and one German civilian in our shop. The civilian was complaining about
the Jews taking jobs from the Germans and said that the Führer would now
do to them what they deserve. The soldiers wanted to pay us only half the
price that we named, but we refused. Then one of them started saying that
the Jews had it too good here, that they were holding on too tightly. And
he started saying that we should not expect to remain here. “There shall be
not a single Jew left in Łódź,” he said. I was about to go to the headquarters,
[27] but they finally paid a compromise price and left. The worst ordinances
were passed on 18 November. The Jews were ordered to wear yellow bands on
the right arm.⁷¹ They were allowed to walk [on the street] only between 8 a.m.
and 5 p.m. The Jews were to make an inventory of textile products and submit
it to the German authorities. From then on, all merchandise became state
property and could not be sold. That day was dreadful. There was a funereal
atmosphere in every home. In the evening, yellow armbands were already
being sold on the streets. At first, I thought I would not go out wearing the
armband for any treasures [in the whole world]. I intended to stay at home
even for a year as long as that spared me going out with the armband. But the
following day I saw that the whole street had turned yellow and I changed
my mind and went out too. It looked so bizarre that I could not stop myself
from laughing. The Jews in the streets had already grown accustomed to that
and ridiculed the armbands. School ended as early as 4 p.m. and after 5 p.m.
we sat at home.
From that day on, life was becoming increasingly gloomy. We were [28]
talking politics more and more during lessons and people were increasingly
excited about incredible gossip.
There was a heavy, depressing atmosphere at home. Father fell into a black
depression. We had stopped selling on the day when the ordinance on submission
of inventory was announced. We carefully measured all our merchandise
and submitted the inventory to the German authorities. The Germans made
use of the compulsory house arrest for Jews after 5 p.m. and went looting at
that time. We made an iron door at home, blacked out the windows, and sat
with only a bedside lamp on. When Germans were knocking on the door, we
turned off the light and kept silent, pretending there was nobody inside. Our
hearts were pounding.
71 That ordinance was issued on 14 November 1939. See footnote 50.
