day of judgement⁹⁵⁷ in front of the Community. The families had been waiting
for their relatives’ return for the whole day. And when they saw in what
state they returned, they could not stop crying. Of course, as always in such
cases, there was also no end to the curses and threats aimed at the Community.
The Arbeitsamt director immediately went to the town to the German labour
department to find out the details of that unpleasant and painful incident.
What did he find out? The local German authorities had no idea about that
fact. They had neither sent any people nor needed any. They ordered the
Community to immediately notify them if the Germans came again to take
people for labour. They promised to arrest and punish them.
The next day, the whole ghetto was deserted as those strange Germans
had said that they would return. At dawn, all men fled to a village or to the
forests. The hour of yesterday’s round-up was approaching. Suddenly, the news
that a lorry has pulled in front of the gate goes around the ghetto in a flash.
What now? The vehicle stops… Soldiers are getting out! “Fortunately, all the
men have fled!” think the people in their homes.
As it turned out, the engine of the lorry had broken down and that was
why it had pulled up. They were not yesterday’s Germans! Our men who had
hidden outside the ghetto returned in the evening. This was the “round-up
to Bielawy”. There were also two other round-ups for Jews, who had to take
horses to Skierniewice. They returned on foot, half-dead.
Every day, the Arbeitsamt delivered as many labourers to work in the
town as required by the Germans.
The attitude of the German authorities was quite acceptable. The first
gendarmerie Meister, Gruber, was a kind man (28) and most of the gendarmes
were Austrians, who are less strict.
The change of the Landkomissar in Głowno was to the Jews’ advantage.
Ryt became the new Landkomissar. The Community “got along” with him just
fine. Lensky ceased to take interest in the ghetto. Whenever he got angry,
they plied him with vodka.
On hot summer days, at 5 p.m., Lensky gathered all those wanting to have
a swim in the river and he escorted them to the beach outside of town. But
he did not take children, who ran next to him and followed the group, singing
and not fearing him in the slightest. Once he became angry and ordered
957 Polish popular name for Yom Kippur.
