They were ordered to wait.
They did not have to wait long; a transport of Polish “prisoners of war”
who had been captured from around Kozienice were brought up. You would
never have known from these filthy, weakened and tattered soldiers that they
had once been Polish troops... who had looked so smart on parade... The prisoners of war saw how the Jews looked and the Jews saw how the prisoners of
war looked and with silent glances these “brothers in sorrow” [10] expressed
their commiseration.
But as soon as the Poles saw the Germans beating the Jews, their own
anti-Semitism was awakened and they began to murmur:
“We didn’t want this war”...
“They talked the Rząd⁶⁷⁶ into this tragedy”...
With every minute their hatred of the Jews increased; they forgot about
the common enemy.
The Polish prisoners pointed out that they were barefoot and in tatters
while the “Yids” had everything ...
And so, the prisoners of war were granted freedom to tear off the Jews’
boots, shoes, and clothes...
They demonstrated their inexhaustible valour against the helpless Jews...
With wild hatred they tore the shoes and clothing from them and left them
standing naked and barefoot...
Thus the captured heroes showed their depravity and lack of human conscience
– in contrast, the Jews behaved with dignity and understood that the
Polish beggars… were being tossed a Jewish bone...
[11] And as a reward for their valour ... they were immediately quartered
in the “stalls” of the church courtyard. The Jews, on the other hand – back
inside the church.
The next day, the seventh day in the morning, everyone was made to
stand in the courtyard and older Jews over 45 were thoroughly beaten and
thrown out of the yard... The younger ones, from 17 to 45, were ordered to
remain... They felt they were lost...
They looked at the older ones who had not yet gone home, but remained
standing by the fence to say farewell to their children with pain and tears...
676 (Polish) government.
