into the ghetto. The popular ghetto saying “to give one’s coupon away” meant
to die.
COURTS AT LESZNO—the court building at Leszno Street 53/55 had two entrances:
both to the ghetto and the “Aryan” side, which meant that it became the most famous
place where the inhabitants of the ghetto could illicitly meet with people from the
other side of the wall. Also, escapees from the ghetto were often carried out via
the courts at Leszno. The ground floor of the building housed a branch of the Tax
and Stamp Office, where personal income taxes were paid.
DEPARTMENT OF SUPPLY—an office founded in December 1940, responsible for supplying
food to the ghetto by approving the purchase orders of shops for items from
outside the ghetto. Originally, it operated as an agency of the Jewish Council; in September
1941, it became independent. It was headed by Abraham Gepner.
DISINFECTION UNIT—A team carrying out disinfection in the ghetto to prevent
the spread of infectious diseases. The unit consisted of 18 health workers (12 Jews
and 6 Poles), a German disinfector, as well as a Polish and a Jewish doctor. Units were
escorted by the POLISH “BLUE POLICE” and the JEWISH ORDER SERVICE.
DROR (Hebrew: freedom)—socialist Jewish youth organisation set up in Poland in
1938. During the war the organisation was in the underground. In the Warsaw Ghetto
it among others set up a Hebrew school and agricultural training. Dror was among
the founding organisations of the Jewish Fighting Organisation.
FORCED LABOUR—as of 12 October 1939 all Jews between 14 and 60 years of age
became subject to forced labour. Germans made the Jewish Council responsible for
providing workers, and on 19 October the Council created a special agency for this purpose—
the Labour Battalion. Initially, Jews were sent to work details in Warsaw, but
as of the summer of 1940, also to labour camps. Hard forced labour could be avoided
by paying a special tax.
FORCED LABOUR CAMPS—camps established in the General Government: from
August 1940 in the districts of Lublin and Kraków, and from the spring of 1941 also in
the district of Warsaw. Jews between 14 and 60 years of age who were subject to forced
labour worked on road construction or drainage projects. Most of the people sent to
the camps who returned to the ghetto were in very poor shape, both physically and
mentally. Prisoners were often beaten; in some camps, executions were carried out.
As there were no volunteers for the camps, from the spring of 1941 ghetto inhabitants
