And then their ceremony and our tragedy commenced. They arranged us and made us walk between two rows of Germans armed with sticks and truncheons, who beat us mercilessly, not sparing even the children.
After that honorary welcome we underwent a selection. All of the selected people were ordered to form a separate group, while the remainder were sent back home after beating. The group of those unfortunates, to which I belonged, was waiting in silence, wondering what those heartless people would do with us. We were ordered to approach the commune commissioner one by one. The man asked everybody the same questions: “What do you do? Where are you from?” The first Jews told the truth, that is, that they were from there and had been born there. But they were beaten up so severely that one of the Germans advised them to say that they were from Warsaw. Even though the remaining people stated that they were from Warsaw, they were brutally beaten up too.
... On the ground, where we were ordered to sit. We sat down ... a German approached ... and ordered somebody ... sit there.
We were sitting on the market square not knowing ... several times ... and the commissioner’s wife was learning how to fire a revolver aiming
above our heads.
After we had waited for half an hour a lorry pulled up. ... Arranged themselves in two parallel rows before the lorry and we were ordered ... passing between them. The Germans were armed with bats, clubs, and maces. As we were getting onto the lorry a few people collapsed dead after being clubbed, including two women and a child. On the way a few more ... people died: three men and two women, and two people went insane from the beating.
The Germans hit us only on the face and the head.
After several minutes the lorry pulled up in front of the fort near Pomiechówek. We were ordered to get off and they counted us before escorting us into the fort. There were 107 of us, not counting the dead. Guarded by an SA-man, the wide gate was opened. Inside were already many Jews from all the nearby villages and small towns. We were escorted into several cells. We ... took cell VI. The room we were escorted into used to be a gunpowder depot. Those were spacious cells with bare walls and asphalt floors. We were left alone for an hour. An hour later, they started a search of the men and women.
Everybody had to give something away and those who had nothing were beaten mercilessly until they lost their minds.
In the evening we began to grow thirsty, particularly after such a day. One German after another came in and took whatever they wanted. At 3 o'clock at night a few trucks transporting people arrived and then 3,000 Jews from Plonsk were brought in. The cells became crowded, 180-220 people were put into each cell. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the first barrel of water was brought, but how could one barrel serve such a large group of people? They started behaving like animals. They began pushing each other to get to the barrel. They were snatching the water obtained at such a great effort from one another, causing the precious liquid to spill.
Unable to maintain order, the Germans opened fire at the crowd. An 18-year-old boy was shot in the collar bone. The wound was not lethal but people were forbidden to help him and he was buried while still alive.
At night we had no place to sleep. We lay squeezed unable to move an arm or leg. There were more than 200 people in the cell good for no more than 60 people. On the third day carts arrived from Ptonsk and the distribution of bread in the amount of 100 grams per person began. To our misfortune, the Order Service was formed of the worst scum of people; apart from that, every cell elected a cell commandant of sort.
On the third night sheer hell broke loose. Drunk, the Germans walked from cell to cell and picked out the prettiest girls. They took them and raped them.
They made them sing during that act of defilement.
Shots sounded early in the morning — the girls who had tried to defend their dignity longer were executed. During the day the Germans said that they needed men for work and they selected the ... men. But we quickly learned what kind of ... that was ... they had to dig graves for their brothers. And then they were executed one by one. One was forbidden from going to relieve oneself from dusk to morning. Those who went out did not return. And during the day those who went did not know if they would return. ... the number of victims was increasing. The murderers were so brazen they would not waste more than one bullet on anybody. The unfortunate victim could be shot in the arm, ear, or just get a scratch, but was buried anyway. The people were dying of thirst and beatings. Food parcels began to be delivered, though irregularly. Parcels were brought from Zakroczym from families and so was soup, which was distributed to all prisoners. And bread was delivered from Ptorisk. The receipt of the parcels and soup was not conducted without ... either. Making matters worse, ... opposite hill and threw stones ... gave us a hard time, the commandant of the Order Service, ... Germans a “Jewish king”. He was a Jew from Nowy Dwór ... known by the first name of Majloch. He went down in the camp's history under that name. As soon as he sensed that somebody still had some money left he came to them to claim it and when somebody refused to give it to him ... put in the cell for convicts; and after their death he appropriated all their property. As that source quickly ran dry, he went down to take parcels away, and when a wagon arrived, it had to pay him a tribute. He walked from room to room with a club and hit people, who had to get out of his way, just like out of the Germans' way. ... enough was enough. Once he slapped a Judenrat member from Plonsk who delivered the food. And that man made sure that he would be removed from there. After interventions made by all the Judenrats the executions discontinued, but the Germans allocated a room for the sick or doomed, if someone prefers to call them that because those who entered that room never returned. The people died there in agony because we were not allowed to give them water nor bread. During the last period began ... guards ... told in advance that they would release us soon ... in a forest.
Various officers arrived ... when somebody complained to them ... bestial smile on their face: “We do not drink water either.”
Instances of rape ... increasingly often. Aside from that, Jewish boys were also forced to do that. They did such things that the people died from ... alone. They forced one man to eat the excrement of another or they ordered [people] to jump into the cesspit, which ... was deeper than the average man's height. They had people run a distance of half a kilometre 10 times back and forth in 3 minutes and some of those who did not manage were shot. Few people were lucky enough ... avoid death. After six weeks of this unbearable suffering, on 14 August at 7 o'clock in the evening carts arrived and, amidst beating, we began to be loaded onto them. About 2,800 of the 5,000 people were released, the rest had died, approximately 1,000 of them at Majloch's hand. The carts set out in the direction of the border between Nowy Dwór and Jabłonna. We were driven half a kilometre into the General Government and then they began to throw us off the carts. After we had got off, the SA-men threw the straw off and set it ablaze. The sick and weak passengers who had not managed to flee were burned alive. ... the way we [looked] when we finally dragged ourselves to ... in Jabłonna. We were all completely exhausted and most of us were sick. The Ludwisin commune gave us quite a good welcome. Everybody received a cup of coffee and a piece of bread. The next day they began to send us in groups to Warsaw.
Sick and poor, I arrived at the new concentration camp to again fight for my life. Only that time it was a camp on a bigger scale which was called Warsaw.
Text and document: Author, a refugee from Zakroczym, reflects on experience of resettlement and abuse suffered at the hands of the Nazis. They were uprooted to a transit camp in Pomiechówek, and after a month, were relocated to Warsaw. It was contained in the Oyneg Shabes Archive.
Video: Montage of clips from 1963 film “Requiem for 500,000.” Directed by Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak. Courtesy Internet Archive