who had left, who was still free, and who had been arrested. Arrests among
the intel ligentsia, particularly Jews, were intensifying; around mid-November:
the Germans arrested lawyers, physicians, engineers, journalists, and
members of various associations. When people encountered me on the street,
some expressed their surprise that I was not leaving Łódź. So my wife and
I began to prepare for departure. In early December, thanks to my sisterin-
law, I learned which of my Warsaw friends were in the capital and for
how long. We decided to go to Warsaw if need be. In case of a requisition,
we moved the chest with my wife’s personal belongings to her girlfriend’s
and after some time to a factory, from where it was to be transported to
Warsaw by a Volksdeutsche. The chest then lay in Łódź for almost two months,
even though it was supposed to be dispatched within a maximum of two
days. Around 10 December my maid was visited by her sister-in-law and the
latter’s girlfriend, [5] who were to return to Warsaw in two days. Our maid
suggested that we take that opportunity to send some of our belongings to
Warsaw, which we did: we gave them two suitcases with our belongings and
a small backpack with food, as well as cash: 20 zlotys per person.
We were to set off for Warsaw around 15 December 1939. I decided to try
to obtain passes, but when I learned that they were issued only after a week
and after filling out a questionnaire, I gave up that plan and decided to go by
train. Train tickets were no longer sold to Jews, so I tried for two days to obtain
them through my German friends, but to no avail. There was nothing to do
but go by bus, but that was not easy either. We decided that I would go alone
and that my wife would remain in Łódź. We repacked our backpacks accordingly.
I wished to take several English textbooks with me, but our neighbours
started protesting so loudly and they harassed my wife so intensely
that I had to leave the books. The only book I took was the Bible — the Old
and New Testaments. In the morning I bade farewell to my wife and asked
the janitor to buy me a bus ticket to Warsaw. After an hour, I already had
a ticket for 60 zlotys, but the bus was not to leave until around eleven in the
morning. I took a large backpack and set off to the bus station accompanied
by the caretaker and our maid. When we reached the station, a Volksdeutsche
started reproaching the janitor for having tricked him and having bought
a ticket for a Jew at the price for Christians; nolens volens,⁸³ I had to pay
83 (Latin) like it or not.
