After March 1941, Warsaw ghetto, author unknown, account recorded
by Hersh Wasser, “[19]41 [ 72 פֿעבר[ואַר ־ גירוש פלאָצק 71 ” [Expulsion from
Płock 17–27 February 1941]. Events preceding the expulsion of Jews
from Płock: deportation of 42 elderly Jews in September 1940, raid on
residents of Niecała Street 2 at the beginning of February 1941, arrests
on 20 February 1941.
[1] Expulsion from Płock (17–27 February 1941)
Long before the expulsion, the Jews fel t the incessant pressure of the brutal
occupation. They were crammed into a few streets, Szeroka — Kwiatka¹⁶⁴⁸ and
others, forming the Jewish precinct, which was not sealed off until just before
the Jews were expelled. Exposed to the blows and sadistic escapades of the
trainees from the SS establishment and the anti-social behaviour of the Jewish
kehillah, the Jewish population of 7,600, of whom around 3,000 were refugees
from Golub-Dobrzyń, Rypin, Sierpc and other places, lived an extremely
limited life of total resignation and lost aspirations. They were allowed to
buy only from the kehillah’s greengrocers, butchers, bakers and fishmongers
(later abolished) and from the sole German grocery store, which was run by
Mr Kerber, the trustee for the Jewish precinct. In addition, the kehillah had its
own hair salon, shoemaker’s and tailor’s shops. Sugar, soap and washing powder
were rationed and distributed by the kehillah. Prices were set as follows:
1 kilo of bread — 26 pfennigs, 1 kilo of potatoes — 5 pfennigs, 1 kilo of butter
— 4 marks, eggs — 5 pfennigs apiece, 1 kilo of meat — 1.80 marks. What
did Jews live on? (1) clandestine trade, (2) working for the Germans, either for
private firms or for the military. Wages for heavy manual labour varied from
70 pfennigs a day to as much as 4 marks for skilled workers. The kehillah maintained a soup kitchen that served 1,500 midday meals a day.
At the end of 1940, a few returnees from Warsaw established house committees
on the Warsaw model. Culture consisted in reading a few [2] Yiddish
and Polish books, which were lent from one person to another. Almost no one
read newspapers, because people were totally resigned to their fate. No schools
existed. Recently a few Polish-language kindergarten classes were organised.
1648 See footnote 1647.
