Warsaw! So everyone was being herded to Warsaw, the greatest Jewish
centre in Europe! In Warsaw many of the exiles had relatives or had hidden
some of their possessions there earlier, and even those who had no relatives
or property would be welcomed by Warsaw, Jewish Warsaw, with open
arms. Every exile would be bathed, clothed, fed and watered. Warsaw, no less!
Warsaw would not look indifferently upon such a frightful tragedy, the terrible
misfortune that had befallen their brothers from a nearby shtetl! (In due
course, the refugees would come to realise their mistake with regard to the
hospitality of Warsaw Jews.)
The train stood still, but there was no sign of any intention to release
the Jews from the carriages. The Warsaw Eastern [Railway] Station was
very busy. Suddenly, terrible screams were heard from Jews who were being
beaten. They had been standing next to the station, waiting for a train that
was [11] supposed to be going east, taking some of them to Siedlce and others
to Mezritch,¹⁸²⁶ Biała, and other places. All these Jewish passengers,
who had already bought tickets to the above-mentioned places, were being
chased by a whole crowd of German civilians, who were beating them savagely
and taking their packs and suitcases from them. The commotion was
terrible. Jews were beaten and chased from place to place until they collapsed
from exhaustion. Through the windows of the sealed carriages, a few
Volksdeutsche were seen shoving along and kicking several Jews, who no longer
looked like human beings. Their faces were covered in blood and they were
barely able to stay on their feet. The scene was horrific. Although the Jews sitting
in the carriages had suffered plenty of torments of their own from the
moment they were torn from their homes, the scene affected them so strongly
that they burst into tears. In the end, the Jews rounded up at the station were
herded into the carriages of the ‘Jewish train’ and made to share the Serock
Jews’ road to exile.
The hunger pains grew stronger and stronger. Because of the overcrowding,
[12] it grew very hot and stuffy, and the thirst was so terrible that people
licked off the condensation that formed on the windowpanes. It did little to
relieve their thirst, however, especially that of the little children, who would
not listen to anyone and screamed “Water! Water!” with all their might.
The mothers, driven wild by the screams of their children, rushed wildly
1826 Name used by Jews for Międzyrzec Podlaski (Radzyń Podlaski County).
