came easy, paid. But how were workers to pay such fantastic sums for a place to lay their heads? And so people dragged themselves around for days and weeks, dirty, unwashed, and infested with lice. For the use of a wash basin they demanded a minimum of 5 roubles. The refugees won’t forget the people of Białystok in a hurry. Those who managed to get into a synagogue70 were more fortunate. Białystok has more than 50 synagogues and 180 refu-gee points, as well as summer houses – colonies, as they are called – outside town, where refugees are also put up. Białystok has 90,000 inhabitants, and now around 130,000 refugees have arrived.71
After wandering around a whole day, I found my youngest brother, who had left a week earlier and had found a place in the synagogue at 3 Fabryczna Street. My brother takes me under the arm and I go with him, my legs hardly able to carry me. I tell him how we crossed the border and he’s pleased that we managed to get across in one night and avoid the neutral strip. He himself [7] spent 6 days there and only got away by chance. Limping, with my twisted ankle, we get to the Sierpc synagogue,72 where I found, among other, the two sons of my Łódź neighbour. I don’t care about the pungent, unpleasant smell that seizes me as soon as I cross the threshold of the synagogue. Myonly thought is to find a place for my tired bones. All the benches and tables are occupied. My Łódź friends make room for me, surround me in a ring, andask about their fathers and mothers and other relatives, and about what’s happening back home. Meanwhile night is falling, my eyes are closing from tiredness. My brother makes a place for me on the table he is sleeping on. I put my jacket under my head and cover myself with my overcoat. I’m soon fast asleep, not seeing or hearing what’s going on around me. But the next morning I realise how people are envious of us sleeping on tables or benches. Many are sleeping under the tables or on the filthy black floor. There was no water in the synagogue, and that was one of the worst tortures. Many people
