May 1942, Warsaw ghetto, accounts recorded by Hersh Wasser, on the
situation of the Jewish population in Żychlin, Krośniewice and Łęczyca.
[1] 384 Gąbin, 150 Gostynin — Konin
[Żychlin] Judenrat: Alter Rozenberg — former chairman, a rich [. . .] an outright
— sad to say — wealthy man, dishonest.
Yoysef Oberman — chief of police, was in Łódź before the war, originally from
Żychlin, aged 28 years, very intelligent. From a Hasidic home. In Łódź, a small
stocking factory, unsuccessful.
Ayzik Kelmer — office manager, a respectable man, a Zionist, had always been
involved in social welfare protection.
Chaim Dębiński — social welfare protection, a wealthy paint dealer, an honest
man.
Yitskhok Zejfert — a gaiter maker, also involved in social welfare protection.
Abraham Helman — member of the Judenrat, no department, a wealthy
merchant.
Noyekh Helmer — charitable work, a grain merchant, not particularly honest.
3,500 people — 12 Sept., plunder, Germans kill, shoot. Germans beat people
hard, 25 Oct. — second levy — 28,000 zł. End of Nov., around 40,000 złotys
— third levy — plundered day and night. Volksdeutsche Kenig, before the
war a watchmaker, sent from Poznań, a spy, distinguished himself. After that,
just levies. Jews lived from trade, smuggling, did quite well in general, no more
paupers than before the war, not many refugees. Prices until the ghetto: wheat
flour 140 zł — 100 kg, rye flour — 90 zł, beans — 1.50 a kg, sugar — 1.60 a kg.
Ghetto: railway station[?], Narutowicza Street, right-hand side, 1 to 61,
Pocztowa Street, Łukasińskiego Street, from Dworcowa Street to Pocztowa
Street, Jabłoński’s house. Apart from that, in the Fabianówka brick factory,
a small ghetto, 360 people — 60 families sent there from Dąbrowice,
a locality in the Kutno district — autumn 1940 — previously in Kutno ghetto.
⁹⁹⁴ The people from Kutno [. . .]. The Council of Elders did business. At first,
994 Jabłoński, owner of a large locksmith’s workshop in Żychlin. See http://zychlin-historia.com.pl/?p=tsiixetc&paged=16 (accessed 17 January 2019).
