and we like going to school. We play, we sing. She reads us various Jewish
magazines and time passes quickly.
Hanka Zaksenhaus
[4] What the resettlement in our town looked like¹³²
The resettlement is a terrible thing, first we were resettled to the ghetto.
Everyone had to leave their own flat and find somewhere to live. That was it.
We had already accepted that. But it did not last long, we stayed there only
two weeks, when people started to murmur that there would be resettlement
to Warsaw. We didn’t want to believe it. But soon there were announcements
in the streets that the town was to be cleared of Jews by 16 February, and we
could only take 25 kilos with us. We were devastated by such news. People were
running around like crazy and asking: What should I take? What to take first?
Whoever had some money left, they arranged for a wagon and left, and those
that had no money went on foot and left everything behind. As long as I live,
I will have our resettlement before my eyes.
Łaja Efrajmowicz
[2] June already¹³³
It’s June already, and yet almost all the gardens are closed. The fragile silhouettes
of emaciated people are dragging their feet down the city streets. All the greenery destroyed by the warfare. Everyone is thinking about last year’s holidays in the country. Only a few people are staying in holiday resorts. Mothers’ faces are saddened. Everyone tries to send their child to the country, at least for a few weeks. And the children are carefree, playing in their backyards, and maybe only some of them try to think about their parents’ situation.
132 From January to April 1941, about 50,000 Jews were resettled from the western part of the Warsaw district (counties: Sochaczew-Błonie, Grójec, Skierniewice, Łowicz and part of Warsaw County) to the already overpopulated Warsaw ghetto.
133 The text “June already” concerns 1940. Most likely a remembrance, like “Memory from the last war” below.
