number of old people, babies, and sick people. When he got the answer, he
stated that he could allow us to go by cars and that he would deliver those cars
provided that he got 4,500 złotys by Saturday at 9 a.m. We eagerly accepted
that condition, even though we were aware that the wealthier Jews had already
departed. Nonetheless, we did not want our group to walk all that way by foot.
When we gave him our consent, he also allowed the people to take their personal
belongings but only as much as they could carry. Having finished the
conversation, that clerk left, [4] but after just several hours new orders began
to arrive, all of them contradictory. In the evening, the Community notified
us that we would be resettled as soon as on Saturday. As it seemed contradictory
with the earlier order, we wanted to make sure about that. We waited
the whole night for the gendarme, who came to notify us about that change.
He did but not until 6 a.m. About a dozen minutes later a company of “skulls”¹²³⁶
arrived to supervise our evacuation. Having examined the bathhouse, which
had already been heated in line with the order, and having done a series of
drills with the members of the Council and the Order Service, they dispersed
in the town. About a dozen minutes later, all the inhabitants were driven in
for steaming. In that haste, under the stream of abuse, shouts, and often even
blows as well, the people were unable to take all the bundles they had packed.
All night long on Friday, the Councellors walked from home to home to
collect the necessary sum of money. The collection proceeded very slowly, as
the richest ones were already gone, and despite the efforts, [4a] little money was
squeezed out of the poor. At 9 a.m., it turned out that we were nearly 1,000 zlotys
short of the 4,500 zlotys. The German who came to collect the money was
generous enough to extend the deadline until midday, but at the expense
of a further 500 zlotys. Another condition was that the Councellors and the
Order Service functionaries could only leave in the last car.
It is difficult to describe the scenes, which took place during the further
collection of the missing sum of money. All the town gathered in one place
and when the Councellors’ appeals came to nothing the women began to do it
themselves. They spared neither their own husbands nor children. All those
who had taken a few zlotys for the journey had to take it out. Finally, the
demanded sum was collected.
1236 The SS. That colloquial expression refers to the skulls on the functionaries’ caps.
