ŁUKÓW
After November 1942, Warsaw Ghetto, the sister and brother Finkelsztajn.
Testimony “ חורבן לוקוּוו ” [Destruction of Łuków], recorded by Hersh
Wasser. Aktionen in the Łuków ghetto (5 October–November 1942),
escape of the Finkelsztajn siblings from a transport to Treblinka, the
brother’s survival of an execution; behaviour of the Polish population
towards escaping Jews.
[1] The destruction of Łuków
The informants, Finkelsztajn, [. . .] years old, and his sister, Finkelsztajn, ...
years old,³⁷⁹ recount as follows.
On 5 October 1942 (the beginning of the destruction of Łuków), the
town of Łuków had about 10,000 Jews, among them up to 2,000 exiles from
Slovakia.³⁸⁰ In the beginning, there was no ghetto. The Jews lived together
with the Poles. The first shake-up took place approximately 6 weeks before
the actual catastrophe. At the time, the verdict could be revoked, but with it
peace and composure completely disappeared. At the prospect of the annihilation,
work and income were no longer appealing, particularly when news
about Treblinka started to come in little by little.³⁸¹ Initially, Treblinka did not
mean annihilation, but deportation. It was thought that the place was on the
other side of the Bug River. Gradually, the real goal of the Treblinka slaughterhouse became crystal clear to everyone, especially following the accounts of eye witnesses, who had miraculously escaped from the Gestapo. Jews often regard Gestapo, SS, and SD as identical notions. Gestapo men are those who wear a skull sign on their uniform. The [Gestapo] post in Radzyń promised
protection and care, ordered the establishment of a ghetto, by the way rather
379 The given names of the authors and the age of the woman are replaced by suspension points throughout the text.
380 According to ŻSS and AJDC files, in July 1942 Łuków had 9,950 Jewish residents, including 2,031 Slovakian Jews who were brought on 8 May 1942. See T. Brustin-Berenstein, “Martyrologia,” table 10.
381 See the Introduction.
