ŁOWICZ COUNTY
ŁOWICZ
After March 1941[?], Warsaw ghetto, [Czarnobroda].⁸⁰⁹ Account on the
first days of the war in Łowicz, recorded by Hersh Wasser.
[1] Łowicz. 5,000 local Jews and 6,000 newcomers, but on the day of expulsion⁸
¹⁰ 4,000 locals + 2,500 refugees.⁸¹¹ On Sunday, 3 September [19]39, the
train station and town bombed. On 5 [September], rare cases of Jewish war
victims. On Sabbath, 9 September, the Germans entered at 8:30 a.m.,⁸¹² and
at 9:30 all men [summoned] without exception at Rynek Jana Kilińskiego,
even Volksdeutsche, under a strict guard in the synagogue. Everyone despaired
deeply. Within 2 hours, shot at the synagogue, great panic. After recovering
some composure (eating not allowed). In the evening, various issues (beating
with rifle butts), [running] to the synagogue courtyard and back. At night,
in order to torment, they threw hand grenades. On Sunday morning, the
women gained permission to bring in food, thanks to the efforts of Mrs Regina
Waldberg.⁸¹³ [They] started to release old people. From Sunday till Monday, the
torments were repeated. An unknown Pole was shot in the synagogue courtyard.
On Saturday, 4 p.m., the commandant arrived and said that Warsaw
809 Perhaps Lejzor Czarnobroda [1920?–?], a pre-war Janusz Korczak’s associate; see Anna Landau, Wielki “Mały Przegląd,” Warszawa 2018, pp. 50, 55, 478, and/or the author of a testimony of the Grossaktion in the Warsaw ghetto, see ARG II 244 (Ring. II/205, Ring. II/207).
810 A reference to the deportation to Warsaw, which took place in February and March 1941.
811 Before 1 September 1939, Łowicz had 4,339 Jewish inhabitants. On 12 January 1940, the Committee for Aid to Refugees registered 1,933 people in its care (AŻIH, AJDC, 210/471, p. 4). In March 1940, over 3,100 refugees came from Aleksandrów Łódzki, Zgierz, Stryków, Łódź, and Konstantynów. In February 1941, there were approximately 7,000 Jews in Łowicz. See T. Brustin-Berenstein, “Deportacje i zagłada,” table IV.
812 The Germans temporarily seized the town during 9–11 September 1939.
813 Regina Waldberg, an activist of the Committee for Aid to Refugees in Łowicz. AŻIH, AJDC, 210/471, p. 9.
