|
April
23, 1941
The
Community Council the Judenrat, in the language of the
Occupying Power is an abomination in the eyes of the Warsaw
Community. When the Council is so much as mentioned,
everyone's blood begins to boil. If it were not for fear of
the Authorities there would be bloodshed. I am certain that at
the first opportunity, if we are only freed a little from the
Nazi tutelage, we will fall upon Grzybowska 26,* and pour out
our fury upon it, and not leave one stone standing upon
another. It was not elected by the Community, but reached its
position of power through appointment and with the support of
the Nazi Authorities, and as a result of the general
situation. In accordance with its system, the Authorities gave
the Council autonomous rights, not only in cultural matters
but also in official affairs. Starzynski appointed Czerniakow,
whom nobody had known prior to this appointment. There were
thousands like him... Everything depended on his taste and on
his personal judgment concerning every individual, and he took
everything he could lay his hands on. According to rumor, the
President is a decent man. But the people around him are the
dregs of humanity. There are two or three exceptions, who have
no influence, like Prof. M. Balaban** and A. Wolfowicz; all
the rest are the scum of the [Jewish] public. I shall not list
their names because they are not worthy of having their names
recorded officially in the history of the Jewish Community of
Warsaw. They are known as scoundrels and corrupt persons, who
did not avoid ugly dealings even in the period before the war.
The Community has become for them a milch-cow and an unending
opportunity to take bribes, to rob the poor and crush the
oppressed. Everything is done in the name of the President.
But in truth, everything is done without his knowledge and
even without his consent, and perhaps also against his
decisions and wishes....
Moreshet
Archives, D.2.138.
*
This was the house where the Warsaw Jewish Community Council
had its offices before the war, and the Judenrat during the
war.
**
Meir Balaban, the historian of Polish Jewry. He was for a
short time a member of the first Judenrat in the Warsaw
ghetto. |
