(b)
[1 ] Koło⁸¹⁶ — Bugaj⁸¹⁷ On Friday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah [. . .] the first troops of the German
army.⁸¹⁸ On Monday evening [. . .]. Immediately there was summoned a Polish-
Jewish [. . .] announced that Jews had no rights at all. Similar posters [. . .] on
the street.
On Tuesday morning appeared [. . .] men above 12 years of age, with no
exception, had to report to the town hall [. . .] there were two victims, an
elderly man Rozen, who was shot [. . .] and buried in his courtyard in a lime
pit. The other victim was Bierzwiński,⁸¹⁹ who was shot for running too slowly
with a bucket of water to wash away the blood of two Poles who had been shot.
The Jews were divided into two groups. One group was taken to the Kalisz
Bridge, and the other to the Warsaw Bridge. Their task was to repair the damaged
bridges so that the German troops could continue their march towards
Warsaw. Jews were made to work without any tools, while being severely
816 In 1939, Koło had approximately 4,570 Jewish residents. At the turn of November they were forced into a synagogue, from which 1,139 were deported to Izbica Lubelska, 62 to Krasnystaw, an unknown number to Turobin, and 175 to Zamość. The local ghetto was established in December 1940. The Judenrat’s main task was to deliver people for forced labour. On 2 October 1940, 150 families from Koło were deported to Bugaj and Nowiny Brdowskie (see Doc. 59). In late 1940, the ghetto had 2,640 residents. The remaining Koło Jews were murdered between 7/8 and 11 December 1941 in Chełmno on the Ner/Kulmhof.
817 Bugaj (Koło County). From the autumn of 1940 to January 1942, a rural ghetto (Dorfgetto in German) existed in Bugaj (Bugitten) and there was another one in nearby Nowiny Brdowskie (Neuhagen), with approx. 740 acres of surrounding land and 165 houses which could accommodate the Jews. On 2 October 1940, 150 families from the town of Koło and 50 families from the village of Babiak (Koło County) (approximately 800 people) were sent there and accommodated in 165 houses. The ghetto inmates carried out seasonal work in the fields and worked in the grange. From 12 to 14 January 1942 they were among the first victims murdered in Chełmno on the Ner (Kulmhof). Among the workers sent from Bugaj to bury the bodies was Michał (Mechl) Podchlebnik, one of the three fugitives from that killing centre. See Obozy hitlerowskie, p. 339; Gminy żydowskie pogranicza
Wielkopolski, Mazowsza, Małopolski i Śląska, p. 11 and The Encyclopedia of Camps, vol. 2, pp. 47–48.
818 The German army entered Koło on 18 September 1939 (Monday).
819 Most probably Salomon Bieżuński (?-1939), chairman of the Jewish library in Koło. See Docs. 61 and 62.
