army, was very warm. From all Jewish dwellings people threw flowers, and
carried out bread and tea, fruit, sweets, etc.
The joy, however, did not last long. Soon an order came to deploy artillery
in town and to shoot, because the enemy was near the town. And thus
began very fierce battles in the centre of the town. The fighting continued for
8 days, during which Łowicz was left abandoned, not captured by anyone.
A German patrol was seen requisitioning bread in one bakery, and a Polish
patrol in another one. [4] The town was under ceaseless shrapnel fire, which
caused great damage. It was impossible to put out the fires due to the ceaseless
shooting. At night, bayonet fights took place in town, and the next morning
there lay big piles of the dead from both sides, Germans and Poles.
On Wednesday, 13 September, on the day before Rosh Hashanah,
a German patrol entered the town and took away people from Jewish homes:
men, women, even old people and little children. They laid everyone down in
the main square and shot over them at the Polish army, and when the Polish
army returned fire, the Germans escaped to the gates and shot with their rifles
aiming at the Jews [who were] lying down. 2 young boys, Gurt and Bender were
killed in this way.⁸²⁸ Tens of Jews were heavily wounded who later died from the
injuries. As a result of these fights, more than half of the town was destroyed.
Then, when the German army officially entered the town for the second
time, the second series of Jewish misfortunes and suffering began. Every day,
all men were taken to work, where they were barbarically tormented. Every
day, all Jews, even old people 80 years of age, had to appear in front of the synagogue, where they were horribly tormented, their beards torn out, they were
searched and everything they had was taken away and distributed among the
Poles who waited there for the plunder.
[5] They set dogs on the Jews. The provoked dogs inflicted terrible wounds
on the Jews. Only afterwards, the Jews were sent away to various places to hard
labour. On the way, they were beaten because they were walking too slowly;
when they walked faster, they were beaten because they were running away.
So, the Jews suffered before they arrived at their work place. But there, the
great torments began. There, the second act of the wild bestial exploits of
the bloodthirsty masters began. Jews were forced to empty toilets with bare
hands, to lick floors, drag stones from one place to another and back, dig holes
828 See Doc. 120.
