Nancy Fordonski - July 29, 1982
Liquidation of Łódź Ghetto
When they started the liquidation of the Łódź ghetto, can you tell me how um, did they just come out--did they come to round you up at the buildings?
In the beginning, they had lists. The Jewish police was going around with lists, calling men for work to take them to different cities, to different concentration camps for work. That what they were told. 'Cause we knew already that there are camps around Posen, this Posnan. And we hear already that there is a place called Oswiecim--this is Auschwitz. And close by they had other, Birkenau--other places. There were people working. So a lot of men--and then they promised that if the men will go, the families will get more rations, they will get different things and they will be able to write home even to the families. We'll know what's going on with them. So they really didn't have any oppositions because the Łódź ghetto was a big struggle. I was just saying it this in a few minutes what was going on. But people were there already for four years. And I can remember now that when we first came to the ghetto, I had an aunt there. And from pictures at home she was the most beautiful lady, gorgeous. And when we came to the ghetto, my sister and myself, we remembered where she lived because she was already transferred from the city to the ghetto. And we went to see her. Staying in the door looking at her, I got so frightened. She was swoll. Her face was twice the size from, from a regular human face. He legs were so swollen that she could hardly make a step. So what I want to say is that people were already in the ghetto for four years struggling, hungry. They had already so many uh, times uh, uh, that they were uh, taking out in the night to work and taking the children in the nights and, and uh, there were times they weren't fed at all. So here, all of a sudden if somebody came and they said, "If your wife stays home, you go to work, and your wife and children they will be fed," so they went. But what [pause] we left the ghetto from the last people.
Do you remember any experiences in the Łódź ghetto that in particular stand out in your mind?
[pause] You see, there were so many incidents. If I should start one and another, it will lead to so much that I don't know or I be able to continue with it, to continue with my interview. So maybe we'll just skip that question if you don't mind.
Okay. Did you ever consider hiding?
[pause]
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