people. They categorically ordered the Jews to open their shops, emphasising
that “failure to comply would be treated as sabotage.” In fact, that threat
was unnecessary, because having heard that they could trade, the Jews were
even ready to forgive the Germans all the blows they had received. However,
they were bitterly disappointed, as the vast majority of the customers were
soldiers who spent a lot of time choosing and examining products and then
paid, if at all, a few marks for merchandise worth several dozen zlotys. When
the seller tried to protest, he heard a snarl, Fresse halten, Jude!¹⁸³¹ often accompanied with a few blows.
Moreover, they began to capture people for labour, [and] although it was
not too strenuous, the Jews were beaten so mercilessly that the men hid for
days and nights in attics and cellars, under beds, in wardrobes, etc. That gave
the Germans an excellent pretext for conducting [3] continuous manhunts
and searches, during which they beat and tormented household members.
The role of the Poles did not present itself as very comme il faut;¹⁸³² for they
not only showed where the Jews lived, but also actively helped at manhunts
and searches. That hiding resulted in repeated registration of the Jewish men
fit for work.
However, that was not all, for the Jews were showered with persecutions:
1. Ritual slaughter was prohibited and when that ban proved ineffective,
the slaughterers had their chalafim taken away.
2. The doors to the synagogue¹⁸³³ and both batei hamidrash were sealed.
3. During the night of the first day of Sukkot, Sierpc inhabitants were
woken by the screech of fire sirens. There was a huge glow in the sky;
the synagogue was ablaze. Armed German soldiers surrounded it,
threatening death to anyone who would approach it. An eighteen-yearold
Hasidic boy named [. . .] was not frightened by those threats and,
shouting that when the synagogue is on fire it is his duty to save it, he
grabbed a bucket [4] of water and ran towards the fire. The Germans
did not make a fuss over him; one of them fired a revolver at him and
when the boy collapsed, another German approached him and said,
1831 (German) Shut your mouth, Jew!
1832 (French) proper.
1833 The wooden synagogue was built at the turn of 18th and 19th centuries and rebuilt in 1895. It was located at the top of the present-day Żwirki i Wigury Street.
