were [42] a lot of people in it already. I was very happy. I thought they were
taking me to paradise. Our car, along with others, drove to the outskirts of
the town. They showed us a place and told us to go in, promising to bring us
food. We waited an hour, then two, then more, but we did not see any food,
nor hear anything. In great chagrin, we gathered some straw, laid it on the
floor and went to sleep. In the morning we went into town to try to find something
to eat. I left the pack where I had slept, asking someone to look after it.
In town there were lots of refugees and people expelled from many other
towns. At the kehillah there were various queues: for food, for lodgings, and
for a doctor. Which queue did I join? Above all, I was interested in food. I went
into the kehillah building and they told me there were no more coupons for
food, only for the doctor. So I queued up for the doctor, but when I got in to see
him, I burst out crying. [43] “I’m ill,” I said, “but for the time being I am also
dreadfully hungry. I’ve had nothing to eat for days and I’ve got no strength
left to carry on.” Then, out of pity, he gave me a coupon for a midday meal in
the kehillah soup kitchen. I stood in the meal queue for four hours and barely
got to the meal window. I finally received a little bowl of soup and a piece of
bread, but because of the terrible crush, with people pushing and shoving,
my soup spilled and I was left with an empty bowl in my hand. I ate the little
piece of bread and drank a lot of cold water to slake my hunger and thirst.
Then I went out into the street to see what was happening. And there
I met my acquaintances from the camp, who had arrived in town. We were
overjoyed. They couldn’t believe that I was alive. I asked them whether they
knew if my brother was here, but they said they knew nothing about him.
He might have gone in a different direction. Then we went to a bet hamidrash
to spend the night. [44] When we went in, we saw scenes that sickened us to
the core. People were searching through their shirts and clothing.¹⁷⁷⁹ A man
stood there, almost entirely naked, searching... There were fools, imbeciles...
and worms. I couldn’t find even one little bit of clean space. I asked my
acquaintances from S[erock?] to look for another place for us to sleep. They
went off and I stayed there waiting for them. Then one of them came back
and told me he had found a nice, comfortable place to sleep. Light, clean and
warm and, most important, there was bread and tea. I went off with him to
this new place, but to my dismay he was unable to find the way back to it.
1779 The context suggests they were searching for lice.
