On 10 November 1939,¹⁰⁸⁷ several dozen hostages were deported from
Grodzisk Mazowiecki to Radogoszcz near Łódź, among them the Council chairman
Mr Jakubowicz and two members of the Council. Panic swept through
the town. None of the Councellors would come to a meeting. The Council
was finally assembled, at that time consisting of only 6 members, as everybody
else had refused. The needs of the Jewish Community are increasing.
The Council’s income comes from the taxation of the Jews, at 1−5 zlotys per
month. They do not want to pay. The Jewish food ration cards are taxed by
30 groszes per card on behalf of the Council. The collected money is used to
pay emergency bonuses to the poorest and to subsidise the labour department.
In late November, there was an order obliging all Jews aged 16−60 to
perform forced labour. The poor and the sick were the only ones exempted.
The authorities demand more labourers.
Winter is coming. Poverty worsens. They intervene with the mayor, who
grants 6 tons¹⁰⁸⁸ of coal. He endorses a list of community taxes, but the citizens
largely disregard it.
In late December 1939, the Council is notified that 600 Jews from the
Poznań voivodship are to settle in Grodzisk. A Committee to Aid the Resettled
is established. They are accommodated in Jewish homes free of charge, and
some Christians take these [3] poor souls in, too. A kitchen and an out-patients’
clinic are organised. A Jewish physician is hired and an infirmary for
the old and sick is opened. As the resettled from the Poznań voivodship have
been somehow established in Grodzisk, more resettled from other parts of
Poland stream in. The municipality is trying to avoid a flood of “Jewry”.
In mid-January 1940, a new Council is established, this time it has
24 mem bers. The Councellors are eager to work. The municipality and the
Polish Red Cross are helping. Midday meals, bread, clothes, and benefits are
issued. 100 children receive extra food due to the help from the Warsaw TOZ.
Later on, an entire CENTOS centre is established. The Warsaw Joint provides
the lion’s share of the benefits. Later, however, when the benefits are gradually
reduced, the Judenrat must take over the burden of supporting the resettled
and the poor. Although the mentioned institutions – the soup kitchen,
the out-patients’ clinic, the infirmary for the old and sick – are a novelty to
1087 In the original, 1940, by mistake.
1088 In the original, 50 korców; see footnote 1072.
