329 expel the newcomers from the ghetto and that a list of those registered from February onwards be presented. It is understood that the German authorities demanded from the kehilla the expulsion of [2] all those who had arrived after the establishment of the ghetto, but that order was withdrawn and the Germans agreed to the February deadline. The kehilla – or rather Engineer Barasz – received a categorical demand from the Gestapo that the above-mentioned categories of refugees be expelled from the ghetto. The number of refugees, includingthe unregistered who were also present, totalled around 2,000.
When the news spread through the ghetto, people became very agitated. In response to the Gestapo’s demand, the deputy chairman of the kehilla, Engineer B[arasz], proposed that the kehilla itself transport the Prużany returnees back to Prużany on its own carts. Clearly, in presenting such a proposal, the kehilla wanted to ensure that the returnees did not fall