We alighted 3 km before the town and we continued on foot. A piled up
chaise with my uncle, three aunts, and their children passed us right before
the town. We gave them our bundles and my brother even got inside. We
entered the town before dark. We could clearly see all the destruction in the
vicinity of the railway station and the railway tracks. There were lots of soldiers
and cars as well as civilian Germans, our former neighbours, who stood
outside their houses, looking at us. I looked at the buildings and streets feeling
as if I had not seen them for years instead of a week. I was surprised and
happy at the same time. But I did not have the courage to go into our flat
and I waited on the stairs until my brother told me that everything was fine
in there. By contrast, most of the possessions of our neighbours living opposite
us had been stolen. But several minutes after we walked in, we heard
dreadful news: three Jews, two older men and one younger man, had been
shot immediately on Wednesday, that is, on the day of the Germans’ entry
into Zduńska Wola.¹²⁰² They were among the handful of Jews who remained
in the town and the first ones that the Germans saw. They were dragged out
of the synagogue, where the Germans had found them. Without much ceremony
and after several questions that the stunned men were asked, they were
ordered to stand with their faces to a wall and they were executed. The news
shocked us, particularly as the men were my father’s friends. Due to the situation,
the Jews did not show themselves for several days.
The next day we started tidying up. When our flat was clean, I finally
went to town. Everything was as it had been, except for the repaired church
and several destroyed buildings in the centre. A few days later we heard unofficial
hearsay that people would have to give away their radios. Furious,
I refused to believe that. But it turned out to be true, and we could do nothing
else but to surrender our radio. So on Wednesday I carried it to the municipal
board and I received a receipt. We had not used the radio since our return,
as there had been no power during that time. There were rumours for some
time that the radios would be given back. They were indeed ‘returned,’ but
to the Germans.
A week after our return home, I went to my father to Łódź. We did not
know if he had received the news about our return home, which we had relayed
to him. We also needed to take some things and in general I had [. . .] father.
1202 The Germans entered Zduńska Wola on 6 September.
