Nancy Fordonski - July 29, 1982
German Occupation (Continued)
Was there an Ornunplotsei? Am I pronouncing that wrong?
Ordnungspolitzei. Yes, we had our own police. Jewish men that they uh, let's say uh, that they had uh, some, some time you know, they were called in from, from the, from the Germans from the city. They called in to the Arbeiter uh, like to the [pause] how you call it? Uh. Unemployment, yeah. They called in to the unemployment for different people, for people to do different things. So the po...the Jewish police--Polizei, they came to the house and--not to scare you--and they said you know, so and so many people are needed for that and that work. So they took them, they went with them to that special, special work, and then they brought them home. But besides this, see there was plenty, like, uh. We were rationed with food. And there were people, they were uh, dealing with different things. They were selling and buying. Like, let's say uh, somebody had this still, let's say a piece of foil or whatever, and if there was not enough food, there were other people what could afford it. Like, let's say like it was with us. We came from Złozew and we lost almost everything. Not almost, we lost everything. Even the little, the jewelry what my mother had still on her uh, was carrying in her, on her chest. And uh, we went--my sister Sasha, she went back with my mother to the city, a few days after the city was destroyed and my mother had the jewelry in a little bag. And when she uh, uh, got scared and she saw coming on uh, towards uh, them a, a few SS-men with uh, with their, with the soldier and that soldier I believe was a guy that he was from Złozew, but he must have been a uh, he was a policeman before the war, but he was German, because even his name was, was German. And when he saw my mother and my sister coming, walking, so he pointed out to them that this is still coming one of those rich Jews and just go to them see what you can get out of them. And he gave what he was holding his rifle and he came with the rifle my mother on her back and when she fell down [crying]. So accidentally he noticed that my mother had something on her, some string hanging down and uh, leading to the, to something, that she has something hanging on her chest. So he pulled it off and the jewelry, what we still kept 'til then, he pulled it off and took it away. So coming back to that question what you gave me is that some people could afford some more than other people, because like people what lived in Zdunska Wola before the war, they had their places, they had their homes. And even if they were pushed into the ghetto, they still had a chance to take something along and nobody, it wasn't uh, like jewelry or, or some you know, valuables. They could still keep with themself. But in our case, if our home, if everything was destroyed right away and if you just run out of the house…
Mm-hm.
you were just counting that all the children, the whole family should be together. So we hardly took anything. Just the jewelry, what my mother had around herself, what wasn't too, wasn't hidden outside of the house, she could, she just took this. But unfortunate, if this was taken away too, so there wasn't much left that uh, you know, that we could go on. But my father was a businessman before the war, and--what I can still be proud of, I had very wise parents, great parents and with a good reputation. So being in Zdunska Wola, my father got a hold of some people and they were helping us, or it was money or it was with leather goods, they, we could still start to sell you know, in between different people and people what we knew. And somehow we got a little bit back on our feet. That family could stay together, and uh, exchange one thing for another. That there was a little bit more food in the house. Then we were really, when the, the, that they you know, we got the rations because we could buy something you know, like this will say on the black market. It wasn't a crime, but it was just that you had to have the money for it.
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