the concise, purely legal arguments of the German captain, we put forward the
argument along the lines of force majeure.¹²³ The captain, however, was relentless
and as a conclusion he gave us a letter announcing that he was taking full
responsibility for the release of the goods ordered by his soldiers. Even today,
after two years, I can vividly recall the strangeness of that purely legal discussion
between us — Jews and the armed German captain.
[26] I am writing this because it shows just how complex the human soul
is, and in particular the German soul during the brutality of war, when, after
all, according to the famous Latin saying inter arma silent leges, or in times of
war, the law falls silent.¹²⁴ But for the German captain in Łódź it was already
after [x]¹²⁵ the war, so he started a dispute with us solely as a civilian. All the
conflicts arising in connection with the requisition of goods were quickly
ended, and as for us Jews, we were in fact indifferent as to how the robbing
would be formally done, we only wanted to have some peace, knowing that
the Jewish property was already gone.
Requisitions in shops, especially individual requisitions, carried out alone
and for private use, ceased relatively quickly. By contrast, searches and requisitions of property in homes lasted far longer. Initially, they were carried out
under the pretext or on the occasion of searching for weapons, cameras and
so on. It was a great excuse; for various Volksdeutsche and hakenkreuzlers —
real or disguised — the matter was concluded very quickly as soon as they
robbed a Jew of cash. In view of frequent robberies, the authorities began to
track unauthorised confiscators and very soon about 100 hakenkreuzlers were
found in Wiśniewo¹²⁶ under lock and key. Different squads organised confiscating
expeditions [27] for food supplies, furniture, linen, and so on. Some district
would be closed off, cars and lorries would arrive in front of buildings,
flats would be searched, especially the ones at the front, sometimes outbuildings
as well, and property belonging to Jews would be taken. They used Jews
caught in the street, as well as the owners of the confiscated possessions, to
carry and load things onto the vehicles. With these requisitions, there were
interesting incidents of singular Bolshevism. In a house at Zachodnia Street,
123 (French) superior or overpowering force.
124 (Latin) paraphrase of the saying: In times of war, muses are silent.
125 [x] over.
126 Probably a reference to Wiśniowa Góra near Łódź.
