a stamp were often enough; they filled in the receipts themselves. The reasons
for this are known.
The Ortskommendanturs needed the most furniture. Sections of buildings
or entire Polish or Jewish buildings were requisitioned by their orders, with little
time (sometimes only a few hours) to vacate them. They provided military
assistance for the furniture requisitions, which were conducted almost exclusively
in Jewish homes and depots, while the Council provided the labourers.
If a requisition proved to be particularly successful, they rewarded the
labourers themselves. Here is an example.
A phone call from the Ortskommendantur. Captain Wahl calling the
Council to inform them that there is a need for furniture for officers’ rooms
and dishes for the Offizierskasino. He states that the next day at 9 a.m.
a non-commissioned officer shall come by car to the Council building. The
party, consisting of 2 Councellors, 4 labourers, and the non-commissioned
officer, leaves for Podkowa Leśna at the fixed hour. It picks up the representative
of the local Jews, Mieczysław Feldman.
He is known for taking a lot of bribes from the local Jews, converted Jews,
and Poles (who even wanted to kill him) for leaving their furniture intact.
He was simply growing fat on Jewish and Polish blood. He extorted money
from people from Podkowa Leśna, Brwinów and Nadarzyn under various
pretexts, purportedly for interventions with the German authorities. In fact,
he did not help [2] anybody. In one exceptional case, when a pauper wanted
back a few items he smuggled, Feldman did pull some strings to have them
returned. There were instances when the said Mr Feldman waited on the
Sochaczew-Warsaw road with the gendarmerie ready to steal merchandise
from the passing cars and to divide it between himself and the gendarmes.
When the loot was too large and the owner opposed the seizure, they went to
the Landkommissariat and the merchandise was sequestrated. It was never
returned to the original owner. But the Landkommissar gave Mr F. an order
for the tannery, obliging it [the tannery] to sell about a dozen or several dozen
kilos of leather at a minimal price for his service. Feldman knew how to get
things done and to whom to turn. He received passes from the Landkommissar,
which he sold at a high price. He obtained cereal, flour, and groats from the
Landwirt as well as various concessions from the Sochaczew Kreishauptmann’s
secretary. And now he is in Warsaw and he has a good job in the housing office
at Krochmalna Street 22 despite his shameful past.
