not manage to leave their homes in time. In some towns, the Jews were given
several days. Some Germans allowed the Jews to take their belongings, while
others did not. Everything depended on the German one encountered. With
their stories, the resettled spread gloomy, menacing anxiety. Some stories
were so dreadful that people refused to believe them. As anxiety grew, people
tried to console themselves with hope. The most fantastic political rumours
began to spread. An ordinance was passed obliging all Jews and Poles to turn
in their radio [21] receivers. Keeping them was punishable by death. Without
radio, people lost that source of relatively reliable news, and that [loss] gave
free rein to human imagination. Even the most fantastic news was taken
at face value. People wished to believe, because that was their only solace.
The worse the situation became here, the more people talked about the paradise
for Jews on the Russian side. So far, individuals or families had gone
there, but then the number of refugees kept increasing, even though it was
more and more difficult to cross the border. Particularly young people were
leaving in large numbers. The Germans then began to requisition Jewish flats.
The first victims of the requisitions were the most desirable flats in the most
elegant buildings on the most beau tiful streets. The Germans then began to
empty entire buildings of Jews. They behaved in various ways during the process
— it depended on the person one encountered. Sometimes they gave the
residents an hour, sometimes more. One was not allowed to take any furniture,
only personal belongings, but not always even that. The Germans often
requisitioned Jewish linen.
Our money was exchanged for Reichsmarks. The Jews had generally little
confidence in marks, so they asked one another for advice. Almost everyone
thought the war would not [22] last long, and many decided to exchange
as little money as possible, believing that the zloty would have value after
the war ended.
The atmosphere at home was so heavy that we, the young, sighed with
relief at school. It was pleasant there. We did not study much but talked politics
a lot with one another and the teachers during lessons. We told one
another about various adventures with the Germans, lootings, searches,
roundups for forced labour, etc. There was always at least one girl who had
a story to tell about some ‘unusual’ German, that is, one who did not beat,
gave bread for work, said something sympathetic and humane, etc. We found
it particularly pleasant to listen to such stories.
