So far nobody has forbidden me to wear a beard, neither the gendarmerie
nor the police.
But I do not allow it!
Still holding the beard, he [42] shouted: And I’m telling you to cut it off!
Otherwise, if you prefer, I’ll take you a kilometre out of S. and cut it off with
a scythe.
He still had not let go of the beard and tugged it lightly. Seeing the rabbi
go pale in the face, his wife exclaimed to the German T.:
Let go of the beard! Take your hand away! Why are you pulling his beard?
T.: Aren’t you afraid to speak to me so strongly?
The rabbi’s wife: Why should I be afraid? I’ve committed no crime.
T: So you aren’t afraid?
The rabbi’s wife: “If my eyes must see you pulling the rabbi’s beard when
he has committed no crime, then better shoot me!”
At that moment, the German T. hit the rabbi’s wife on the hand in which
she was holding the candle. The candle was extinguished and it went dark.
The rabbi’s wife ran to the stove to relight the candle. T. ran after her and hit
her twice on the head. The rabbi began shouting and T. immediately struck
him in the face so hard that he saw stars. In the darkness, it was hard to tell
whether he hit him just with his fist or with something he was holding in his
hand, but the fact is that, on receiving the blow, the rabbi sank to the ground,
no longer able to cry out. When the rabbi’s wife managed to light the candle,
she saw the rabbi lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
On seeing that, the Germans quickly made off. It turned out that the
rabbi’s lip had [43] been split and had swollen immediately, which was why he
had been unable to shout. With hands shaking after what had just happened,
they shut the doors and courtyard gate again and made sure everything was
tightly locked and bolted. The state of depression in the rabbi’s home lasted
for a while, but they soon pulled themselves together and resumed normal
preparations for the journey.
As already mentioned, all the Jews had already left town except for a single
Jew, N.Sh., who did not live near the rabbi but a few houses away. In addition,
the rabbi’s house, which was enclosed by a courtyard, stood between
two Christian houses also enclosed by fences. Thus the rabbi and his family
lived alone in a house isolated from the surroundings, so that it was
impossible to hear any shouting from the rabbi’s house. Even the Christian
