off in an unknown direction (KL Auschwitz?)¹⁵⁷⁸ and since then all trace of
them has been lost. In the town, house searches began. The best shops were
confiscated. Men were arrested and money was demanded for their release.
During the house searches, young girls aged 18–20 were ordered to undress and
stand naked. Everyone had to leave the house, and anyone who refused was
beaten murderously. The gmina was forced to supply 50 men for hard labour
at the bridge every day. The merchandise was removed from all Jewish shops.
The job was done by local VD.¹⁵⁷⁹ On 25 October the town’s foremost resident,
the pharmacist Riesenfeld,¹⁵⁸⁰ was arrested by the G–O¹⁵⁸¹ as a leader of Polish
Jewry, and he has disappeared without a trace. On 8 November the 35 richest
[families] were ordered to report to the market square that same day, bringing
35 kilos of baggage with them. The baggage was then taken from them and put
on a truck, and the families were split up. For example, children were taken
and their parents left behind, and so on. [2] [They were] sent to an unknown
destination, and to this day there is no trace of them.
Three days ago, all the Jews of Golub were arrested. On 9 November at
8 o’clock in the morning, 1,500 men of the German civilians’ Selbstwehr¹⁵⁸²
were drawn up in both towns, and the Jews were required to leave their homes
within 10 minutes and assemble in the market square. When the whole population
was assembled in the market square, the Landrat demanded that the
Jews pay a levy of 50,000 zlotys. He took 4 Jews as hostages and promised that,
after the levy was paid, each would be free to go wherever he wished. The poor
town came up with 23,000 zlotys, as well as two baskets of silver candlesticks,
gold rings, and so on. And then, after photographing them, the command
was given and all of them, old and sick, were expelled from the town,
with the peasants forbidden to drive carts. The weeping and wailing on the
highway was indescribable. On the way, people abandoned everything they
had brought with them, since they had no strength to carry it any further.
1578 The Yiddish spelling is unclear, and the question mark appears in the original. The initials KL stand for Konzentrationslager (concentration camp).
1579 i.e. Volksdeutsche.
1580 Adolf Riesenfeld, owner of a pharmacy in Golub (“Pharmacy Under the Eagle”), Zionist, active in JEAS; he was murdered in the Rusinowski Forest, his wife Jadwiga was sent to the Warsaw ghetto.
1581 i.e. Gestapo.
1582 Probably Selbstschutz.
