Steve Collins - May 10, 1982
Treatment by the Jewish Police
Mm-hm.
??? you talk, I mean, the, the Jewish cop, you know. Talk to him, I didn't grab over there, that's my nature, you know. When a German tell me to work I said no, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have it. He told me, "why did...you don't want to work?" I says it's not true, I'm glad to work. I said they don't pay me nothing, you know, nothing. He says "they don't pay," I says "no." I says you going to work, he says sure I'm going to work. The kommandant, question me. So the lady send over a German, it's all at night there's no lights. Send over from the ghetto the chief of the police, he's a German Jew. The chief of police was in ??? officer, you know, ???. ???, I remember that now.
He wasn't from Płońsk?
Huh?
He wasn't from Płońsk?
No, in the war time, yes, he was not German Jew. He lived there, you know.
Oh.
Yeah, some, yeah, German Jews. And they came, the Germans, found them and bring them in and told them so and so, why'd you bring them in? He says, German, you know, to him, and he says I don't know maybe a ???. That's mean the uh, organ, the president told him, you know, that the guy hit him uh, so talking, telling the police and that's what they did, arrest me and call the German police and they bring me here. You know, most ???, this mean they uh, taking orders.
Mm-hm.
Yeah, he told him, you know, so and so. And he sent, he start to take me back, back to the police station. Took me back, I didn't get to eat nothing. In the Jewish police, you know, ???. Says oh what's happened ??? get beaten, I didn't get even touched. Not even touched, not even yelled. I mean, and I came home and that's it, I didn't get beaten not one time from the police. Oh yeah, oh this is, I forgot, you do not recording this?
Yes I am.
Oh.
You can, if you want to tell another story you can tell another incident.
Yeah, there the same incident I just, I just forgot to, I mean...
You just remembered?
Yeah, yeah, I don't know if I want you to record this...days, doesn't go together. Before they took me, when the police, the Ger... German came. Over there all the Judenrat, the Jewish, was over there like me, like animal, you know, ??? see the gun, you know, so, so. And the guy was telling the German, jumped out and went to hit him...let him have it in the, in the backyard. You know, with the Judenrat, that's what they, all the guys and the German jumped up and let him have it. The German beat the, beat the ??? they hit me back. You know, I want to jump in and let him have it straight over there, you know. And, and the German hit me back. The German, yeah. I went to jump in and let him have it, oh that's enough. But I went to give him...let him have it, believe me wouldn't be, same guy ???.
Let me ask you something, when you came back to Płońsk you saw these people wearing the yellow star. Was your family already in the ghetto?
No, was no ghetto yet.
No ghetto yet.
No, there was no ghetto yet. Later on they formed the ghetto. All yellow stars were, yes, all like many got beards to cover themselves up with handkerchiefs. But the German grabbed them and shaved them up, you know...
Oh.
Because the German pulled them up, pull the, you know.
They tried to hide their beards with handkerchiefs?
Yeah, yeah, cover up, yes. Some religious Jews always beard, you know. And yes, was hiding. It was terrible with the religious Jews and...
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