Isaac Engel - June 16 & 25, 1992
Judenrat
Okay.
It's uh, so.
So you moved up to the front of the line.
Front of the line. And then the dust was so big. And then when we came by there was some bushes there. Right near the wall. Some bushes. So I just walked right in it and I laid down. And that's it. They didn't see me. Because if they would see me, I would have been shot. Because I wasn't going to go in a place where they see me. And then they went further up. The minute they went further up I went over--this was right near the fields--I went over on the field and there were still crops on the field there. ??? So I went in on a bundle of crops and I laid myself in there and I made myself a little opening so I can see what's going on and I lay there. Then I saw they bring another party and another party to five hundred people parties. And then I saw the Judenrat walking. Then I knew this is the last party. Because they were all in charge! You know before, they were all in charge. What they did, I found out later from these people, the ones that were working there--they left--were working there. That they took 'em in, in the Judenrat, in the building where the Judenrat was there, occupied. And they searched them because they knew they had money. Money, gold, whatever they had. Because they were taking money from there, from the poor people, from every--so they have ??? if somebody didn't want to go to work, so they gave them money. So he--they let 'em out. So--and then they sent them away. Because I knew 'em all, and I saw their faces.
Do you remember names?
One name was uh, ???. They took him to Treblinka. He's not alive. They took all these guys. One was ???. He was an ???.
Were these wealthy people?
No, no.
So how did they wind up on the Judenrat?
If they would be nice people, they wouldn't wind up in the Judenrat.
So they volunteered.
Huh?
They volunteered.
Oh sure!
The community didn't pick them.
They took--no! There was no pick. Before, yeah, they pick people. They were, have--they had a...
Before the war.
...election. Sure! Before they picked people. And as a matter of fact, that in the community council there were Jews from all kinda parties. There was even like from Shomer Ha-Tsa'ir, which they were lefties. Zionist organization which was a leftie. They were all participated in it. But most of it was controlled by the religious people because they were more powerful. They were more ???, plain. That's what happened. And when uh, when I saw 'em left, then I knew this was the end. So I went out from there and I shake myself up a little. And then I, I saw another boy was there, escaped also. So we were two. From this whole transport, six people escaped. And I only su...I'm the only survivor. None of 'em survived later.
From the nine.
From this transport from Zwoleń. There were some other people survived from Zwoleń. The ones they went before they took 'em to Skarzysko or they took 'em--as a matter of fact, those people, the ones that they left 'em for working in the city to clean up the city and uh, they, they sent them to Skarzysko, they took 'em. When they were finished cleaning up the city. Like in November or something like this. When they were finished cleaning up the city, they took 'em to Skarzysko Kamienna. They, they were making uh, bullets and grenades and all kinda ammunition they were making there.
So you were in the bushes.
Oh yeah.
You hid in the bushes and then you hid in the field.
Yes.
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