the distress this caused in the population. On the evening of Simchat Bet
Hashoevah no one ate in a sukkah, no one sang Shir Hama’alot,⁸⁷⁴ and no liquor
was consumed at the rabbi’s house. The electricity had come on in our homes,
but our hearts were dark. We could not lie down for shame, but the Jewish
people are resistant and used to everything. And so it was.
Friday, 29 September. Everyone got up very early and went out into the
street to find out what the crowd was intending to do. It turned out that all
the Jews from 17 to 60 had decided to report for work. So all these Jewish
men from 17 to 60 were standing in front of the municipality building, up
to 300 of them, may God protect them. All the wives and children came to
look at the frightful scene. [19a] But instead of the officials coming to send
us off to work at 7 o’clock as the notice had stipulated, we stood there in the
street until 9 o’clock. Then they began transporting the older group of 40 to
60-year-olds, composed of 140 men with brooms in their hands under the
control of a Christian overseer, to Bielawska Street, where we were ordered
to clean up the square, on which paving slabs had been laid for the town. The
work could have been done by 4 hired Christians, but 140 men had to make
a performance of finishing it off by midday meal time. The young Jewish men
aged 17 to 40 were also taken to various places to dig potatoes or pick beetroots:
to Bratoszewice, to Osiny, to the Głowno manor estate, or to Jabłoński
at Rudnik, and the like. The day will certainly remain a shameful stain on the
new Głowno municipality, because it turned out that the whole business had
taken place not at the demand of the Landrat but thanks to the municipality
itself, headed by Mr Rynkowski. The proof is that when Mr Wolpert found out
about it, he came into town immediately and had a row with the municipality
rachmistrz,⁸⁷⁵ demanding to know what right he had to bring such shame on
the town. And those who had not yet been sent to work, he sent home right
away. [20] In any case, the second day of the holiday was greatly disrupted.
Many worked until noon, many until evening. No soldiers and no gendarmes
showed up. In the evening, people livened up. On Friday night, we welcomed
in the Sabbath again with a minyan.
Saturday, 30 September, the Sabbath of the intermediate days of
Sukkot. We prayed collectively. The prayer-leader, Mr Pinkhes Zalcman from
874 See footnote 724.
875 (Polish) paymaster, chief accountant.
