When they were caught by the Jewish police, they negotiated their payments,
but more often they managed to sneak out through the fence.
Once, the entire fish cargo drifted down the river! Fish were kept in
chests in the river that flowed across the ghetto. That time, the chest burst
and all the fish swam out.
Another stratum in the ghetto are the [soup] kitchen personnel. The
kitchen and its customers are a separate chapter in the history of the ghetto.
At the beginning, the kitchen, supported by the Joint, was flourishing.
It received money from Warsaw and large amounts of matzo at Easter time,
as well as condensed milk, margarine, rice, powdered sour cream and milk,
bouillon, and, once, even barrels of herring. From time to time, they would
send clothing and footwear, too. Once, they sent layettes for babies.
The Councellors coveted those food supplies. There was an ongoing
war between the kitchen personnel and the Community for control over the
kitchen, or actually over the profits it brought. It was the Joint that set up
that kitchen for the poor. It assigned funds, representatives from among the
Jewish population, and the personnel. The kitchen was an autonomous unit
independent of the Community. When the ghetto was established and the
Judenrat took over the legislative and executive power, it also wanted control
over the soup kitchen. The Councellors were powerless as long as the kitchen
did not need financial aid from the Community. But July and August brought
a decrease in the amount of aid for the kitchen sent over from Warsaw. From
time to time, the kitchen stopped operating as it had no money to buy food.
In September 1940, the representatives of the kitchen turned to the population
for help. The population was taxed, but this was still not enough to support
the soup kitchen, even though the Community aided it through provision of
contingent potatoes and fuel. The moment when the Community started aiding
the kitchen, (23) it also began to interfere in its business. In October, the
Community took over the kitchen and it finally had the long-desired authority
over it. The kitchen staff was reduced and changed; its funds and food
supplies were now managed by the Community. The kitchen issued nourishing
soup and midday meals from the beginning until the end of its operation.
Soup consisted of peas, groats, and potatoes. Sometimes, one had flour
dumplings or wheat-flour noodles. At other times, one had potatoes in one
dish and beetroot soup or cabbage in another. Butter was added to the soup.
The kitchen was always spotlessly clean. Everything was so clean that it shone.
