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October
27 [1942]
This
evening at the Commander's the men were relating things that
had happened to them. The scroll of agony. How they handed
over 400 souls to the murderers. An order came together with a
threat. They went there and a thousand and more were demanded.
They demanded women and large families. Till they agreed on
600, and gave 400. Ring saved women who were already on the
carts. They were assembled in the square. The children were
left in the houses. It was not known in advance what their
task would be. They only guessed in their hearts. Slowly, it
became clear. The Jews themselves agreed when they realized
that it was possible to save the rest. The rabbi ruled that
the old ones should be handed over. Old ones who asked that
they should be taken. There was one woman who was a hundred.
They asked for police, sons of servants, soldiers of the
Mistress [Germany]. They paid no heed. They offered their
lives in ransom, it was not accepted. The possessions
remained. The food remained. If outsiders had done the job
there would have been more victims and all the property would
have been stolen. In the synagogue some read Psalms. The women
wept in front of the Holy Ark.
Sunday,
November [1942]
Hard
and bitter days once more. The [Jewish] Police has again been
called on to "fix" affairs in the city of Swieciany.
They were afraid that it would be done without them, and then
the number of victims would have been greater. But apparently
their fear was unnecessary. But it is here that the difficulty
starts. The Commander began to demand that he and his
assistants should not be the only ones employed on this
operation; he does not want others to say "our hands are
clean." At first sight he seemed to express the view that
all the responsibility was his and that he alone would have to
be judged by his Maker. But in fact he is not willing to be
satisfied with spiritual cooperation, and he demands practical
cooperation. The man who was his former assistant* was
arrested yesterday because he refused to obey the order to go
out to S[wieciany] with a group of policemen for this
operation. The Ghetto is boiling; gatherings, meetings,
consultations. Apparently he demands that others take part. In
truth we are in any case not innocent in [among the people of]
Israel; we have bought our lives and our future with the death
of tens of thousands. If we have decided that we must continue
with this life despite everything, then we must go on to the
end. May the merciful Lord forgive us. The old rabbi can show
us the way. One must have what one can. That is the situation
and it is not in our hands to change it. Of course delicate
souls cannot bear such acts, but the protest of the soul has
no more than psychological value, and there is no moral value
to it. Everybody is guilty or, more correctly, all are
innocent and holy, and most of all those who take real action,
who must overcome their spirit, who must overcome the torture
of the soul, who free the others of this task, and save their
souls from pain....
Z.
Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-Getto Vilna u-Ketavim me-ha-Izavon
she-Nimzeu ba-Harisot ("A Diary from the Ghetto in
Nazi Vilna"), Tel Aviv, 1977, pp. 85-87.
*
The reference is to Josef Glazman, Deputy Commander of the
Ghetto Police and member of the F.P.O. staff in Vilna. |
