it. On the street one could still see Jews with beards and sidelocks as well as some in traditional long coats.
After the Bolsheviks’ arrival, most of the Poles had a relatively unfavourable attitude towards the Jews, mostly because Jews occupied many of the positions previously held by Poles. There were many Jewish employees in all public institutions. Most shops, storehouses, and enterprises were also managed by Jews. But it is not true that the negative attitude of the Poles towards the Jews was an effect of the latter’s purported persecution of the former. Antisemitism was officially outlawed by the Soviet authorities. One could be severely punished for calling somebody a Jew. Despite that, one could see individual incidents that proved the Soviet soldiers’ antisemitism. While queuing for food products [4] the soldiers sometimes threw Jews out of the queue, claiming that Jews wanted to buy those products not for their own use, but for speculation. With the passing of time, the Jews had an increasingly unfavourable attitude about the Soviet regime. That change of attitude was reflected in the fact that when everybody knew that the Germans were to seize the city and the Bolsheviks were fleeing into the interior of Russia in large numbers, almost no Jews followed them – they all stayed in Lvov even though they knew to expect the worst persecutions from the Germans. (6 January 1942)
ARG I 859 (Ring. I/483)
Description: duplicate, handwritten, ink, Polish, 158x200 mm, 2 sheets, 4 pages.
Attached is a note by Hersh Wasser in Polish: “Manuscript. Lvov. Krajn’s
testimony. What relates Mr Kr[ajn] after his return from Lvov. Handful of
observations – resettlements – relations between Poles and Jews. Schooling.[“]
Testimony recorded by N. Koniński.
LVO V AN D SOUTH EASTERN REGIONS [ 35] 509
