a few individuals managed to approach the synagogue, but there too soldiers
were standing, together with 7 taksówki with high-ranking officers, and
they were beaten savagely. They kept asking themselves who had done it.
A young man of 19 who came running up with a pail of water was shot. And
so the synagogue burnt to the ground without receiving a drop of water. Only
when the fire threatened the adjacent Polish houses were the firemen allowed
to begin firefighting operations, and then Jews were also dragged into the
task. This was the second night of Sukkot. When Jews came to work the next
morning, they were threatened and ordered to disclose who had set fire to the
synagogue, and soldiers were stationed immediately outside the remaining
prayer houses to make sure they were not set on fire.
On 3 October, 400 men were seized in an obława. They were taken to
the Landrat office, where manual workers were told to step forward and were
placed to one side, while the tradesmen were made to perform physical exercises.
Of course, not everyone could keep up, so they were beaten till the blood
ran. Several youngsters were so badly beaten that they had to be carried away
from the square. Afterwards, everyone was ordered into the Landrat office,
where they were registered by a derisive soldier and treated to blows. This
went on for a couple of hours and then everyone ran off wherever they could.
On 12 October, a decree was issued that Jews were to wear a yellow patch
with the word Jude, and were forbidden to walk on the pavement, and that
Christians were to doff their hats.¹⁸⁴⁷ The decree was issued by the [5] municipality.
On 14 October, all the Jewish shops were closed and each [owner] had to relinquish whatever his business was worth. There were very many
Volksdeutsche in our area, and they went on a rampage. Furniture and goods were taken from the Jews, whatever someone took a fancy to. The Jews gave up
a great deal. On 22 October, the Jewish gmina received an order to pay a levy of
50,000 zlotys within 3 days. That meant raising the price of goods. Naturally,
the few wealthy Jews were in no hurry to bring the money. Some of them fled
the town, so despite all efforts, the whole amount was not collected. A delegation
went to the burmistrz with 40,000 zlotys and were granted an extension
until 27 October. After strenuous efforts, the sum of 10,000 zlotys was finally
handed in. In connection with the extension of the deadline, individual levies
totalling half a million zlotys were sent out on 29 October. The smallest
1847 To greet a German.
