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Transkrypt, strona 518


It should be said that those “hundreds” and “thousands” were organised jointly by Jews and Poles. They were mixed without discrimination. The mutual attitude was cordial and disciplined – when the leader of a “thousand” chose the people to keep guard at night, they followed the order to the letter. The hope was that the registration would bring the desired effect, as the commission members, particularly its chairman engineer, indeed maintained contact with members of the joint Soviet–German commission, informed them about the number of people willing to return to their old towns, and were assured that this was feasible, that one must be patient, and that all of the refugees would have a chance to return. Those were the assertions of the Soviet members of the Commission, that is, Soviet citizens.

[11] The refugees’ new concerns and doubts. At the same time, it was said that those who had not registered on Zielona Street and had no questionnaire filled in there stating their intention to return would not be allowed to go back. All that organisation of the “hundreds” and “thousands” (particularly the assertions of the engineer chairman that everybody would leave) seemed like serious business, and people were even already talking about the manner of departure: that the refugees would leave by entire wagons, that they would be able to take baggage but not more than 30 kilograms (while others talked about 50 kilograms per person), and that they would probably be grouped according to towns. And those who had given fake names and addresses out of caution were already consoling themselves that they would state that the questionnaire had been filled in incorrectly due to a misunderstanding. Anyhow, that meant that they did not want to remain in the USSR. The registration on Zielona Street was [12] relatively long, lasting about two months, during which time the operation of the Soviet–German repatriation commission began. Consequently, for some time those two commissions happened to be operating simultaneously, including the activity of the “thousands” and “hundreds”. Accidentally, some were the first to register with the committee, that is, those who were in one of the first “thousands” still had not appeared before the Soviet–German commission. By contrast, others (mostly Poles) who were in later “thousands”, for instance, the 14th or 20th, had already appeared before the commission, obtained passes, and left with the first transports. Then permission was given for next transports, of those who had obtained passes from the commission on the basis of their “numbers”. None of the “thousands”, however, had yet been allowed to

LVO V AN D SOUTH EASTERN REGIONS [ 33] 478