from the east fill all exit roads and tollgates of the city. The Russian army’s tactic remains completely incomprehensible and obscure like all affairs of the Bolsheviks, who do not notify anybody about anything, do not say a word to anybody about their ordinances, and one can learn about what is allowed and what is not only from second-hand rumours, a tenement superintendent, or an administrator.
The Ukrainians have practically taken control over all residential buildings. The Jews and Poles are voluntarily surrendering OPL command over all tenements and blocks of flats. Characteristically, these [Ukrainian] confidants of the Bolsheviks who enjoyed favours and top positions are now unceremoniously and brutally paving the way for the new “order”. The issue of the official language [20] has already become topical. Even though the Ukrainian language was favoured during the Bolshevik administration, no obstacles could be put in the way of people using their desired language. The Ukrainians chauvinistically spoke exclusively Ukrainian, while we always spoke Polish or Yiddish in places where we knew we would be understood. Today the Ukrainian language is one of the main political assets. So what language should we speak? Any language except Russian: Ukrainian, Polish, or German. Pale and frightened, the Jews are making last-escape attempts. At night they still try to flee but return in a few hours, because it is impossible to leave the city without a pass. Those who were able to flee, died or went missing.
30 June. A silent night before the storm. The air raids have ceased. The Bolshevik troops are scarce. We can see about a dozen cars and a few destroyed tanks. The city is deathly silent. It is obvious what this means. There are a few hundred or perhaps a few thousand Bolsheviks, but this is the rearguard who are doomed to perish. It seems that the Bolsheviks have given Lvov over without a fight, while the Germans are in no hurry to seize it because they know the situation. In the evening and in the dead of night the jackals and hyenas are in their element. They loot storehouses, shops, and storerooms. They are ownerless though, they do not belong to anybody. We have already had a foretaste, as Jews were not allowed to participate in the looting. Besides, Jews are not striving for participation at all because they know their fate in advance. There are characteristic shifts of sympathies among individual ethnic groups. The Poles have taken an excessively opportunistic stance [21] towards the Jews. Even though they are allies from a political point of view as well as companions of distress when it comes to the Ukrainians’ hatred, a Jew is a Jew.
LVO V AN D SOUTH EASTERN REGIONS [ 31] 431
