Chapter 4

The slaughter continued. On July 21^st hostages were arrested in the ghetto and others were shot in their homes. The next day Germans marched into the streets once again but without any bloodshed. They stuck posters on the walls of many of the buildings announcing a resettlement program and the means by which it would be effected. It stated something about the evacuation of all Jews living in Warsaw irrespective of age or sex, excepting those who worked, their families and those who were capable of labor.

This sudden development caused great tension during the first days and throughout the seven weeks in which this resettlement was conducted. Everyone tried to find an admissible job to obtain papers that he was employed. Achieving this would mean that he could cover himself and his family from an uncertain future and be able to remain in Warsaw.

Because of this the shops were soon filled with many unskilled workers. The elderly and those in poor physical conditions, some of whom didn’t believe what most Jews did, that the displacement meant no more than moving onto a strange city. For many months we had seen packed trucks bringing in Jews who had been expelled from the surrounding towns. We had thought that the same fate awaited us.

As each day passed I would see on my way to and from work, hundreds of men, women and children led by the Jewish police carrying the fifteen kilograms of personal belongings that they were allowed to take with them to their new life. Some had smiles on their faces, others had not. Those who didn’t were those likely to resist and thus be shot by the SS men and Ukrainian guards, who in the second week had taken over from the Jewish police and assumed full responsibility for the methodical operation.

Many other changes were introduced in August as the SS heightened the effect of terror. Blocks of streets and buildings were searched and the shops were under siege. The documents, which had provided exemption for those who had sought refuge in the workshops, meant nothing to the Germans. Only the skilled workers remained and the others were herded off to the "Umschlagplatz", like all other non-workers.

Late in August, (I believe it was the 29^th) Reihne and I became home to an empty apartment. A pot of potatoes was still on the kitchen stove, half cooked and cold. The fire had been extinguished. Fearing the worst, I cried out, "Mother" in desperation. "Mother, mother!" No answer had come. And then, Anne entered the room, weeping. "They have…..taken….your..mother..and..Mi..Miep…away!

I stared at her incredulously. "No, ..you’re lying". I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe that my mother and brother, barely three years of age, were now in the hands of the malicious Germans.

Anne’s expression remained static and I knew she was not lying. I cried out in despair and fell to the floor with my tears, like a scared and lonely child who has just woken from a nightmare. In this state I continued for some time until there were no tears left. After that day, all passiveness left my heart. Hatred and the will to survive consumed it until the day of my liberation.