with this money to buy gifts for the clerks from the Arbeitsamt. Only then was
the demand decreased. On 1 April, the Arbeitsamt introduced a labour camp
20 km from the town specifically for the Jews of Skierniewice, and promised
that the work would be paid. It turned out that the salary was so small that it
was not enough for the most minimal nourishment. The Judenrat had to feed
the people in the camp. Although the work itself was hard, the Jews were also
fiercely beaten by the Volksdeutsche, who supervised the work. These conditions
again gave rise to a system, in which the rich could buy themselves out,
while the poor were tormented. This lasted until 1 August 1940, and the camp
ended when 12 youths, who abandoned the camp without the Arbeitsamt’s
permission and went to work for a Volksdeutsche farmer, were arrested, and
until today they are in prison under the charge of sabotage. The camp was
called “Wola Pękoszewska”¹⁰⁰¹ and the lageristn¹⁰⁰² created special songs about
the life there.
On 10 June, the Kreishauptmann¹⁰⁰³ requested that the municipality
establish within a short time a plan for a ghetto for the Jewish population.
The clerks from the county authorities unofficially informed the Judenrat
that the ghetto will be established on 15 July. The Judenrat collected from
among the Jews a sum of 18,000 zlotys for a bribe to cancel the evil decree.
They succeeded in delaying the establishment of the ghetto until 15 December
1940. It is worth noting that, among others, the mayor of the town, the former
Member of Parliament Franciszek Filipski,¹⁰⁰⁴ also took a bribe of 1,000 zlotys
so that he would not initiate the establishment of the ghetto. On 1 August
1940, [5] the Arbeitsamt informed the Judenrat that no one, except for them,
was allowed to seize Jews for work. Furthermore, the Jewish labour would be
paid. Simultaneously, the Jewish youth were required for work in the labour
camps in the Lublin area. Yet again the same misery: the well-to-do buy
1001 Wola Pękoszewska (Łowicz County), a village 20 km east of Skierniewice.
1002 (Yiddish) literally, campers, probably patterned on Polish obozowicze, which usually refers to scouts at a summer camp. However, the same word is used in many testimonies for the forced labourers in the Nazi camps. The editors decided to leave the original Yiddish and Polish terms, to avoid the confusion. See also footnote 1132.
1003 Heinz von Schwender.
1004 Franciszek Hipolit Filipski (1893–1944), mayor of Skierniewice from 1931–1944; co-founder of the Union of Communes of the Republic of Poland (Związek Gmin Rzeczypospolitej); politician of the centre-right; 1938–1939 member of the Sejm.
