transferred to the Ukrainian State Public Hospital, in which the Germans have left some wards, appropriating the rest for themselves.
Because the Community has not received premises for a Jewish hospital yet, for the time being Jews can be treated in the Aryan hospitals. This is why I can lie next to Poles and Ukrainians. Through the window I can see the neighbouring wards, where a large number of wounded Germans soldiers are lying. In the garden I meet Germans, who also visit us here. Next to me lies a Ukrainian who used to be a militia functionary and was shot by his fellow compatriots. Next to him lies a Pole, a bandit from Łyczaków, attacked by his Ukrainian friends. In the adjacent room lie two Ukrainian militia functionaries sent here from Volhynia by the Gestapo. I do not know what they did, but they complain that they are starving here and that they are broke, for the Gestapo have confiscated a few watches and valuables from them. It is easy to guess where those peasants got those objects! From time to time mutilated bodies of former people are brought over. They are so beaten up that it is difficult to discern normal limbs and bones. Who’s doing it is and what the victims are is not difficult to guess either. The Gestapo bring them in here quietly and leave them on the corridor floor. No physician dares try to treat them. After an hour or two the victims are already dead anyway. They are then identified and handed to their families. There is order. I am being treated very well. [39] They do not deny me anything. On the contrary, they are feeding me extra well: milk, rolls, butter, and eggs. It is a delight. I feel better every day. I am no longer hungry. I am nourishing myself. The pain has eased and the vomiting becomes less and less frequent. Even so, the surgery is scheduled in a week. I am being prepared, carefully and blindly examined by a Soviet physician, a purported Ukrainian, a neophyte, who seems to be a very conscientious employee. He curses the Soviets and pretends to be content with the situation. Happy to have been given a job, he wants immediately to adapt to the new conditions. Generally speaking, every “Soviet” pretending to be a Ukrainian nationalist is welcomed with open arms by the Germans and … by the Ukrainians, who are happy that another Ukrainian professional has been found. For Ukrainians who can do something are desperately sought after. Many Polish physicians, excellent professionals (famous professors were sent to a camp), nurses, and auxiliary personnel have been dismissed from the hospital. The hospital has been successfully “Ukrainianised”. The head of the hospital department is a Ukrainian who not long ago was studying
LVO V AN D SOUTH EASTERN REGIONS [ 31] 447
