from smuggling, craftsmanship was another source of the Jews’ livelihood.
Cobblers, tailors, and shoemakers were doing just fine. They were paid not
with money but with produce. Most of the time they worked for peasants.
My brother-in-law received ten kilos of wheaten flour for altering a coat and
2 kilos of lard and 1 kilo of fat for making a pair of shoes (the cost of labour).
The above shows that craftsmen²⁹³ were faring just fine. Headed by
a German, Akerman,²⁹⁴ the local Arbeitsamt sent Jewish labourers to work
details. Basically, everybody had to work. Initially, the work orders were
for two days a week and then (I am talking about the final period) even for
a whole week. The Jews worked at: 1) the barracks as permanent and off-and-
on labourers; 2) snow shovelling; 3) the railway – loading and unloading
coal, petrol, and straw. The attitude toward the Jewish labourers depended
in each case on the soldier supervisors, and the fluctuations were substantial.
There were periods when the Jewish labourers were treated in a simply
cruel way. But that was not what scared Jews away from forced labour. There
was another, more important reason why Jews did not go to work eagerly and
took up more risky activities. The thing was that the authorities paid them
52 groszes for an hour of labour. With the food prices and [. . .] as they were,
it was impossible to provide not only for one’s family, but even for oneself.
As a result, craftsmen were the only ones who did not smuggle. Jewish
labourers were often sent to “Proboyem”²⁹⁵ (a Ukrainian co-operative) or to
the Road Administration. The Jews were placed under curfew between 7 p.m.
and 6 a.m. Non-Jews could be out until 10 p.m., and until 8 p.m. during the
anti-partisan campaign.
Ignorance, obtuseness, lack of any cultural entertainment whatsoever,
lack of Jewish schools (one Polish school and two Ukrainian ones) – this is the
image of Jewish Hrubieszów. There was a newspaper, Głos Lubelski,²⁹⁶ circulating
293 (Author’s explanation) Other crafts aside from the enumerated ones are no longer lucrative; carpenters have no work. The same can be said about many other occupations.
294 In the first copy, the name is crossed out and replaced with: Stieber. Johann Ackermann was the director of the Hrubieszów Treuhand. See “Życie i Zagłada w Hrubieszowie w oczach młodej warszawianki,” ed. Adam Kopciowski, Dariusz Libionka, Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały 3 (2007): 230. Stieber was not identified.
295 (Ukrainian) forcing one’s way.
296 (Polish) Lublin Voice, in fact New Lublin Voice. German sponsored propaganda daily published 1939–1944.
