arrived from the Warsaw TOZ, among others, but despite the efforts the financial
aid from TOZ was never received. The Committee looked after the poor
children; it gave them milk and rolls every day. Due to the lack of funds for
that purpose and the CENTOS’s refusal to subsidise the campaign, that charitable
institution had to be liquidated.
Most of the time the Committee relied upon the subsidies from the Joint,
up to 4,000 zlotys per month. When the Joint stopped subsidising the kitchen,
the Council itself paid for its operation. The customers of the kitchen paid
5 groszes per day. During Passover, everybody received 1 kilo of matzo and five
zlotys. The kitchen operated until the resettlement.
Resettlement
In late January there were rumours about the approaching resettlement from
Wiskitki. A Committee of the Judenrat was established to [5] to collect a substantial
amount of cash in order to buy Wiskitki out of that decree¹¹⁸⁴ and to
make sure that the inhabitants would remain. The fees were a minimum of
six hundred zlotys per family. The efforts were made by the agency of the representative of the Arbeitsamt in Sochaczew. Gelbsztajn and Libert had their
dirty hands in that affair, taking money to buy bedroom furniture worth
three thousand zlotys and other furniture for the clerks. Some of the cash
went to the Wiskitki mayor to enable the resettled Jews to take their possessions
with them. In the end, it was not achieved despite the promises.
On 1 February 1941, it became known that, just like in Żyrardów, settlement
would take place despite the expenses and efforts. The mayor and the
newly sequestered Polish police hampered the sale of furniture to buyers who
arrived from nearby villages. On the third day, the Germans arrived, surrounded
the town, and threatened to shoot every Jew who would not leave the
town. The mayor gave an order to take only parcels weighing a maximum of
25 kilos, but the people disregarded that and took whatever they could carry.
The Judenrat rented peasants’ carts on its own expense. The sick, women, and
children were put on the carts, while the men trailed behind. The procession
was heading towards Żyrardów, accompanied by the peasants’ great sympathy.
Some of the resettled Jews had no buyers for their furniture and no Christians
they could entrust it to, so they left their possessions for God’s mercy.
1184 In the original, in Polish transliteration gyzajre.
