where father managed to reach Łódź in a deplorable state. In Łódź, immediately
upon arrival [. . .] the Gestapo came to us from the office and took [. . .]
Jews. They greeted father [. . .]
Soon I got a message [. . .] inhabitants of Łódź, and also my parents
moved to the ghetto. One could take everything from the flat, but we left the
furniture, because my father did not believe that we would be able to keep it;
he expected that we would go into exile.
One day, terrible news came that in Łódź Jews were being driven out
of Piotrkowska Street, from their flats to the ghetto, and supposedly about
300 were shot. Gendarmes came to each and every flat, it all happened in
one night, and holding the Jews at gunpoint, they ordered them to leave the
house, without taking anything with them. It took only the slightest sign of
protest for them to shoot. The sick were shot without mercy. Entire families
were shot for having tried to take something with them, or because they were
not ready quickly enough. Survivors were herded into the ghetto like cattle.
Supposedly about 300 people were shot that way.²⁰⁹
That event shocked all the Jews of Łódź, and soon after that, [18] those
who were still staying in the city started to move to the ghetto as soon as possible.
[. . .] there were no Jews outside the ghetto.
In the second half [. . .] father back to Warsaw. He traveled for two days
[. . .] side roads. It was a relatively very good trip, as others took four or five
days to get there at the time, and often encountered Germans, who caused
a lot of trouble.
When finally, after a long winter, military operations began in Denmark
and Norway, the hearts of the Jews filled with hope. Since something had
begun, it would inevitably put an end to the war very soon, or so most people
thought.
In the meantime, the Łódź ghetto was sealed off. Until the closure, it was
quite good there. There was plenty of various sorts of food in the ghetto, the
Poles came and went; one could trade, there was a school at the Community,
the Germans did not come into the ghetto often and that stopped the frequent
roundups for labour, and generally the Jews felt better there than before,
when there had been no ghetto. This is what father said. Meanwhile, from
my mother’s letters we learned that within a week [19] the ghetto was to be
209 See Docs. 25 and 41.
