and that they divided the profit among themselves afterwards. Out of the
blue, the gendarmerie would storm into the ghetto with a ready list of people
hiding leather and other products. People used to say that at the beginning of
the ghetto the searches had been conducted following their guidelines. It was
interesting that the searches had taken place only in homes of those who used
to own shops in the town before the war.
[92] Szer and Fas sent gendarmerie to us. At 9 a.m. in June [19]40, the
door opens and two gendarmes come in.
– Does Mr X. live here? – they ask.
– Yes, – I reply.
– Wo haben sie versteckt 100 paar Strümpfe?⁹⁶⁵ the gendarme roars.
– What is it about? What stockings? We have no idea!
– Do you know Lensky? – they ask.
– We do.
– So, where have you hidden the stockings? Tell us, where they are –
they roar
– Do search our home. We have no stockings – mama says.
– Open the wardrobes! We’ll search the place!
– Please do – we say.
Seeing that we made such a fast decision, they debated for a while and
left. [93] We had no idea what it is all about. Lensky came running to us several
days earlier. He requisitioned some duvets for himself. He also went to the
attic during his search. There was lots of bedding, new underwear, [table] sets,
new brushes, and cotton filling for duvets. In a straw mattress he found several
dozen cotton socks, which he took for himself. He also requisitioned the
sets, lots of new shirts, silk duvets, and two baskets of new brushes. He took
those things and left. He came across the Landkommissar by the gate. I can
imagine Lensky’s face when he had to give up the requisitioned items. Then
there were rumours that Lensky and Ryt sold those items. But what did that
have to do with the fact that the gendarmes came to our home in search of
silk stockings?
After some time, the gendarmes [94] return. They order my parents to go
to the gendarmerie station. We wait anxiously for a few hours. In the evening,
our parents finally return. We shower them with questions.
965 (German) Where did you hide 100 pairs of stockings?
