to the office, took male or female labourers, signed contracts, and paid the
due sum into the Council’s purse.
[3] The Jewish society was very much shocked when the Arbeitsamt
demanded the first 50 people to be sent to a labour camp in the Lublin district.
A list of people qualified by the Council physician was drafted and all
those on the list reported for duty. Nobody was released in return for money,
which was the case in Warsaw, or for any other reason. But some of the more
resourceful prospective prisoners bought themselves out in Warsaw from the
main gathering point or were dismissed by physicians. Three days later,
the Arbeitsamt demanded another transport of 50 labourers, of whom only
42 reported for duty. In the meantime, unfounded rumours started circulating
that the train with our obozowicze¹¹²⁹ had derailed. The mothers attacked
the Council, demanding their sons back. The same day we received information
from the Judenrat in Lublin that we should send a delegation and financial
aid for our obozowicze. Representatives of the Grodzisk Judenrat left for
Lublin with parcels and money. The rumours about the obozowicze worsened,
bad news began to come directly from them. Therefore, another delegation
was sent (one Council member plus four representatives of the parents).
In Lublin the delegation managed to find only 15 people from Grodzisk
working in workshops under SS supervision. Even the Lublin Judenrat did not
know anything about the fate of the rest of our obozowicze. Jewish labourers
were in 7 camps of the Warsaw District in Bełżec, while those from
Grodzisk were in the camp in Płazów 17 km from Bełżec, in Lipsk, and in
Cieszanów.¹¹³⁰ Luckily, they were healthy, they ate food from the parcels,
received cash from their parents, and sent reassuring letters home in return.
The obozowicze were delighted when they saw the delegates.
Finally, the Arbeitsamt demanded a third group (50 people). Not knowing
what had happened to the previous two groups, the Council refused to send
more labourers. The Arbeitsamt head demanded a dossier and a list of all men.
The round-up was carried out at night but, because they had known about it
1129 (Polish) literally, campers. See footnote 1004.
1130 This could be a reference to the system of seven forced labour camps in Bełżec, Lipsk, Narol, Płazów, Cieszanów, Dzików Stary and Dzików Nowy, located around the one in Bełżec. Their prisoners worked at construction of fortifications on the border with the Soviet Union. See J. Marszałek, Obozy pracy, pp. 117−118. Among the prisoners were Jews from the Warsaw District.
