The Jewish Community allotted 8,000 zlotys a month for the upkeep of the
Home, CENTOS provided what it could, and a period of vegetation ensued.
The management of the Children’s Home did not know what to do first with
the 8,000 zlotys from the Jewish Community. On the other hand, the support
from CENTOS was incidental. It was only from the second half of May 1940
that CENTOS started supplying produce on a regular basis. However, this produce
arrived in very small quantities and, in particular, was appropriate only
for the older children. Infants require the following: milk, eggs, sugar, butter,
wheat meal, and these products were simply not supplied or were distributed
in negligible quantities. So, for example, where 50 litres of milk was needed,
the Home received 5 or 10 at the most. And even this was not whole milk, but
skimmed milk without the fat. Eggs and butter were totally lacking. Meat was
obtained only twice during this whole period, and even that was horsemeat.
The situation regarding clothes, underwear, shoes, and the like was
no better.
It is a well-known fact that children who have been brought to the Home
by the police, by their mothers, or even by CENTOS are always dressed in
torn, bedraggled clothes. These clothes have to be removed without delay
and exchanged for new ones, in order not to infect the other children with
some sort of disease. When a child leaves the Home, he is of course given the
clothes that he is wearing. Since for the above-mentioned reasons the institution
has no new underwear, clothes, or shoes, children go around naked and
barefoot. Infants lie without nappies. The municipal laundry which had previously
laundered the institution’s linen had not functioned for some time so that the dirty linen simply rotted. The institution’s staff had absolutely no means to do the washing themselves. First of all, there had been no water in the Home for a long time. Second, they had no utensils or soap.
Before the war 15,000 nappies a year used to be produced, but now not
a single one. The result is therefore clear . . .
Over the last few months, CENTOS has striven to alleviate the situation.
However, all of their efforts have the same sporadic character because
CENTOS does not have the requisite budget for their needs.
The same situation applies to medicines for sick children as well as other
important supplies.
Before the war, there was a staff of 160 for the same number of children
as live there now. Currently there are 86. The management is composed of the
