into a cell, with a German soldier placed at the entrance to ensure that nobody
would fall asleep. But feeling sleepy, the soldier left after threatening to execute
those who would dare sit down or lie down. The Jews were so utterly
exhausted that as soon as the door closed, they collapsed where they were
standing and fell asleep.
Early in the morning, an officer came in and, seeing the sleeping Jews, he
beat a few of them and ordered them to sing loudly [. . .] [9] that they would not fall
asleep again. At 7 a.m., when they were so hoarse that their song sounded little
short of wheezing, the non-commissioned officers entered the cell and ordered
the Jews to leave. Standing in the doorway, two of them administered two
blows with a truncheon to every leaving man. After two hours of punitive
exercises, a clerk from the Landratsamt appeared and declared that those who
would pay a set sum of money would be released. A lot of Jews agreed to that
and they were released, bruised and bloodied, with swollen palms and knees,
wearing ragged clothes. However, the Germans threatened to arrest them
again unless they brought a receipt in two hours. What could they do? They
sold furniture, linen, bedclothes and took the money to [. . .]. The poorer ones,
who could not do that, were tormented for 3 more days until their release.
A few days later those who [. . .] paid [10] received new payment demands
and were arrested again. The Germans tortured them for almost a week but
failed to extort the money and released the Jews. People say that the ‘Jewish
mayor,’ B. Poznański, who was also arrested, was beaten bloody and then,
after his legs were put in chains, he was buried up to his neck in a diagonal
position. To pull him out, his companions had to pull on those chains.¹⁸³⁸ After
that incident, Poznański fell severely ill, but the Germans refused to release
him before the others.
8. In late October, Jewish bakers were forbidden to bake.
9. [. . .] to walk on pavements.
10. [. . .] patches in the shape of [. . .] word [. . .]. They were sold by the
Municipality.
11. An order was given to take stock of all goods and Jewish shops, and
then [. . .] were sealed.
[11] 18 November the resettlement started. This is how a Sierpc inhabitant
described it: Nobody expected the resettlement, and that was perhaps
1838 The same event is described in documents 138 and 139..
