Sometime during that winter, there came an order of Zwangsarbeit.
This meant that every available young man was forced to do daily work. Most of them were stationed in the forests. They had to live in a tent, in the cold and damp atmosphere. Their work consisted of cutting down trees, which were shipped to Germany. These large forests had belonged to the royal Russian family, it was said. One of these forests was reputed to have the finest trees in the country from which the very choicest furniture was made.
The story was told about a German guard who said:
Diese verfluchte Juden, sie willen nicht arbeiten. Was noch können sie besser haben? Sie haben frische Luft, sie kriegen eine Cigarette jeden Tag, Brot mit 'mamelige' und doch wollen sie nicht arbeiten. Verfluchte Juden.
These cursed Jews, they don't want to work. What more do they want? They have fresh air, a cigarette every day, bread with cornmeal, and still they don't want to work. Cursed Jews!
Editor's Notes: Zwangsarbeit: forced labor. belong to the royal Russian Family: Polish szlachta (nobility) are comonly known to have owned large landholdings in the area, in some cases for centuries. The local szlachta in some cases became insolvent, and --conceivably-- their estates could have passed to Russian royal hands, but supporting evidence is unknown.
This material is from Original Page 53. |
