Another time, 12 Jews (Smrodin, Grynberg, [. . .] Szewczyn and others)
were taken away from a playing field near the high school building and they
disappeared too.
Once, a German supervisor wrote down the surnames of those who were
on leave [. . .] relatively easy [. . .] diseases and on the same day all of them were
captured (surnames of two of them: Bałaban and Binenfeld the younger) and
sent somewhere along the road to Brodnica. They did not return.
In mid-November, the following happened: a Volksdeutsche accused a Jew,
Szmelka Safersztajn, who was staying at his place, of having intended to set
his house ablaze. That completely groundless accusation was enough for the
arrest of Safersztajn and his son. The Jews of Rypin naturally made efforts
to free both men — it was stated that they could be released on bail in the
sum of 1,000 zlotys. The money was very quickly collected and after [4] it had
been given to the Germans, everyone awaited their release. However, it did
not happen. The Safersztajns were sent off somewhere and they disappeared
without a trace.
One October night, the synagogue and the neighbouring bet hamidrash
were set ablaze. Although the alarm siren was wailing the entire night, the
Germans forbade extinguishing the fire and the Jews living on the streets
adjacent to those buildings had to stay indoors even though the roof over their
head could catch fire at any moment. A levy in the amount of 10,000 zlotys
was imposed on the Jews for “having set the synagogue ablaze,” while the
walls of the burnt buildings were to be demolished.
Immediately afterwards, markings for Jews in the form of yellow strips
were introduced [. . .] They were forbidden to walk on the pavements [. . .]
Henoch Szerm [. . .] was caught to work [. . .], half of his beard was cut off and
then he was let go like that.
In the same month, a Judenrat was established, with all members of the
prewar kahal included in its composition. One day, the Germans arrested all
12 of them and demanded a huge ransom for each; when it was paid, the Jews
were released, severely beaten, but after a week they were detained again and
transported in the direction of Skrwilno.¹⁵⁶⁹ Later, Skrwilno inhabitants said
that one night they had heard shots in the nearby forest — it is thus probable
1569 Skrwilno (Rypin County).
