Abraham Lewin - Diary Extracts

German Soldiers at one of the Warsaw Ghetto Entrances (Chris Webb Private Archives)

Abraham Lewin was born during 1893, in Warsaw. A writer, author of a novel, Kantonisci (The Cantonists), teacher and historian. Before the Second World War he taught in the Jehudyjah girls' gymnasium. He was married to Luba, formerly Hotner, and they had one daughter Ora, born in 1927. In the Warsaw ghetto he was one of the co-founders of the Underground Ghetto Archive. They lived at 2 Mylna Street. He was the author of a diary, that was subsequently published under the title, 'A Cup of Tears.' His wife Luba, was deported in August 1942, to the Treblinka Death Camp, where she perished. Abraham, died in Warsaw, during 1943, as did their only child Ora, who was only 16-years old, when she passed away during 1943.

Abraham Lewin and Ora Lewin before the Second World War (Private Archive)

Extracts from his diary, document the period from the start of the Great Deportation Aktion which commenced in July 1942:

German Notice - The Great Deportation Aktion in Warsaw (Yad Vashem)

Wednesday, 22 July 1942

A day of turmoil, chaos and fear: the news about the expulsion of Jews is spreading like lightning through the town, Jewish Warsaw has suddenly died, the shops are closed, Jews run by, in confusion, terrified. The Jewish streets are an appalling sight - the gloom is indescribable. There are dead bodies at several places. No one is counting them and no names are being given in this terrifying catastrophe.

The expulsion is supposed to begin today from the hostels for the homeless, and from the prisons. There is also talk of an evacuation of the hospital. Beggar children are being rounded up into wagons. I am thinking about my aged mother - it would be better to put her to sleep than to hand her over to those murderers. Ora brings exaggerated stories from Sweden- that the war is coming to an end.

Thursday, 23 July 1942

Disaster after disaster, misfortune after misfortune. The small ghetto has been turned out on to the streets. My nephew Uri arrived at half past seven. The people were driven out from 42-44 Muranowska during the night.

Garbatko, 300 women, 55 children. Last Tuesday in the night. Rain has been falling all day. Weeping. The Jews are weeping. They are hoping for a miracle. The expulsion is continuing. Buildings are blockaded. 23 Twarda Street. Terrible scenes. A woman with beautiful hair. A girl, 20 years old, pretty. They are weeping and tearing at their hair. What would Tolstoy have said to this? On Zamenhof Street the Germans pulled people out of a tram, and killed them on the spot (Muranowska Street)

Friday 24 July 1942 - Six in the morning

The turmoil is as it was during the first day of the bombardment of Warsaw. Jews are running as if insane, with children and bundles of bedding. Buildings on Karmelicka and Nowolipie Streets are being surrounded. Mothers and children wander around like lost sheep: where is my child? Weeping. Another wet day with heavy skies: rain is falling. The scenes on Nowolipie Street. The huge round-ups on the streets. Old men and women, boys and girls are being dragged away.

The police are carrying out the round-up and officials of the Jewish community wearing white armbands are assisting them. The death of Czerniakow yesterday at half past eight in the Jewish community building. As for the reasons: during the ceremony at Grzybowska Street, he said: 'Szlag mnie i tak trafi, prozse pani (I'll die anyway, Madam)

The round-up was halted at three o'clock. How Jews saved themselves: fictitious marriages with policemen. Guta's marriage to her husband's brother. The savagery of the police during the round-up, the murderous brutality. They drag girls from the rickshaws, empty out flats, and leave the property strewn everywhere. A pogrom and a killing the like of which has never been seen. 

Merenlender's visit. She and her father were taken the first day. In what kind of train-wagon are the prisoners kept? According to her they will not even last a night. Many buildings have received an order to present themselves on their own. The manager of 30 Swietojerska Street, Nadzia, gave himself up. People get attacks of hysteria; 11,000 people have been rounded up; 100 policemen held hostage. One of them let himself down on a rope, fell and was badly wounded. The policeman Zakhajm has been shot. Terrifying rumours about the night. Will there be a pogrom?

Schultz is dismissing 100 Jews. His explanation for his action. The great hunger in the ghetto. Someone saves his sister and a four-year old child, passing her off as his wife. The child does not give the secret away. He cries out: 'Daddy!' I am trying to save my mother with a paper from the Jewish Self-Help Organisation (ZTOS).

Saturday, 25 July 1942

Last night I couldn't sleep. It passed peacefully. Everything reminds one of September 1939. People rushing through the streets. The day is so long. Packages, mainly of pillows and bedclothes. Noisy movement. The never -ending questions: 'Meken do durkhgen? (Can one get through there?). Disaster: Gucia has been thrown out of her flat. Five killed in Dzielna Street in the night. Terrible scenes in the streets. The police are carrying out elegant furniture from the homes of those who have been driven out.

Umschlagplatz: a policeman is crying . He is struck. Why are you crying? Meine mutter, meine frau! Frau ja: Mutter nicht (My mother, my wife! Wife yes, mother no!) A smuggler who threw himself out from the fourth floor. I saw him on his sick bed.How did Czerniakow die? 10,000. The Wajcblum family. The looting of property. Last night there were a lot of suicides.

Conditions at the Umschlagplatz. People are dying where they are being held. You can't go in or out. By yesterday 25,000 had been taken away, with today 30,000. With each day the calamity worsens. Many give themselves up voluntarily. It is supposed that hunger forces them into it. The new proclamation: non-productive elements are being sent to the East. Vast numbers of dead among those being expelled. The German Jews are content to go. For them it is a long journey. The Jewish Self-Help Organisation is flooded with Jews begging for mercy, stretching out their hands for help - who is there to help them? Then every Jew would come and ask for papers from the organisation. Since Tuesday there has been no newspaper in the ghetto, apart from the very sketchy Jewish paper Gazeta Zydowska.

Gazeta Zydowska Edition (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Sunday, 26 July 1942

The 'action' continues. The buildings at 10-12 Nowolipie Street are surrounded. Shouts and screams. Outside my window they are checking papers and arresting people. Human life is dependent on some little piece of paper. It's really enough to drive you insane. A lovely morning, the sky is wonderfully beautiful: the sun is shining, the acacia is blooming and the slaughterer is slaughtering.

The blockade of our courtyard. How it was carried out. Winnik's story. Good news from Brzesc. The closing of the post office. The seizing of an eight-year old girl, prettily dressed . She screams 'Mummy! Libuszycki, Lejzerowicz. The terrible hunger. Many give themselves up . They are not accepted, so great is the number that are going. Yet they still set up blockades so as to extort money. The terrible corruption of our police and their assistants. An outrage, an outrage.

6 Solna Street; 99 victims. Today 12,000 martyrs. The closing of the post office. A kilo of bread - 50 zloty. Potatoes -20. The violence of the police. Warszawski's son, an official of the Jewish community, was seized and ransomed for 250 zloty. Czudner (Meir Czudner, Hebrew poet, editor and translator who died in the ghetto). Kirzner's sister- seven people. The break-up of families- Mendrowski. Pola. It hurts so much. 37,000 martyrs today (till today that is, in the first five days of the deportation). The Jewish community and Jewish Self-help Organisation workers are also not safe. Only the workers in the 'shops' seem to be still safe,

A new leadership for the community. Lichtenbaum, chairman, the deputies: Wielikowski, Sztolcman, Orlianski. The shot in Brustman's window. Lola Kapelusz, the wife of a lawyer from Lodz. She goes twice with her daughter to give herself up because they are starving. 'We haven't eaten now for two days.' They send them away because of huge crowds of people giving themselves up. Confiscations of packages at the post office. First people were given a receipt confirming that the office had received the packages - then the confiscation.

Monday,27 July 1942

The 'action' still continuing at full strength. People are being rounded up. Victims on Smozca Street. People were dragged from the trams and shot. One hundred dead (old people and the sick) at the Umschlagplatz. Huge numbers of dead at 29 Ogrodowa Street. The remaining occupants were taken out, no notice was taken of their papers. The cause - a piece of glass fell onto the street when there were Germans passing. Shooting all day. Dead on Pawia and other streets.

The terrible hunger. Bread - 60 zloty, potatoes -20, meat -80. There are round-ups in the street.The commandant from Lublin is in Warsaw. How high will the numbers of deported become? Opinions differ: 100, 000, 200,000. Some will go even further: about 50,000 will be left and these will also be removed to Grochow or Pelcowizna. Today the number of those deported will reach about 44,000. And according to Wielikowski there is no prospect of an end to the 'action'. A break for 48 hours (so people are saying). Auerswald has returned. Perhaps things will get easier? Suicides in great numbers. The Cytryn family, mother and son embracing. The attitude of the Poles. Kalman weeping over the telephone. He calls for revenge. Neustadt has been murdered.

Tuesday, 28 July 1942

The 'action' continues relentlessly. There are so many volunteers, two families from 8 Nowolipie left their flats and gave themselves up (10 +5). The reason - the terrible hunger. Bialer - execution because he didn't remove his hat. The incident with Kirzner. Up to yesterday 45,000. Wealthy Jews have left Warsaw. The Rozencwajgs on a wagon. The seizure  of Gutgold. Lazar: taken off a tram. Deaths on Smocza Street. How was a strong young man shot between the eyes? He tried to escape was wounded in the arm. He begged for mercy, and was killed by two bullets in the head. Gruzalc's mother has been taken. He works at Tobbens.

Pessimism of Menahem- Mendel Kon. The Germans want to leave 60,000 Jews in the town. The fate of those who work for the Jewish Self- Help Organisation. Some say that their identity papers will only be recognised as valid for another two days. This is what Szerynski is said to have announced. A blockade on our building for the second time. The two Walfisz boys were taken away.

The sight of Nowolipie and Smocza Streets at midday - a hunt for wild animals in the forest. The world has never seen such scenes. People are thrown into wagons like dogs, old people and the sick are taken to the Jewish cemetery and murdered there. I heard that a smuggler who lives on our courtyard wanted to get rid of her old sick mother: she handed her over to the butchers. Jewish policewomen. The huge numbers of people and sewing- machines assembled in the courtyards of 44- 6 Nowolopie Street.

Wednesday, 29 July 1942

The eighth day of the 'action' that is continuing at full strength. At the corner of Karmelicka Street - a 'wagon.' People are thrown up on to it. In the courtyard of 29 Nowolipie Street the furniture of the occupants who were thrown out of the buildings is still standing there. A Jew sleeps in the open air.

Kon recounts a young woman who returning from work at a placowka told of the murder of two 19-year old boys, shot dead. One was left dying for a whole hour. They were shot for no reason. Ilenman Igla, the daughter from the ZZ (Food Office) walks with her mother. Places of execution: Piasczno, Pustelnik, Belzec. People standing at the windows are shot at. A Christian woman on Leszno Street, seeing the wagons with those who have been rounded up, curses the Germans. She presents her chest and is shot. On Nowy Swiat a Christian woman stands defiantly, kneels on the pavement  and prays to God to turn his sword against the executioners - she had seen how a gendarme killed a Jewish boy.

A meeting of Oneg Shabbes. It's tragic character. They discuss the question of ownership and the transfer of the archive to America to the Yivo if we all die. The terrible news about the Germans' plans. It is being assumed that they intend to deport 250,000 . So far 53,000. The terrible pessimism of Eliyahu Gutkowski and Menahem-Mendel Kon. They talk of death as of something that will certainly come. Announcements in the streets: all those who present themselves voluntarily before the first of the next month will receive 3 kg of bread and 1 kg of jam.

Workshop -mania. Will that save people? The Germans thank the police for their 'productive efforts'. It is said that they are going to put the police to 'work' in other locations. How are the Jews listening to the loudspeakers? So far eight Jewish policemen have committed suicide. Conditions in the streets get worse every day. Many Jews with identity papers from the Jewish Self-Help Organisation have been arrested.A bulldog that has been taught to attack only Jews with armbands in Warsaw-Praga. A Jew was seized by him.

How do Jews hide? In couches, in beds, cellars, attics. The Rozencwajgs were set free for 500 zloty. A memorandum has been handed to the authorities, offering a ransom in return for the halting of the expulsion. No reply has yet been received. No Germans appear until four in the afternoon. The Jews do everything in an orderly fashion. Each day about 1 per cent of those rounded-up, between 60 and 70 people are killed. They throw loaves of bread into the wagons. Those at the front grab even two or three of them, those at the back get none at all. The savage round-ups in the streets will go on until 1 August. Then those that are not working will receive orders . Children will not be separated from their mothers. Someone called our policemen 'gangsters'.

The day after Czerniakow's death the German officer Witossek came and apologised, justifying himself by saying he was not responsible for the death and giving his word of honour as a German officer that those being deported are not being killed.

At the employment office there are lists of the community workers and employees of the Jewish Self-help Organisation. For the moment they are being left alone. It is supposed that they are going to check them. For now they are sorting out the workshop employees.

Sometimes I am quite calm about my life and sometimes a little indifferent, but suddenly I am gripped by fear of death that drives me insane. Everything depends on the news coming in from the street. Blockades in the streets. On Nowolipie Street near the Jewish Self-help Organisation they seized a girl aged 15 or 16 who was going with a basket to buy something. Her shouts and screams filled the air. In H. well-dressed women were found. About 95 per cent of the people are sent away without any kind of packing, of linen or clothes.

Thursday, 30 July 1942

The ninth day of the 'action' that is continuing with all its fearfulness and terror. From five in the morning we hear through the window the whistles of Jewish police and the movement and the running of Jews looking for refuge. Opposite my window, in Nowy Zjazd Street, a policeman chases a young woman and catches her. Her cries and screams are heart-breaking. The blockade on our building. How was the Rajchner family saved? How did I save Mrs Minc?

Today the post office was opened again. Brandstetter was seized yesterday afternoon by the Germans. He was released at the Umschlagplatz. Dr. Fuswerg's wife was seized as was Klima Fuswerg. They were freed this morning. From midday yesterday onwards the shooting has not stopped next to our building. A soldier stands at the corner of Zamenhof and Nowolipie Streets and abuses the passers-by. Terrifying rumours the authorities have closed the Jewish Self-help Organisation.

Brandt expresses his condolences to the committee members on Czerniakow's death. Hofle defends  himself by saying he was not responsible for the death. The terrible appearance of Nalewki Street. A woman shot dead there yesterday when she came out of the courtyard and began to run. Workers were removed and deported from Tobbens workshop at 6 Gesia Street. Community officials were also seized and deported. All the workshops were emptied. Those who hid themselves or refused to go were shot. All the workers have been removed from the workshop of the second section of the Jewish Self-help Organisation, which was in the process of being set up. At the corner of Karmelicka and Nowolipie Streets they used axes to break off the locks and open up the shops. By midday 4,000 people had been rounded up, among them 800 volunteers. By yesterday evening the total number passed 60,000.

The notice in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung: they are broadcasting continually on London radio, 'SOS Save 400,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto whom the Germans are slaughtering. The 'lie' of the English propaganda is clear to anyone who saw the film from the Warsaw ghetto. A letter from Bialystok that a Polish policeman brought from a woman to her husband. She and her son are together with several other families and have to work hard in the fields, but they are receiving food. About 2,000 people have been removed from 27-9 Ogrodowa Street. Also a lot of children from the Pnimia children's home. Today many employees of the community were seized - including teachers - and from the Jewish Self-help Organisation. The story of Pigowski.

Friday, 31 July 1942

The tenth day of the slaughter that has no parallel in our history. Yesterday a large number of officials were rounded up. The female director of Tobben's workshop, Neufeld. At the corner of 11 Mylna Street they stop me and lead me up to an officer. The Jewish Self-help Organisation identity cards 'have no value any more. Odjazd - ambiguous. I was terrified.

They are driving out the old people from the old people's home at 52 Nowolipki Street. Those rounded up are divided up into: those fit for work (arbeitsfahig), those able to survive (lebensfahig) and those not fit to be transported (transportunfahig). The last group is killed on the spot. About 2,000 people have been removed from the buildings at 27, 29, and 31 Ogrodowa Street. The official from the Jewish Self-help Organisation centre, Rozen and his father taken away. A certain young man, Frydland, who has been working for several months at one of the placowki has been seized and deported. Rabbi Nisenbaum's wife was put into the wagon. Mrs Mlawer was shot and wounded. They removed the caretaker and his family from Centos.

Yesterday 1,500 reported voluntarily. Today by midday, 750. Among them members of the intelligentsia. There is talk that part of the 'squad' has already left for Radom. The remainder are leaving tomorrow. I have heard that they will be taking 500 Jewish policemen with them from here. At four o'clock they suddenly took those who had been rounded up out of the wagons and announced the action was being suspended. The joy and hope that this brought forth. At six to half past six the blockade started again.

A woman called Mydlarska jumped up into the wagon after her husband had been taken. In our courtyard a woman threw herself from the third floor - she was starving. Today about 3,000 people were taken away from Walicow and Grzybowska Streets. No attention was paid to identity papers 'Zay gezunt! Zay gezunt (Goodbye, goodbye!) a young Jew shouts from the wagon.

The calamity of the 'dead souls.' 120,000 fictitious food-coupons (bony).

Saturday, 1 August 1942

Outside there is destruction by the sword, and inside there is terror. The 11th day of the 'action' that gets progressively more terrible and brutal. Germans are in the process of emptying whole buildings and sides of streets. They took almost 5,000 people out of 20-2 and other buildings on Nowolipie Street. The turmoil and the terror is appalling. There is a general of all the occupants of Nowolipie Street between Karmelicka and Smocza Streets. The awful sight: people carrying packages of pillows and bedclothes. No one thinks of moving furniture. Fajnkind says to his sister -in-law: 'Hide yourself and your beautiful child! Into the cellar!'

The nightmare of this day surpasses that of all previous days. There is no escape and no refuge. The round-ups never cease, Shakhne Sagan and Ben -Tsion Chilinowicz, Dr. Edmond Sztajn, Zolotow, Karcewicz, Prync (teachers at the Yehudia Secondary School) Perets Opoczynski have been seized. Mothers lose their children. A weak old woman is carried on to the bus. The tragedies cannot be captured in words.

The rabbi from 17 Dzielna Street has been seized and apparently shot. Children walking in the street are seized. The property of those who have been expelled is grabbed by neighbours who are left, or by the new tenants, the shop-workers. Fifty of the customers, 10 staff were removed from the officials' kitchen at 30 Nowolipie Street. People who have hidden are shot. I spent the whole day at 25 Nowolipki Street and didn't go to eat, so was saved.

Sunday, 2 August 1942

I spent the night at my sister's at 17 Dzielna Street. The 12th day of the 'action,' which becomes more and more intense. From yesterday the parents of police have been excluded from the category of those protected. Last night a lot of people were killed or wounded. A new proclamation in the streets of the ghetto from the head of the Jewish police: the action will continue. All those who are not employed in organisations  or by the German authorities have to report voluntarily on 2, 3 and 4 August and they will receive 3 kg of bread and 1 kg of jam. Families will not be split up.

Today three people were taken away from the kitchen at 22 Nowolipie Street.. It looks like they have stopped recognising the identity papers of the Jewish Self-help organisation. Yesterday evening a large group of hundreds of Jews who have been driven from their homes was taken into the Pawiak. Early today some of them were brought out of the Pawiak, among them old people, young women with small babies on pillows. They were led by Jewish policeman. Jehoszus Zegal has been seized.

Among the tragedies: Karcewicz has been taken away; she left behind two children aged four and seven. Magidson. People murdered on Nowolipki Street. The 'action' continues. People are saying that there will be a break for three weeks from 5 August. Those who will remain will be able to get themselves fixed up with work. When that period is up, they will return and take away and liquidate anyone who is not working. A large number of people - estimated at 15,000 - have been taken from the small ghetto. Grandmother was killed by a single shot: she was standing at the window that looks over Sienna Street. Mother has gone to Gucia's.

Monday, 3 August 1942

The 13th day of slaughter. A night of horrors. Shooting went on all night. I couldn't sleep. In the morning I went to the Landau Brother's sawmill. A mass of people, men, women and children, were gathered in the courtyard and in the garden. They were trying to save themselves. Will they be saved? It is said that from those who were taken to the Umschlagplatz yesterday about 2,000 were freed who had various papers. People are consoling themselves with the thought that the savage round-up will stop tomorrow and it will be carried out in an orderly way. Everyone was taken from TOZ (Society for the Protection of Health) who was found there.

At the cemetery 56 Jewish prisoners were killed. A few days ago more than 100 people were murdered on Nowolipie Street. Today the Germans have surrounded the following streets: Gesia, Smocza, Pawia, Lubiecka, and took away all the occupants. Yesterday the following were taken away: Attorney Kahanowicz, Rusak, and Jehoszua  Zegal's whole family.

Tuesday, 4 August 1942

The 14th day of the 'action' that is being continued at full speed. Today the blockades were set up at ten in the morning. The Germans work together with the Jewish police. The small ghetto was surrounded and also Gesia and Zamenhof Streets. There are stories of terrible lootings and violence during the expulsions. They deport the people and loot and pillage their possessions. Shops are also broken open and the goods carried off. In this participate Jewish police, ordinary Jewish neighbours and Germans.

It was announced that 14 Jews were killed who had sought refuge at the cemetery, those who work in the cemetery organisations, in addition to the 56 sentenced to death, who were killed. I have heard the following: they found a woman who had recently given birth and her three-day-old child on Szczesliwa Street. They shot dead both the mother and the child -this is a true story. They are expelling the occupants from the buildings once again: from 45 Nowolipie Street and other buildings. Even if someone is not seized and sent away to die there is no certainty that when they return home they will find a roof over their head.

Again there is talk that the savage round-up will stop today . But we have heard this before and nothing came of it. The workers from the kitchen at 8 Prosta Street have been removed. A Junak was crying: 'Szkoda tych Zydkow (It's a shame about these Jews.') At 9 Nalewki Street a sick woman was murdered. The 'action' will continue until 17 August. Zegal's father has been taken away. How do they get the corpses out? Tozsa Apfel has been taken and sent away.

Our feelings have been numbed! We hear of great calamities happening to those closest to us and we do not react. A letter from Baranowicze. The writer is working as a farm-labourer. She asks for underwear. Life is cheap, 7 zloty for white bread, 1.80 for potatoes. It would be good if she could be sent underwear. The letter came by post.

Wednesday, 5 August 1942

The 'action' continued unabated. We have no more strength to suffer. There are many murders. They kill the sick who don't go down to the courtyards. Yesterday about 3,000 volunteers reported. Not all of them were taken. These they sent away. In the town they are rounding up people regardless of the papers they have. Whoever falls into the hands of the Germans or the Jewish police is seized. The Jewish policemen took away Hillel Cajtlin. He was released. Professor Majer Balaban has been taken. At 13 Dzielna Street they killed Mrs Grun who was ill and a girl. Yesterday the 'action' in Radom began.

Thursday, 6 August 1942

The 16th day of the 'action,' which is continuing. Yesterday they took away everyone from the offices of the Jewish Self-help Organisation who were there at the time, about 60 or 70 people. Some of them Dr. Bornsztajn, Sztolcman, a girl, were freed.They are predicting a hot day today. Once again there are the theories that the action will be suspended tomorrow because the annihilation squads are about to leave for Radom. Conditions in Landau's sawmill. The expulsion of the occupants of 10-12, 23 and 25 Nowolipki Street. Redoubled savagery and the maltreatment of Jews. While flats are being emptied out and people come to save their belongings, the SS arrive and seize the occupants.

Moritz Kohn and Zelig Heller have been killed. During a blockade by the Germans the Jewish police storm into Zylberberg's building. They are terrified that they have found them and say: 'Hide and lock yourself in well!' It was then that the whole family of the Radomsko rebbe was killed.

Popower saw orders with regard to trains and their numbers that were sent to Treblinka - the place of execution. Starvation haunts the survivors more and more, a kilo of bread -45 zloty, a kilo of potatoes 15 zloty. Today they already taken about 5,000 Jews from the small ghetto. Tosza Apfel has been caught and deported.

Friday, 7 August 1942

The 17th day of the massacres. Yesterday was a horrendous day with a great number of victims. People were brought out from the small ghetto in huge numbers. The number of victims is estimated at 15,000. They emptied Dr Korczak's orphanage with the Doctor at the head. Two hundred orphans. In the evening they drove out the people from the flats in the square bounded by Dzielna, Zamenhof, Nowolipki and Karmelicka Streets. There are no words to describe the tragedies and disasters.

Rozencwajg's two sisters were sent away. One with a child of six months, the other with a four-year-old. Mrs Schweiger is not there. How terrible. Today Germans and Ukrainians came to the sawmill of the Landau brothers and they rounded up a large number of women with their children from among the factory-workers, and women who just happened to be there Bluma Kirschenfeld-. Wasser, Smolar, with her child . Tintpulwer and others, many others. 

The workers turn on the intellectuals. A shocking experience. Many rabbis have been sent away. Mendel Alter from Kalisz and more, more. During the pogrom on Nowolipie Street about 360 people were killed. At number 30 more than 30 people were killed. Gorny's mother has been killed by the Germans, and he came to sell meal-coupons as if nothing had happened. So dulled have our feelings become.

The hunger presses in on us in a terrible way. Today I had no bread for breakfast. I ate pickled cucumber. Today a kilo of bread costs 55 zloty. A new order has been issued that if people report voluntarily for deportation from 7 to 14 August they will receive a kilo of bread and half a kilo of jam. From this it can be deduced that the 'action' will continue for at least a week. Saul Stupnicki has been sent away.

Three thousand were brought from Otwock directly to the Umschlagplatz. The number who have fallen victim is enormous. The crematorium near Malkinia and Sokolow. I have heard that Erlich - nicknamed Kapote - has disappeared. The shooting and the killing flourishes. During the blockade on Leszno Street four people were killed. Shmuel Hirszhorn has committed suicide. Many kill themselves. It is a miracle that there are people still alive.

Saturday, 8 August 1942

The 'action' continues. The 18th day. There are still reports of our cherished and loved ones who fell victim yesterday: our children. The children of our boarding schools, led away to be killed: 12-14 Wolnosc Street, about 1,200, 18 Mylna Street. Nathan Koninski with his wife and the children from the boarding school. They intend to eradicate the whole of Warsaw Jewry.

I hear reports today that the Germans are blockading Zelazna and Leszno Streets. They are driving people out of all the buildings on Mila Street. We have lived through a shattering and terrifying day - 30 Gesia Street. The numbness of everyone is staggering. Gorny loses his mother and sells meal-tickets. Smolar has lost his wife and daughter. Tintpulwer - widowed - goes around in despair, a broken man and tries to 'find' work so as to be involved in something, not to be superfluous. Terrifying reports from the town. At 64 Lubiecka Street victims, many victims on Mila Street. All the cows were taken away - about 120 - from the 'farm.' A loss of millions: there will no longer be the small amount of milk that was distributed to the children.

In the evening a pogrom in the streets. A great many killed at various locations: Smocza, Pawia, Mila, Zamenhof and others. I was on my way home at half past eight . Hela comes towards me. Luba and Ora are not there. I am sure they have been seized. They come home at nine o'clock. During the blockade they had stayed in the boarding-school at 67 Dzielna Street. What Luba recounted of the children (150) and the women teachers during the blockade. Their packages in their hands, ready to set off - to their deaths. Kon said yesterday: 'I am writing a testament about the events.' Chmielewski's parents were taken away yesterday and he comes to the factory and is still on his feet.

Sunday, 9 August 1942

The 19th day of the 'action' of which human history has not seen the like. From yesterday the expulsion took on the character of a pogrom, or a simple massacre. They roam through the streets and murder people in their dozens, in their hundreds. Today they are pulling endless wagons full of corpses - uncovered - through the streets.

Everything that I have read about the events in 1918-19 pales in comparison with what we are living through now. It is clear to us that 99 per cent of those transported are being taken to their deaths. In addition to the atrocities, hunger haunts us. People who during the war were previously well-fed come to ask for a little soup at a factory kitchen. The 'elite' still get some, but the rabble don't even get that.

Twenty Ukrainian, Jewish policemen (a few dozen) and a small number of Germans lead a crowd of 3,000 Jews to the slaughter. One hears only of isolated cases of resistance.One Jew took on a German and was shot on the spot. A second Jew fought with a Ukrainian and escaped after being wounded. And other cases of this kind. The Jews are going like lambs to the slaughter. Yesterday 23 Jews were killed in one flat.

I have heard that the 'action' in Radom is already over after a week and three days - 7,000 victims. That is the target they set in advance. And here we have no idea when they will say -enough. I have heard about letters that arrive from France telling of expulsions of Jews there. They also say that they will be brought to the Warsaw ghetto. It is a wonder that people can endure so much suffering, living the whole day on a knife-edge between life and death and clinging with all their might to life in the hope that they may be among the ten survivors.

Monday 10, August 1942

Yesterday was horrific in the full sense of the word. The slaughter went on from early morning until nine and half past nine at night. This was a pogrom with all the traits familiar from the Tsarist pogroms of the years 1905-6. A mixed crowd of soldiers of various nationalities, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and over them the Germans,stormed into flats and shops, looting and killing without mercy. I have heard that people are being slaughtered with bayonets. Yesterday there were a vast numbers of deaths.

In the town, proclamations have been published ordering the occupants of the small ghetto to leave their homes today by six o'clock. This is a further terrible calamity. Firstly for all those who have remained there. There is no possibility for them to take out with them a few of their possessions, clothes and bedding, because there is a danger of being seized while moving. And secondly, where can they move to? A great many streets and blocks of buildings have been emptied by German factory-owners. The number of buildings still in Jewish hands is very low.

The number of those deported out (read: murdered) is estimated at 150,000. Yesterday the Guzik family was seized. He was freed, his family not. It is reported that the community organisation is to be dismantled and a commissar appointed. I have heard that Gancwajch, whom they wanted to kill a few weeks ago, has climbed back to prominence.

i was unable to go home. We all spent the night at 30 Gesia Street. It was a very difficult night. Until two we sat on chairs, from two till five -we lay on plywood boards. We were told that 2,500 officials of the Jewish community and two members of the Judenrat have to present themselves at the Umschlagplatz. Later this was denied. The embitterment of the workers against the unwelcome intelligentsia is growing continually. They feel they have been wronged by them. The wife of the editor Wolkowicz has killed herself.

The terrible hunger: bread, 88 zloty, potatoes, 30. The appalling appearance of the Jewish streets. The shops and flats stand open, the Jewish crowds have remained- looting. In a building on Leszno Street, where 150 people used to live, there are now 30 left. Of these eight were killed yesterday. I have heard that in the course of the massacres yesterday the famous Warsaw singer Marisa Ajzensztat, the only daughter of her parents and a former pupil at the Yehudia School was attacked and killed. I have heard that yesterday Kohn's sister and her husband was killed. And she who had celebrated her recent marriage so exuberantly. A worker sat weeping, Jewish policemen had come to his home and taken away his 16-year-old son. What brutality!

Tuesday, 11 August 1942

Things are deteriorating fast. Appalling, horrendous. The brutal expulsion from the small ghetto. Whole buildings have been emptied of their occupants and all their possessions left behind. Christians are already beginning to loot. 24 Sienna Street, 28 Sliska Street. Except for Dr.Jakub Tombeck's family, there is not even a single tenant remaining in the building; the house porter is also gone. Aunt Chawa and Dora Feiga have been seized and deported. The destruction of families.

Early this morning the Germans and the rioters spread through the ghetto. By the evening they were distributed throughout the ghetto and were seizing people. In the course of five minutes they drove out all the occupants on Gesia Street between Zamenhof and Lubiecka Streets. They pay no attention to papers.

The Jewish community offices have moved to 19 Zamenhof Street, the post office building.They have reduced their personnel by half. The number of victims has already risen above 150,000. Today they will complete three weeks since the beginning of the terrible massacre. In the night a large number of women who worked at Tobbens' were removed. It looks like there is a policy to liquidate women and children. Yesterday at Tobbens' three Jews died at their work. Blockades and murders in the streets that still belong to the ghetto. The heavy blockade on the entrance to the buildings of the Warschauer Union, with two killed and a vast number seized, nearly 100 women, children and men. The mortal terror that gripped us as we sat in the office.

Smolar rang Sokolow. He was told that those that are deported, or if they are deported to Treblinka, are going to their death. The news that K brought. In Warsaw there is a Jew by the name of Slawa who has brought reports of Treblinka. Fifteen kilometres before the station at Treblinka the Germans take over the train. When people get out of the train they are beaten viciously. Then they are driven into huge barracks. For five minutes heart-rending screams are heard, then silence. The bodies that are taken out are swollen horribly.  One person cannot get their arms round one of these bodies, so distended are they. Young men from among the prisoners are the gravediggers, the next day they too are killed. What horror!

Wednesday, 12 August 1942

Eclipse of the sun, universal blackness. My Luba was taken away during a blockade on 30 Gesia Street. There is still a glimmer of hope in front of me. Perhaps she will be saved. And if, God forbid, she is not? My journey to the Umschlagplatz - the appearance of the streets -fills me with dread. To my anguish there is no prospect of rescuing her. It looks like she was taken directly into the train. Her fate is to be a victim of the Nazi bestiality, along with hundreds of thousands of Jews. I have no words to describe my desolation. I ought to go after her, to die. But I have no strength to take such a step. Ora - her calamity. A child who was so tied to her mother, and how she loved her.

The 'action' goes on in the town at full throttle. All the streets are being emptied of their occupants. Total chaos. Each German factory will be closed off in its block and the people will be locked in their building. Terror and blackness. And over all this disaster hangs my own private anguish.

Thursday, 13 August 1942

The 23rd day of the slaughter of the Jews of Warsaw. Today about 3,600 people were removed from Tobbens' buildings, mainly women and children. Today is Ora's fifteenth birthday. What a black day in her life and in my life. I have never experienced such a day as this. Since yesterday I have not shed a single tear. In my pain I lay in the attic and could not sleep. Ora was talking in her sleep: 'Mother, Mama, don't leave me.' Today I cried a lot, when Gucia came to visit me.

I am being out of the flat at 2 Mylna Street: they have already taken most of my things. Those who have survived are thieving and looting insatiably. Our lives have been turned upside down, a total and utter destruction in every sense of the word. I will never be consoled as long as I live. If she had died a natural death, I would not have been so stricken, so broken. But to fall into the hands of such butchers! Have they already murdered her? She went out in a light dress, without stockings, with my leather briefcase. How tragic it is! A life together of over 21 years - I became close to her beginning in 1920- has met with such a tragic end. 

Friday, 14 August 1942

The last night I will spend in my war-time flat at 2 Mylna Street. The sight of the streets: the pavements are fenced off, you walk in the middle of the road. Certain streets, such as Nowolipie (on both sides of Karmelicka), Mylna and others are completely closed off  with fences and gates and you can't get in there. The impression is of cages. The whole of Jewish Warsaw has been thrown out of the buildings. There is a full scale relocation of all Jews who have not yet been rounded up and are still in the town. Whole streets that have been given over to the German firms: Muller, Tobbens, Schultz, Zimmerman, Brauer and others. We have been sold as slaves to a load of German manufacturers. The living conditions of those in the workshops: hunger and hard labour. Their ration: a quarter kilo of bread a day and a bowl of soup.

The 'action' continues - today is the 24th day. Yesterday, they took away from Tobbens' workshops about 3,000 -4,000 men and women, mostly women and children. This morning the Jewish community council posted a new announcement: all Jews who live in Biala, Elektoralna, Zielna, Orla, Solna, Leszno, odd numbers in Ogrodowa , Choldna Streets have to leave their flats by tomorrow, 15 August.

Yesterday, and today, a huge number of people killed - victims of the blockades. I am moving my things over to Nacia's at 14 Pawia Street. Setting up blockades on Nowolipie and Karmelicka Streets. Further victims - there are more deaths today and very many driven out. There is talk of 15,000. I have heard that measures decreed in the expulsion orders are directed mainly against women and children. The police commandant of the second district is trying to save his wife and children.

A new raid on the Jewish Self-help Organisation at 25 Nowolipki Street. Dr Bornsztajn and his wife taken away. Elhonen Cajtlin with his son and others. This was carried out by Jewish policemen without the Germans, that is, on their own initiative. Renja Sztajnwajs. I have heard that Yitshak Katznelson's wife and one of his children have been seized.

The second day that i am without Luba. I am now also without a place to live. I have nowhere to lay my head. The number rounded up has reached 190,000, just counting those expelled, excluding those who have been killed and those who have been sent to the Dulag at 109 Leszno Street. Every crime in history, like the burning of Rome by Nero, pales into insignificance in comparison with this. Kirzhner has been taken away and deported. Together with him they took away a further 28 people. All were aged 35 and over. The same thing has happened, I have learnt, in another placowka, 29 people were taken away and deported.

Saturday, 15 August 1942

Today is the 25th day of the bloody 'action' carried out by the butchers. I spent the night at 17 Dzielna Street. The rain of shooting started at half past nine in the evening. Deaths in the street. The whole night incessant movement in and out of the Pawiak. Gutkowski sends his only son, three and a half years old, to the cemetery to have him taken to Czerniakow.

I have nowhere to rest my head at night, Gucia is being thrown out of her flat. Nacia and Frume are not allowed to enter. All the orphanages have been emptied. Korczak went at the head of his children. The pain because of the loss of Luba is becoming more intense. My soul can find no peace, for not having gone after her when she was in danger, even though I could also have disappeared and Ora would have been left an orphan. The most terrible thing is that Landau and Sonszajn misled me by saying that Luba wasn't in the queue. Be that as it may, the anguish is terrible and it will never be dimmed.

Rumours about reports arriving from women who were deported from Biala-Podlaska and Bialystok.

Today by eight o'clock there was a blockade on Mila, Gesia, Zamenhof and other streets. Our spirit is weary of the killing.' How much longer? Yesterday a huge number of bodies were brought to the cemetery, victims of the blockade of Tobbens' workshops. Today they were also taking people from the 'shops.' It will soon be seven o'clock and the blockade on Gesia is still continuing, around our factory. The Jewish police have been looting, breaking open flats, emptying cupboards, smashing crockery and destroying property, just for the fun of it.

More people were killed today in the course of blockades. People killed during the blockade, Mirka Priwes, her mother and brother have been deported. Yitzshak Katznelson's wife and two of his children have been seized and deported. The desolation and chaos is greatest on the streets from Chlodna to Leszno Streets, all the Jewish possessions have been abandoned  and Polish thugs with the Germans will loot everything. The whole of Jewish Warsaw has been laid waste. That which remains is a shadow  of what was, a shadow that tells of death and ruin.

Sunday, 16 August 1942

Today is the 26th day of the 'action' which is continuing with all its atrocities and animal savagery, a slaughter the like of which human history has not seen. Even in the legend of Pharaoh and his decree: every newborn boy will be thrown into the river.

People who have returned from the Umschlagplatz have told of women who were seized yesterday who were freed if they sacrificed their children. To our pain and sorrow many women saved themselves in this way - they were separated from their children, aged 3 to 12 to 14, and if they had identity papers, they were freed. Any woman carrying a child or with a child next to her was not freed. The Germans' lust for Jewish blood knows no bounds, it is a bottomless pit. Future generations will not believe it. But this is the unembellished  truth, plan and simple. A bitter, horrifying truth.

The Jewish police have received an order that each one of them must bring five people to be transported. Since there are 2,000 police, they will have to find 10,000 victims. If they do not fulfill their quotas they are liable to the death penalty. Some of them have already received confirmation that they have presented the required number. Since every Jew has some kind of documentation - in the main valid ones- they tear up every document they are shown and round-up the passers-by. It is now dangerous for every Jew to go out on to the street. No one goes out.

Rumours have reached me again that letters have allegedly arrived from the deportees saying they are working in the area of Siedlce and conditions are not bad. Lifschitz's son - my friend from elementary school told me that his daughter herself had read one of these letters from an elderly couple.

As things are developing, a handful of Jews will be left, those of a designated age. Apart from this there will be no way for a Jew to survive: there will be nowhere to live and no bread. The position of the old is especially tragic: they have no way out. They can either give themselves up into the hands of the butchers, or take their lives themselves, or hide out and live in dark corners and cellars, which is also very difficult because of the general expulsions from the buildings and the upheaval of the residents. In those buildings that have been taken over by new occupants, no strangers are let in. It is easier for an animal to find a hiding place and a refuge in the forest than for a Jew to hide in the ghetto.

Now - four in the afternoon - I have heard that there are no Germans at all in the Umschlagplatz. There are only Jews there and they are carrying out the bloody and terrible operation. Today rumours are going round that an order has been issued that all wives and children of officials have to report at the Umschlagplatz. Josef Erlich and his family have been killed, so I have heard. According to certain reports, Czerniakow's place here with us - a la Rumkowski - will be inherited by Gancwajch, the man they had been hunting and trying to kill. He is outside the ghetto at the moment.

Monday, 17 August 1942

The 27th day of the annihilation. Yesterday, I came to 14 Pawia Street  very late at night by a round-about route- via Zamenhof - and was anguished to hear the terrible news about Jakub, Frume and Uri. A very great blow. There is still a faint hope that they can be saved, since there were no train wagons yesterday and they weren't taken straight to the train. This morning I saw in the streets an announcement about a new reduction in size of the ghetto. Very many streets and sides of streets (the odd or the even numbers) must be vacated by the Jews by 20 August, at four in the afternoon. The ghetto will be a third or a quarter of its original size, if there are no further decrees of this kind. They are emptying those streets that had already been handed over to the German firms, and been fenced off, for example Mylna, Nowolipie, Dzielna Streets and many others. The enemy's claw is reaching out for us and it is still not stated.

Yesterday hundreds of officials of the community and of the Jewish Self-help Organisation were taken away. The Gestapo commandant Brandt stood there and struck the detainees with his own hands. Jakub, Uri and Frume were hit. The 'action' is continuing today. There was a blockade on the cemetery. Ora, who works with the group from Hashomer Hatsair, was in great danger. The group was saved today thanks to the intervention of Commissar Hensel.

Jewish policemen round up people all day. It is said that they have received an order that each policeman must find six Jews. They abuse those who are rounded up, and smash and loot the empty flats. I have heard that a thousand policemen have received an order to report at the Umschlagplatz. This report turns out to be false - for the time being.

Harsh conditions at the factory. Before 80 people were employed there and now almost a thousand are registered there. Hundreds of people wander around bored with nothing to do. They sit around in dread of German blockades and many hide themselves in all kinds of dark corners.

The pain over the loss of Luba is getting more and more intense. During the day I am often choked with tears. The fact there is no news about her suffering and torment, whether she is alive or dead, how she died - gives me no peace. If I knew that she was alive and that she was not suffering too much, I would be calm. And if I knew that she had died but did not suffer much at her death - then I would also be calm.

I have been told that Yitshak Katznelson shows great inner strength and endurance, keeping hold of himself after the terrible disaster that has befallen him. The Ejdus's have been seized. Every day there are killings When Jakub, Frume and Uri were taken away, someone tried to escape . He was killed on the spot. For a week now we have had no news of the progress of the war. The last report was a few days ago of the heavy bombardment of Mainz. The story about the Jew Chunkis (one of the directors of Adriatika).

Frume and Uri have returned. What they have told me about what is going on at the Umschlagplatz. Hell, pure hell. The rich save themselves, if they are not shut into the wagons straight away. The tragic fate of the Taubers. He was killed on the spot, his wife and beautiful and charming son -with statuesque features - Rapusz- were deported.

Tuesday, 18 August 1942

Today marks 4 weeks or 28 days of this bloody operation, which has no parallel in history. The Germans and the Jewish police have been carrying out further blockades. Disaster has struck our family once again. Gucia and Hela have been taken away by the Germans, who entered their building. This is a very heavy blow for me. She had been so concerned for us and helped us in the war years. I have heard talk again about the new rise of Gancwajch. He will take over Lichtenbaum's place and become commissar of the Jewish community.

Today I went with three friends to collect up the books that are in the flats that our firm has been allocated on Mila Street. We set eyes on an appalling vision, all the doors broken open, all the goods and property smashed and scattered through the courtyards . Russian pogromists would have been unable to make a more thorough and shattering pogrom than that carried out by the Jewish police. This sight, which is everywhere to be seen, stunned us. The destruction and the annihilation of the greatest Jewish community in Europe.

New proclamations from the Judenrat have been hung up which have caused panic among the Jews. Jews who are not employed are not permitted south of Leszno Street. Those who are caught there will be shot. The families of those working are no longer protected. In fact all those who are not working, even the families of those who are employed, have to report voluntarily at the Umschlagplatz. Otherwise their food-cards will be taken away and they will be driven out by force. We can see that the Germans are playing a game of cat and mouse with us. Those employed have protected their families, now the families are being deported (killed) and they want to leave behind the working slaves for the time being. What horror! They are preparing to destroy us utterly.

Wednesday, 19 August 1942

The 29th day of the bloody 'action.' Last evening ended in a massacre and with a large raid on the brush workshop on Franciszkanska and Swietojerska Streets. About 1,600 people were removed. Eight were killed. Among those taken away were large numbers of well-known and cherished individuals such as Mrs Mokarska, Rabbi Huberband and others. I have been informed that Nisenbaum's father and Szczeranski have been seized. Rokhl Sztajn poisoned herself at the Platz. Hillel Cajtlin's wife was taken. Last night the terrible news reached me that Mrs Schweiger has been taken away. Inka tried to poison herself but they saved her.

There is no 'action' in Warsaw itself today. The squad has left for Otwock. And there is an 'action' there, according to reports. The Jewish police is carrying out checks in the buildings in search of 'outsiders' who are certain to be hiding there hidden in dark corners and cellars. Large numbers of Jews commit suicide. The number of victims of the expulsion has reached approximately a quarter of a million. Today is the seventh since the great calamity that befell me. If only I could die and be free of the whole nightmare. But I am still tied to life and it is still difficult for me to take my own life.

The squad is running riot in Otwock. I have heard that they have emptied Brius and Sofjowka. Who knows how many cherished and beloved victims we have lost today. And to think that many had gone to Otwock to find an escape from death.

Thursday, 20 August 1942

There was no 'action' yesterday in Warsaw. However, it is reported that there was a hunt on the Aryan side for Jews who had fled there. The squad carried out the action in Otwock with the help of 500 Jewish police from Warsaw (so it is said). I have heard that those rounded up have been marched to Warsaw on foot.

My sister Gucia is lost and her daughter Hela killed. This new disaster adds still further to the weight of my gloom. She was the best of sisters and was very concerned for me during the war years. It is such anguish and only death will end my suffering.

An order for the caretakers in the buildings has been issued: to collect up and gather in one place all the goods and possessions of those who have been driven out and hand them over to the community representative who will call. A great looting is being prepared, Nazi style; the Germans are preparing to remove all the Jews' possessions.

Friday, 21 August 1942

Yesterday evening after six the Jewish police moved into the buildings which were supposed to have been evacuated by the occupants. They drove out the occupants by force, broke into locked flats, robbed and looted and smashed whatever they found and at the same time seized women, especially those who had no papers (Meldekarten - population registration coupons).  Where did the Jews get this brutality from? The Germans' spirit has passed into them. They also entered our workshop at eight and caused panic among the women. They were bribed and left. I was worried about Ora and walked with her late to Frume's.

At eleven in the evening the air-raid on Warsaw began. It was as bright as on a clear, moonlit night, because of the bombardment. Bombs were dropped. In spite of the danger we welcomed the raid with a feeling of great satisfaction. Perhaps our salvation will come, perhaps this evil power will be broken. There is talk of a second front in France and Holland. If these things had happened four or five weeks ago, perhaps we would have been saved from the catastrophe.

I have heard there was an assassination attempt on the chief of police Szerynski. He was wounded in the cheek. According to rumours he was wounded by a Pole from the Polish Socialist Party disguised as a Jewish policeman. Today leaflets were distributed against the Jewish police, who have helped to send 200,000 Jews to their deaths. The whole police force has been sentenced to death.

What should I do with my mother? Old people have nowhere to turn. They have nowhere to hide. They have been driven out of their former flats and are not let into the new blocks. The entrances are closed and the caretakers will not admit strangers. There are those who go to the Umschlagplatz and hand themselves over to the butchers to die a martyr's death.

Saturday, 22 August 1942

Yesterday there was no 'action,' but the squad is active in the Warsaw area. Yesterday, it is said, it was in Minsk Mazowiecki. The heavy and gloomy scene that I had at Nacia's because of mother. The Tombecks will not let her sleep there. She has nowhere to go, except to go and give herself up to the executioners. How horrifying. Ora is ill and she has nowhere to lie down and no medicine. We have no roof over our heads. I leave her at Nacia's. I am deeply worried and frightened.

Sunday, 23 August 1942

Yesterday was the 33rd day of the bloody 'action' in Warsaw, which has not been discontinued; on the contrary, it is still continuing. Yesterday the Germans rounded up mainly women and children with rampant viciousness and savagery. I was told that a prettily dressed 10-year old girl was seized. The girl screamed in anguish and cried out: 'Mr Policeman.' but her pleas were of no avail. He was deaf to her screams and put her in a rickshaw to the Umschlagplatz.

Yesterday the two Ostrowiec girls from Hashomer Hatsair who work at our office were seized. I have heard that the Jewish police have been ordered to round up 1,000 victims a day, and that the hunt will continue for another 14 days. In short, not one of us is sure to survive, especially women and children, who are left living with the threat of destruction, every day, every minute. The knowledge of this so preys on their nerves that many nearly go insane.

There is talk of an 'action' in Piotrkow. The group from Hashomer Hatsair that works at the Jewish cemetery, and the 'business' that is carried on with the Christians. The Germans are looting Jewish property. Yesterday they came to the Tepicyn factory and took away the best suitcases and everything of value. They even pillage from the wagons in the street. Life in the ghetto has become quiet. The few who have survived wander the streets like shadows, like corpses and their number diminishes from day to day.

R. told me something he had heard from some German woman that in the area around the station at Kosow you can hear the screams of them being tortured to death 3 km away. The savagery of the Jewish police against their unfortunate victims: they beat viciously, they steal, and they loot and pillage like bandits in the forest. What degeneracy! Who has raised these bitter fruits among us?

I have heard that in Falenica all the Jews left their homes, dispersed in the nearby small towns and the woods, and not a single one remained behind. The executioners were left without prey. Apparently they massacred everyone in Otwock and didn't deport people. In Falenica the Jews tried to resist the Germans and they were slaughtered. Anyone who was found was killed. The remainder ran off into the woods. Today the butchers are supposed to return to Warsaw and there are terrible rumours circulating because of this that they intend to liquidate the whole of Jewish Warsaw and empty it of Jews. Horrific.

Fela has returned from the Umschlagplatz and told me that Suchowolska has been seized. A few hours later I learned the end of the story. The neighbours collected a little money, clothing and food .... and sent the mother and her two children, boys aged 10 -12. Asch's brother-in-law has died- Alberg. Yesterday he was still walking around, and today he died because his strength gave out.

Today the Jewish police carried out the 'action' with savage brutality. They simply ran riot. There is a dread of tomorrow, of an 'action' with the participation of the Germans. The firm Ostdeutsche Bautischlerei Werkstatte has set up a confiscation team, which drives around carts with beds, couches and other valuable goods. The whole society has been pillaged from top to bottom. God, is there any help or salvation for us? Will the survivors stay alive, or will our end be the same as that of the hundreds and thousands who have already died?

Monday, 24 August 1942  

A meeting of Oneg Shabbes at the Hashomer Hatsair with the participation of Emanuel Ringelblum, Yitshak Guterman, David Daniel Guzik, Lippe-Leib Bloch, Abraham Lewin, Eliyahu Gutkowski, Hirsch Wasser, Szmul Breslaw, Josef Kaplan, Alexander Blau. Rabbi H. was missing, he was seized at the broom factory. The place, the time, and the appearence of the participants underline the special tragedy of the meeting.

The 'action,' as I have already mentioned, was carried out yesterday without the Germans, and is continuing today as well. The centre where bread and soup is distributed has been reopened and orders have been issued for 1,100 portions to be prepared. An indication that they are expecting to round up that number. Rumours are going around that the Germans have allowed 120,000 food-cards to be prepared and distributed for September. This would seem to indicate that they are going to leave behind that number of Jews. But this is only a rumour and nothing more. On the other hand, there are other rumours, much more pessimistic. There is talk again that the 'action' will be extended for another week.

Today is now the 34th day. Rumours have arrived that A.I. Einhorn, one of the editors of Haynt has been murdered or died on the way from Otwock to Warsaw. He didn't have the strength for such a long walk. He had gone there to improve his health and met with his death. The business that the Toporol-group are doing with the Christians in the cemetery. It is said that Szerynski, the head of police, a convert, who was wounded a few days ago, died from his wounds yesterday. This piece of news has still to be confirmed. (This was incorrect Szerynski in fact committed suicide in January 1943).

Ora is ill again. The fever reached 40 degrees yesterday. I had to leave her at Nacia's even though she is in great danger. For the first time in her life her mother is not at her side when she is sick. How can such a situation be described? Also the matter of my mother is causing me great anguish. What can be done with her? I have given my permission to put her to sleep, eternal rest, rather than give her over to the executioners. But Jakub Tombeck refuses to carry it out. Even the devil could not have conceived of such a situation.

Two in the afternoon. The day passes, unexpectedly quiet. Have events taken a new turn? I have heard that today they have taken out of the Pawiak the foreign citizens who were put in there six days before the events began and the members of the Judenrat who were imprisoned as hostages. If these stories are true, then they herald the cessation of the 'action.'

The young man Shmuel, passing by 101 Zelazna Street, saw with his own eyes how the squad was packing up its booty in separate boxes and loading it up into lorries. It is possible to conclude that they are preparing to take their leave. But even cessation of the 'action' can be of little comfort after the appalling slaughter of two-thirds of Warsaw Jewry. The mourning of our losses will continue to accompany us, especially those of us who mourn for their loved ones from the depths of their soul. In any case the survivors will be able to recover a little and continue their wretched existence until the end of the war. When will the end come? There is no sign of it.

A rumour is going around that Brazil had joined the war against the Axis powers. Does this not show the terrible duration of this war? Has Brazil come in at the end? There is also pressure on Chilie and Argentina for them to join the war. It is possible that the main thrust of these nations will be turned against Japan, and the war over here could be over this year.

Abroad, as it turns out, they are unaware of our great disaster. Roosevelt, who threatened Germany with revenge for murdering the hostages, is completely silent about the great tragedy, about the great slaughter that has been perpetrated against us. Apparently he has had no precise and authentic reports, since he passes over all this in silence.

Six in the evening, Jewish policemen have returned from the town and said that the 'action' is continuing. So, all our hopes that the bloody action had ceased now, that we would be allowed a little breathing-space, have been swept away. How will we survive? How will we be able to bear it? Of the rumours from this morning only one has been confirmed, namely that the members of the Judenrat, Ekerman, Zundelewicz and others, who were in prison as hostages, have been released. It might have been possible to conclude from this that the 'action' was over. But we are none the less not to be left in peace. People talk of the special danger that now threatens children. A terrible dread seizes me, when I think of the fate of Ora. She has no documents and is in danger.

Since Friday the loudspeakers have not been operating. No newspapers reach us. No newspapers are allowed into the ghetto. The guards at the gate confiscate them. Thus we find ourselves in a special prison where we live each minute with the threat of seizure and execution, and no news reaches us from the other side of the wall. And perhaps it will be granted to us one bright morning that our eyes will be opened to the light of the sun of freedom in all its strength and splendour.

How can we live like this? We never know from one day to the next if the day will pass safely. We have no roof over our head. We have no flat and our sleeping at Nacia's is already becoming burden-some to me. And Ora's illness?

Tuesday, 25 August 1942

Today it is five weeks since the begining of the slaughter that is being carried out without respite against the Jews of Warsaw and the surrounding area. The 'action' itself is continuing. Germans and Ukrainians carried out a round-up today in the block where the community offices are. This means Zamenhof, Pawia, Gesia and Lubiecka Streets. I am terrified for Ora, for mother, and for all the relations I left at 14 Pawia Street.

I have heard that they took community employees from the supply division, and others. All the workshops have received instructions as to the maximum number of workers that they have the right to employ. L's factory has been allocated 900. At our workplace the number is not so small, but other workshops feel themselves hard done by and are threatening to stop work and return the materials, as they cannot produce the goods with such a small number of workers. Yesterday there was a meeting at the office of employment with the manufacturers and the SS present.

This morning, I saw an announcement on Lubiecka Street written with a typewriter, in Polish, to the following effect: 'In the light of the accusations raised against the head of police, the officers and the ordinary policemen who have been found guilty of criminal acts - the assassination attempt was carried out against Szerynski, Jakub. Further acts of this nature will be carried out with the full severity of the judgement. (Should have read Szerynski, Josef).

Telephone calls from Radomsko yesterday and today with the news that everything is quiet there. Gancwajch is there. However, there are rumours that things are not quiet in Czestochowa.

Six in the evening. Once again a difficult and terrible day that freezes the blood in our veins. The whole day the Ukrainians and the Germans run riot in the blocks, because that is where the small crowd of survivors is concentrated. People are also being taken away from there. The impression is that they want to exterminate us entirely. My own position is even more difficult now. It is very dangerous to go from here, 30 Gesia Street , to 14 Pawia Street. And how can I not go and see Ora? Especially when I am tortured with worry over her fate and that of the remainder of my family. I will certainly go and take the risk.

Wednesday, 26 August 1942

Yesterday evening two announcements were posted in the streets. The first: after eight, rickshaws may not be in the streets, and after nine, Jews are not permitted in the streets, except for police. Signed the Jewish community- council (Judenrat). The second announcement is from the office of employment. It states that a Jew may not change place of work without the permission of the Arbeitsamt (Office of Employment). The penalty for disobeying the instruction is immediate removal from Warsaw. It is interesting that a few days before the onset of the events, the curfew was extended until ten o'clock in the evening and the decree was valid until the end of September.

Yesterday was one of the most difficult since the events began. The Germans and Ukrainians (a band of thugs) ran riot among the few remaining Jews in the blocks and factories. Yesterday there were renewed round-ups in the community buildings of the Jewish community. Especially -so I have been told -of young people - all the messenger boys and others. People were also taken from the blocks on Pawia and Zamenhof Streets, among them 15 doctors from 14 Pawia Street. Large numbers of those rounded up were shut into the wagons directly and it was impossible to save them. Workers were also taken from certain factories (Schmidt) Those remaining are in fear of their lives, the nightmare is worsening, turning our lives into a living hell.

A list of the number of workers permitted to be employed in the Jewish workshops has been published, in total 24,980 people, and together with officials, of the Jewish community, the police and the JHK (Jewish Self -help Organisation). This will mean that they intend to leave 25,000 Jews in Warsaw, or 6-7 per cent of the former number. History has not witnessed a greater destruction of an ethnic or national population.

Yesterday a large number of people were taken from Muller's workshop. Szymon Heller's parents, Zelmanowski and others. I have been told that Mrs Pulman has been seized. I feel very sorry for him. Szternberg and his family have been deported. Cytrinowski, and others, many others. The streets are terrible to behold today: they are deserted with not a living soul in sight. The butchers roam the streets looking for victims

Thursday, 27 August 1942

Today is the 37th day of the greatest slaughter in human history. Yesterday the 'action' was carried out in the workshops and the blocks. Men, women and children were taken away. The day before yesterday about 45,000 people were deported. I have learnt of the death of the person who had been my closest friend during the war, David Pulman and his daughter Henja. His wife and youngest daughter had been taken earlier. This news was a terrible blow. Ajnhorn's wife was also taken away the day before yesterday from Muller's workshop. I talked with her in the morning  on the way to work. The destruction of a whole family.

The appearence of the streets at five in the morning. At five o'clock a few isolated people begin to appear. The 'dealers' go about with their wares. They sell saccharin (fake), bread, potatoes and so on. Later the streets are deserted until 7 in the evening. The prices: bread - 28-30 zloty, potatoes -12-14 zloty, butter -300 zloty, meat -up to 100 zloty. Cigarettes (hard to get) - a packet of 20 - 20 zloty.

Today we are expecting a visit from the murderers to our workshop and everyone is waiting nervously and in a state of agitation. At two o'clock in the afternoon there was an inspection at our workshop and it passed off peacefully. Two men from the Sicherheitsdienst (the German Secret Service) sat in the director's office and drank and ate and looked over the list of employees, without checking documents or going to see the workers for themselves. At the same time there was a blockade on our block on Mila Street. About 40 (39) people were taken away, mainly women and children. The 'action' is directed against women and children. One sees weeping mothers whose children have been taken away (I saw this with my own eyes). There was also a blockade on other streets. We are drowning and the water is already up to our mouths.

The meeting of all the workers and the speech of commissar Hensel and the words of thanks to him from the Landau brothers. He spoke of the benefits for us and of his efforts on behalf of the workers during the terrible 'action' which was now coming to an end for us. His efforts had met with partial success and partial failure, perhaps because of a lack of understanding on our part. In return for these benefits he appealed for dedication to the work and loyalty to the firm. He would hunt down saboteurs. The workers applauded and thanked him, as did the Landau brothers. This was a performance, prepared in every detail. Unfortunate slaves - when they hear an encouraging word - it goes to their heads and they get excited and enthusiastic, Among the children who were rounded up today were ten-month -old babies and eight-year-olds.

Friday, 28 August 1942

The acts of terror are continuing. I have heard that yesterday evening a group of workers was returning from work at Oschman's factory, in procession. The SS divided the group in two. Half were allowed to keep walking, and the second group was led away straight to the Umschlagplatz.. The children who were seized yesterday were not rescued. They have perished, perished.

Today we had a long talk with Dawid Nowodworski, who returned from Treblinka. He gave us the complete story of the sufferings that he endured from the first moment that he was seized to the escape from the death-camp and up to his return to Warsaw. His words confirm once again and leave no room for doubt that all the deportees, both those who have been seized and those who reported voluntarily, are taken to be killed and that no one is saved. This is the naked truth, and how terrible, when we remember that in the last weeks at least 300,000 Jews have been exterminated, from Warsaw and other towns: Radom, Siedlce and many, many others. From his words we put together a testimony of such stark anguish, so shattering, that it cannot be grasped and put into words. This is without doubt the greatest crime ever committed in the whole of history.

Yesterday about 4,000 people were driven from Warsaw to their deaths, men, women and children. The 'action' is continuing today. Workshops are surrounded and besieged. But I have heard - there are no wagons. They will be held until evening, or until tomorrow and then another large group will be sent away. This is the 38th day of the great slaughter. From the poison cup have so far drunk- apart from Warsaw - Siedlce, Rembertow, Radom and many, many more.

Yesterday I heard that the large factory owners, Schultz, Tobbens, are negotiating with leaders of the murder squads. They are promising them millions in bribes if they leave the rest of the Jews in Warsaw, which they estimate at 100,000, and if they leave the city. In this connection there are rumours going around that the 'action' will continue until Saturday or Sunday, and after that they will leave Warsaw and the town will be quiet. We have so often had our hopes raised of an end to the bloody action, and they have turned out to be false and we have been disappointed. No doubt this time we will also let down, and blood will continue to be spilled.God! Are we really to be exterminated down to the very last of us? Now it is certain that all those deported from Warsaw have been killed.

Saturday, 29 August 1942

The 39th day of the bloody extermination that still continues in all its terror and fearfulness. Yesterday in the course of the evening, when the workers at various German workplaces, the so-called placowkarze were returning home they were attacked by SS men who shot or seized many of them and took them off to the Umsclagplatz. Who was seized? I have heard various accounts : some say that they took away the very young and the old, those over 50; others say that they took people away at random. There was turmoil and screaming at the Umschlagplatz. Many were shot . Two doctors from 14 Pawia Street, who worked at a location outside the ghetto, did not return home to sleep. We must assume they have been seized.

With regard to the numbers killed during the 'action' so far, there are different opinions. Some say, Dr R. for example, that 15,000 have been killed. Others believe - the head of police, Brzezinski - that the number is only 6,000. As far as the number of those deported (read, mudered) is concerned, there are also different estimates: some say that the number is over 230,000, others believe that it is smaller, about 190,000. This is according to the Germans' figures. The number of Jews remaining in Warsaw is estimated at about 100,000.

The number of hostages who were held in prison until the 24th of this month was 53. They were treated very badly. Spme of them came back and could not find their families. Ekerman for example, found only a son left out of his numerous relations. One gendarme said that the 'action' will be extended until 1 September; after that, according to him, the execution squad will leave for France. To the question as to why it is going to France, there not being many Jews there, the gendarme replied that the unit's activities, the extermination squad , were not only directed against Jews. However, it seems that he doesn't know what he is talking about. For the moment all the bloodlust and the animal violence in the form of these human butchers is directed exclusively against us. It is possible that they will leave Warsaw, but they will turn their attention to those places that have not as yet tasted the poison chalice.

Among the prominent people and those near to me who have fallen victim : Rabbi Huberband, Mrs Slapak and her daughter, Celina Lewin and her son, the poetess Lazowert, Winnik. Mojsze Lewita or Levitas from 4 Twarda Street, went to look for his wife three weeks ago at the Umschlagplatz and was himself seized and sent away to Kosow. Two days ago he returned from there. The Germans freed him as he was a carpenter. He said that Kosow which was emptied of its Jews, is now full of deportees. The Jews who have money buy food from the peasants and distribute it among those who have none. The matter must in any case be investigated. It would mean that not all of those deported have been murdered.

Sunday, 30 August 1942

Yesterday, the 39th day of these bloody events, the 'action' was carried out in the workshops. Several hundred people were removed from Bauer's workshop on Nalewki Street. Czerski and Rakowski were taken away, but freed later. In the evening at about nine o'clock there were loud shots in the streets of the new ghetto. There were many deaths. Seven bodies were found at the corner of Smocza and Wolynska. They were Jews who were found on the streets at nightfall. It is dangerous for Jews to show themselves on the street in the day, when the streets are completely deserted, and it is dangerous to go out after dark. This means that a Jew can go out only from half past five to seven in the morning and from seven or half past seven to eight in the evening.

The large number of fictitous marriages, G.P. 's husband arrived from Paris and had told us that the same deceptions are being carried out there as here. He does not know where G is. There they are preparing another expulsion of 100,000 or more. Where will they be sent, and will they do to them what they are doing to us? God only knows.

I have heard that the squad have booked the orchestra of the Jewish police for today. It looks as though they are celebrating a holiday today, are making merry and want to relax to music. From this it might be deduced that they are preparing to take their leave.

Today terrible rumours were going around that from midday today until tomorrow evening the ghetto would be closed to Christians. In the end it turned out that the rumour was false and without foundation.

I have heard that Rabbi Kanal of Warsaw decided to die so as to be buried a Jew. When he was seized, he refused to enter the wagon. He was shot and killed by a gendarme. His wish was fulfilled, he was given a Jewish burial. I have heard that the day before yesterday a group of workers returning from their workplace outside the ghetto were murdered by Ukrainians. Hence the large number of bodies found at the corner of Wolynska and Smocza Streets.

Monday, 31 August 1942

The last day of the third year of war and the 41st day of the terrible slaughter that is being carried out against us. Today was once again a difficult day. Many workshops were blockaded. I have been told that 80 people were removed from Hallman's factory. The details are not yet known. I have been told of rewards of 5,000 zloty being offered for each Jew who is discovered on the Aryan side. I have heard of a large massacre that took place between 25 and 28 August in Miedzyrzec Podlaski. One of the days - the 25th - was horrendously bloody. All the Jews were driven onto the street and mown down with machine-guns. An 'action' was supposed to have begun in Czestochowa, but it has been delayed or postponed.

Yesterday 54 people were were taken away from Schilling's factory, and from Hallman's factory people with small defects such as the lame, the undersized, the weak were taken, even if they are specialists or excellent at their work.

Wednesday, 2 September 1942

Yesterday marked six weeks since the begining of the 'action' that still continues, as if it is only to be ended along with the last Jew. The tempo of the 'action' was yesterday a little less frenetic , but it was still continuing. The Jewish police have, as mentioned, received an order each to bring 'two heads.' At 6 Pawia Street women were queuing to buy green vegetables. The Jewish police swooped and took several of them away. The Germans have blockaded several factories. In the evening they led away groups of prisoners. I have heard that these are from the placowki. They had been going home from work and were seized. Yesterday there were 1,400 people held at the Umschlagplatz so Leon Ringelblum, who lives at 3 Dzika Street, told me.

Last night from quarter past ten to twelve o'clock there was a second air-raid after a break of 12 days. This time more bombs were dropped than the previous time and many buildings in the ghetto were hit. In the building on 7 Dzielna Street (the Moriah synagogue) - which had been occupied by the Jewish police - a fire broke out which lasted a whole night. The building at 35a Gesia Street was also damaged, the roof and the facade is in danger of collapse. Many windows were broken in the nearby streets, Lubiecka, Pawia. On Wolynska, Mila and Smoccza Street there were also fires and several wooden buildings were burned down. The air-raid also hit the Jews hard. But the Jews welcomed it with feelings of satisfaction. We are waiting for events that will change our fate. Today - on the first day of the seventh week of the bloody events - there are already reports that they are blockading Schultz's factories.

Kerber from the Werterfassung and a group of Jews headed for the Umschlagplatz (Ghetto Fighters House)

Thursday, 3 September 1942

Yesterday there were heavy blockades of Schulz's and Toebbens' workshops. From Schultz's alone they took out several thousand workers. Workers were also removed from other workshops. There is no end to the disaster that is devouring us relentlessly. Today was a day of calamity, and disaster. Josef Kaplan was arrested this morning. Later Shmuel Breslaw was shot.

In the afternoon there was a heavy blockade of our shop: 100 men and women were taken away. By a miracle Ora and myself were saved. God! What terror, what a feeling of imminent death! And the visages of the executioners - the Germans and the Ukrainians! Rumours about the transferring of the remainder of the ghetto that is outside Warsaw across to Wola. The supply -division has received permission to distribute 105, 000 food-cards.

Friday, 4 September 1942

The 45th day of the bloody operation against us, which is being carried out with great savagery. In addtition to the blockades on our factory, they also took 400 people away yesterday from HG Zimmerman  and the whole factory is being liquidated. The same fate awaits our workshop as well. Yesterday 100 people were taken from our factory itself and 70 from the buildings. Today the same thugs came back completely unexpectedly, set up another heavy blockade and took away 100 people from the factory. Among them people dear to me - Natan Asch, Eliyahu Gutowski, Zilberberg, Albert Mazur and others.

They were also at the broom-manufacturer's this morning and took away 250 people. Considering the large number in the workforce, that is not many. The role of the Jewish police today during the blockade they extorted money from those they set free. Sze-g was freed in the street for 800 zloty. Someone else was also freed for money.

Shmuel Breslaw's funeral attended by the members of Hashomer Hatsair who worked at the cemetery at Toporol (The Association for the Advancement of Agriculture). Our tragedy expressed in Ora's story. God!

Saturday, 5 September 1942

The enemy shows no mercy and continues to torture and murder us. I spent the day in the workshop in dread of a blockade and of death. In the morning blockades were set up at Tobbens, so I heard, and they took away about 2,000 people. Once again they took everyone  away from Frank- Schultz's and left behind only 50. There was also a blockade at Hallman's. Several hundred people were taken away from there. It seems that their plan is to destroy the Jewish community in Warsaw utterly.

Our factory is threatened with liquidation. Then we will be left hanging in limbo. The whole day passed with a heavy presentiment of imminent death. I would like to die peacefully and with the knowledge that it had to be and nothing could prevent it. I have not forgotten Stolypin's last words: he said on his death-bed: 'Something that is decreed in advance will happen. There is no escape.' This is our bitter fate- to fall into the hands of the butchers and to be the sacrificial blood of a new era. I believe that there is no way out of the clutches of the savage animal and that we are only drawing out our death agony.

Gutkowski and Zilberberg have managed to save themselves in a quite miraculous and heroic fashion. News from Asch has reached us from Wolomin.

Friday, 11 September 1942

Since last Saturday I have had neither the inclination, the time nor the opportunity to write anything. The human hand and pen are weary of desctbing all that has happened to the handful of Jews who are for the time being still alive, myself among them. The cup of our sorrows has no parallel in our history.

The horrific and brutal week began on the Saturday night, Sunday morning. A Jewish policeman knocked on the door at three in the morning and gave us the terrible news that all Jews were to be concentrated within the boundary formed by Gesia, Mila and Ostrowska Streets, for a new registration. Enough food for two days should be taken and something to hold water. The panic that gripped the Jews of Warsaw on Sunday morning. We all believed that our time had come to depart this life. With tears in my eyes I said goodbye to my whole family; to mother, Frume, Nacia, Jakub and the children.

The terrible and particular appearence of the streets: Mila, Wolynska, the rectangle that has been transformed into an Umschlagplatz. The crowds of Jews with packs on their backs, streaming from the streets of the ghetto. Everyone is camped out on the street. In this way we spend the whole of Sunday. In the evening the inspections begin by the workshops, and certain groups return back to their factories or to their blocks. On Monday the return to the blocks continues. The inspection brings new victims: children do not pass. The old, women, do not pass. However, everything depends on chance. With some groups the inspection is not so severe, other groups on the other hand have enormous losses.

Murders in the streets. I saw with my own eyes how a young, strong man and a young attractive woman were shot. A sight that I will never forget as long as I live: five tiny children, two - and three year olds, sit on a camp-bed in the open from Monday to Tuesday and cry and cry and scream without stopping- 'Mummy, Mummy, I want to eat.' The soldiers are shooting continually and the shots silence the children for a moment. The children lay there for 24 hours, sobbing and screaming.: 'Mummy, Mummy.' Tuesday afternoon a middle-aged man, aged about 50, went up to them, broke down into a continual, choking sobbing and gave the children a little something to eat. Earlier, women had come up and given them food. Our hearts have turned to stone and there was no way to save them. for if we are all sentenced to die?

We were waiting for the commissar of the firm, Hensel to come and take us to the factory. He doesn't come. Our mood becomes more and more despairing. The feeling that death, in the form of the Umschlagplatz, is getting slowly nearer and nearer, chokes us and is throttling us to death. A rumour went round that our firm had been closed by the Warsaw SS. The people's mood swings between hope and despair. Meanwhile there are blockades in the nearby streets and in Mila Street.

Several dozen of our people are removed from the building at number 61 Mila and from the Werkschutz (factory guard) . Rozenowicz and his father ,Ryba and his family. This happened on Monday. Our despair, and the suffering of the hundreds of people, shut in the alleyways, reaches the ultimate limit of endurance. The shooting that goes on all day and, especially all night shatters the nerves , bringing a deathly depression.

Midday Tuesday a glimmer of hope appears, but is immediately extinguished. Hensel arrives for a short visit at ten till eleven in the morning and promises he will soon come to take us away. He leaves, the hours go by and he doesn't return. Once again our resolve is weakened and we fall into deep despair that is many times worse. We wait for the end that is inevitable to be taken to the Umschlagplatz.

It is hard to keep going. I have no food, nothing to sleep on. i am sleeping (a) at 3a Dzielna Street, (b) at Rabinowicz's on the floor, (c) with Recymer. People are quarelling with each other. Anyone who has anything left, cooks and eats and watches over their property. People steal everything they can lay their hands on, especially food; there is no feeling of common fate, of mutual aid. People wander around aimlessly like shadows.

Ora with the members of Hashomer Hatsair. These young people are more mature, more united. Tuesday night was bitterly sad for me. I tried very hard to acknowledge the idea that death is inevitble and to prepare myself. I thought the whole thing will only last 10 -15 minutes, the execution, that is, and it will be over. The lack of news from my sisters and my mother weighs oppressively.

There is also an oppressive plague of fleas. Hunger forces us to beg, to ask for a little food. Even in such terrible hours as these a hungry person wants to still the hunger. Wednesday morning once again a rumour that brings hope. Hensel is coming to get us. He really has come. Joy grips all those who are shut in the street. Straight away most of those who work in the workshop come down, men and women. Left behind in their homes, that is, in their hiding places, old women and children.

We stand and sit in the street from ten in the morning until six in the evening. The mood is almost joyful. A crowd of women, like some unit, is standing in front of us. The hours pass. But still everyone waits patiently. They want to get to the factory. Suddenly four or five SS officers appear and .... a pogrom begins, the likes of which I have never seen. Even the marauding of the Cossacks in the first revolution of 1905- 6  bore no resemblance to what the Germans did. They beat men and women with whips, sticks and strips of wood. They took all the women away to the Umschlagplatz (except for a few with metal numbers)- that is those exempt from deportation and large numbers of the men, who had by chance not obtained a metal number, thinking them to be worthless.

The best looking and the most elegant women perished. Whole families were cut down. A young officer hit out with muderous blows and shouting wildly: 'Uber euch, veffluchte, verdammte, krazige Juden habe ich 3 Jahren Lebens verloren. Schon 3 Jahren plaget ihr uns , ihe Hunde' (Because of you, accursed, dammed , leprous Jews I have already lost three years of my life, for three years we have been plagued, you dogs') and so on. I have never before seen such bestial hatred. There was also killing.

We go towards 30 Gesia Street and there is a round-up going on there, that is still continuing today. Yesterday and today there were blockades on our blocks: people have been taken again. The Swieca family has persihed. He gave himself up after seeing how his wife and two children were taken. Initially he went with us to Gesia Street, later he went back, gave himself up and was sent away. I feel a great compassion and admiration for this straightforward person. Strong in mind as well as strong in body. I think that Luba would have done the same, but I didn't have enough strength to die together with her, with the one that I loved so much.

Apart from the hunt for people, the Germans are looting openly, as something quite legal. They take away everything from the buildings  that appeals to them. The Ukrainians are common bandits. They break into the buildings at night and steal everything they find, with revolvers and rifles in their hands. The Jews are also in the grip of a frenzied looting and thieving. They loot and steal everything that they can lay their hands on.

Since the day before yesterday we have been shut in the factory. We tremble at every noise and shot that comes from the street. Yesterday the SS visited us for the purpose of looting. Today is the eve of Rosh Hashanah. May the coming year bring salvation for those who have survived. Today is the 52nd day in the greatest and most terrible slaughter in history. We are the tiny remnants of the greatest Jewish community in the world.

Sources

Abraham Lewin, A Cup of Tears, Fontana / Collins , London 1990

Photographs: Chris Webb Private Archive, Ghetto Fighters House, Private Archive

Documents: Yad Vashem, Chris Webb Private Archive

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