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After 7 December 1941, Warsaw, ghetto. Testimony of Ludwik Klaczko [?], a refugee from Warsaw regarding his escape from Warsaw to the east in September 1939, the situation under the Soviet occupation in Lvov and Łuck, and the anti-Jewish persecutions during the first months of the German–Soviet war
[1] 20 Months in Red Lvov.
I left Warsaw on 6 September 1939, that is, before Col. Umiastowski’688 appeal to leave the city. The six of us, all men, set off in the direction of Garwolin in an old coal wagon. We reached Teklin689 without any major difficulties (except for the time when they tried to capture us for work) and spent the night in the brickyard of the owner of the horses that had pulled the wagon. The next morning we set off again, that time by chaise. We had a minor adventure on our way to Garwolin: a crowd of refugees blocked the road to such an extent that our chaise draw shaft broke in that press and our horse ran away. From Garwolin we headed for Lublin. As we were passing through Kock,690 we went through a very heavy bombing, during which the entire town burned down. Taught by that experience, from then on we tried to travel only at night. That was how we reached Chełm, where we became stuck, [2] as nobody was allowed to enter Włodawa. Luckily, we came across a lieutenant we knew and he suggested that we go the rest of the way by evacuation train. That proposition met with unanimous applause, but soon it turned out that that means of transport was highly impractical in the current, changed situation. The train was bombed and we gained yet another experience. We decided to only walk from then on.
