Isaac Engel - June 16 & 25, 1992
Ghetto in Zwoleń
Now, the ghetto, when did they form the ghetto? 1941.
In 1941.
So was it barbed wire?
No, no, no. Not in our city. In Warsaw, in other city, in Radom. But by us, no. They didn't have--they just had a sign by the street there and it says on the sign, it said in German and in Polish that i...anybody walks by, out from here and there is with uh, is with the death penalty. And that's what it was. If they found any, a Jew outside the ghetto, he was shot immediately. Right on the spot.
How about Poles who helped Jews?
Very, very few.
Were they shot too?
Not that I know. Not--they, they were probably did--do--we heard that they were, that's what they threatened them. But in our city uh, I don't know if many family in the city they were hiding Jews. No, they weren't.
But what about the family that the man, the wealthy, the wealthy man who took you in when you were in the...
Oh, the guy--the farmer? You mean, the farmer.
Oh he was...
We were there for about a week or so.
And this was the wealthy landowner.
Yeah, he was a, a big farmer.
Right, mm-hm. What about him?
A large farm. But you see, that, that time you know, they sent us to that village. This was in the beginning. It was disorganized, it wasn't yet--later, he couldn't take you in. If he probably would find a Jew there, he would--they will kill him or burn down the house. And nobody would dare to do it. Nobody would risk his life to do it. In our city, I don't--I know one thing though...
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