I managed to get him out of the house with difficulty. I bought a few packets
of matches, at [. . .] groszes a box. Nothing else of importance happened till
noon, and the remainder of the day was peaceful.
Monday, 16 October. Reyzl spent the night in Łódź. I opened the shop at
[. . .] in the morning. Trading started again, but I [24] avoided doing business.
Leybl went to the bridge to work. The children were at school. I was alone in
the house, so I closed the shop from 1 to 3. Nothing else of importance happened
during the day.
Tuesday, 17 October. A fine day. The market traders came in. There was
a little business, but not like last Tuesday, because now it was warm. An incident
occurred: Various traders were inspected, including Elimelech Gurt, that
is Chava’s [. . .]. Someone had taken merchandise worth a lot of money from
him and paid 350 zlotys for it. In the end, it turned out that it was a swindler.
The swindler was surely taken to the commandant headquarters in Stryków,
but officially nothing important happened.
Wednesday, 18 October. Reyzl went to Łódź with Leybl on a gloomy
autumn day. I did a bit of business. An incident: 2 militiamen came from
Stryków and went to Siciński’s house where they found a number of bags
of salt, sugar, and flour, and took them away. It also caused a stir in town
when the same militiamen, of whom Knapczyński from Stryków was one,
shaved off Eliezer Ginzberg’s beard. And Dovid Zlotnik, who was arrested
last Thursday, is still under arrest. Reyzl and Leybl came back early today.
Nothing else of importance happened in town today.
[24a] Thursday, 19 October. I got up a bit later. It was a gloomy day. Sales
were more meagre because it was raining. It was announced that anyone owning
a radio, Christian or Jew, had to surrender it, so Gozicki also had to hand
in the radio he had bought from Leybl. It rained all day, but nothing important
happened.
Friday, 20 October. It was raining. The market traders came in, but there
was very little trade. People were already hearing from Łódź that prices had
dropped, especially for knitwear. The day ended without anything important
happening.
Saturday, 21 October. It was announced that every trader would have to
hand in a cennik.⁸⁸⁷ I had already drawn up a cennik for 16 October. I handed it
887 (Polish) price list. Plural is cenniki, further in the text.
