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Jews in Krasnik during theYears of the Hitlerist Occupation
T. Brustin-Bernsztein, Warsaw
Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund
1. Statistics
Krasnik belonged to the county of Janow-Lubelski during the Hitlerist occupation. This county belonged to the Lublin district, one of the four districts of the General Government. Krasnik had a Jewish population of more than 5,000 (in 800 families) before the Second World War[1]* out of a general population of 15,000. The Jews were also a third of the entire population in the district.[2] In 1940, 16,000 Jews lived in the county of Janow-Lubelski[3], of them more than 5,000, that is a third, in Krasnik. Krasnik was the largest Jewish community in the entire county. Fewer than 2,000 lived in other localities, such as Zaklikow, Anapol, Modliborzyce; in Ulanow – more than 1,000, in Zakrzowek up to 800, in Radomysl, Chrzanow, Uszendow – from 400 to 500 Jews. The county city, Janow-Lubelski, where 900 Jews lived before the war, was almost completely burned during the events of the war in September 1939. Those affected by the fires left for nearby cities, a certain number moved to Krasnik. At the beginning of the occupation, only about 260 Jews were in Janow – of about 900 before the war.
Because of the flow of refugees and the displaced in the first months of the occupation, the Jewish population in Krasnik grew from 5,000 to about 6,300.[4] As a result of decrees from the government, a portion of the Krasnik Jewish population was deported to other cities in the same county during the first months of 1941. Less than 5,000 Jews remained in Krasnik; before the first deportation to the death camps, their number was estimated at about 4,700 people. In the period from April to December 1942, the Hitlerist genocide murdered over 4,000 Jewish residents of Krasnik. A small number of Jews – up to 350 men – were left in two locked labor camps in Krasnik. There were Jews there not only from Krasnik, but also from other cities in the county (for example, Janow-Lubelski) as well as from Lodz and Warsaw. Only 250 Jews remained in these camps, which existed until July 1944, until the evacuation to the west. Many of them perished during the evacuation of the camp. Barely a small percent of the 5,000 Jewish residents of Krasnik were successful in sustaining themselves and saving their lives.
After the liberation, in the summer of 1944, a committee of Polish Jews in Krasnik registered up to 300 Jews[5] – there were also survivors from various cities in Poland among them, in addition to Krasnik residents.
2. The Anti-Jewish Decrees of the Hitlerist Regime
In the course of six weeks, during the first period of occupation, the army had executive power in occupied Poland. The Hitlerist military forces entered Krasnik on the 15th of September 1939. This occurred on the second day of Rosh Hashanah [the Jewish new year], when the Jews were in the synagogues.[6] As usual, the march of the Hitlerist military into the city was accompanied by terrorist actions. The purpose was to suppress even the smallest expression of resistance to the military and the occupation regime. The police and administrative apparatus abandoned its management of the military,
* The explanation of the footnotes – at the end of the article, p. 314.
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immediately making possible the entire mechanism of violence and terror in regard to the Jewish population. In Krasnik, the Hitlerist regime first of all issued an order that the entire Jewish population had to leave their houses. Those driven out were held outside in tense expectation of their future fate for several hours. This was a tested method of the Hitlerists to paralyze and to make weak-willed the population, which became the object of constant provocations and persecutions.
Several hours later, the population was forced back into the houses. The Hitlerists simultaneously ordered the Jews to open their shops, although it was yom-tov [a religious holiday]. Chaotic looting began immediately in which uniformed Germans took part. They also showed an eagerness to rob the local common people.
On the first night, a series of prominent residents of Krasnik were arrested. Among them, in addition to the rabbi and priest, were a group of Jews: Josef Szapiro, the dentist, Dovid Zojonc, Shlomo Kohn, owner of the largest manufacturing business and also several Poles, such as the photographer Stanislav Laszkewicz, Stepan Ribko and so on. Those arrested were advised that they were hostages and were answerable for the calm in the city. They were threatened that if anything took place against the Germans at night, they would be shot. The night passed quietly and the hostages were released in the morning.[7]
The Hilterist military administration existed in Poland until 26 September 1939. During that period a series of decrees appeared, directed against the Jewish population. The Jewish shopkeepers were told to hang a special sign with a Mogen-Dovid [Star of David] in their stores. It is clear that this made it easier to recognize those shops for looting. The Jewish apartments were also an object of prey. Under the pretext of looking for weapons, searches were carried out and in this way the more valuable things were taken.
The Jewish population had to pay a large monetary contribution. The Jews were also told to present objects made of bronze, copper and brass.[8]
The Hitlerists inflicted special persecution on Jews with beards. Those victims caught had their beards cut, torn out or even burned.
The Jews endured unheard of humiliations and suffering at forced labor. They were often grabbed right from the street; other times they were dragged from their homes. These people were taken to carry out various work for the Hitlerist military, political and administrative regimes. The Jews were tortured in sophisticated ways, their human worth humiliated, beaten and treated with deadly coercion while working.[9] The work that the Jews had to do often consisted of the most elementary duties of a soldier, such as washing the military autos, cleaning the military railroad cars. They also helped with unpaid Jewish work at cleaning the ruins of the city, cleaning the streets, cleaning the premises into which the German offices were moved, or the military barracks, as well as various services in the private apartments of the Hitlerist dignitaries. The Jewish population was also harnessed in hard labor, in loading, in carrying heavy loads and in carrying out the dirty work, such as cleaning the toilets.
On the night of the 25th into the 26th of October, the military administration handed over the civilian administration to the regime headed by the Governor-General, Dr. Hans Frank. On the 26th of October, on the first day of his service as the Governor-General, Frank issued two anti-Jewish decrees. These were: a decree about forced labor for Jews and a decree forbidding ritual slaughter. Carrying out the law about forced labor for Jews belonged to the S.S. and the police until the second half of 1940. The highest leader of the S.S. and the police in the
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General Province, Obergruppenführer [highest rank in the S.S. – Senior Group Leader] Friedrich Krieger, then issued executive regulations to Frank's decrees in December 1939. The regulations laid upon the Jews the requirement of forced labor from age 14 to 60, outlined the manner in which people would be taken for forced labor and defined the punishments for not obeying the regulations. The executive regulations also forbid the Jewish population from changing their places of residence[10], beginning on 1.1.1940, they put in place police hours for Jews, that is, a ban against going out of the house between nine o'clock at night until five in the morning[11]. The S.S. and police leaders evaluated the uses that could be made of the Jewish artisans with a mastery of the trades and ordered the use of Jewish worker groups where there was a need of manpower[12].
During the beginning of the occupation, Jews carried out forced labor in their place of residence in various German locations. In Krasnik, for example, a group of Jews worked in the office of the commandant of the regime.[13] This work group was organized by the Judenrat.
In the spring and summer of 1940, the young Jews began to be sent out far from their residences to work on drainage, roads and fortifications. Enclosed forced labor camps were organized for the Jews. The living conditions in the camps were extremely difficult. The food supply was bad, the majority slept in open stables or in abandoned, half destroyed buildings. They just lay on the ground or on boards covered with a little straw. They couldn't get undressed; there was nothing with which to cover themselves. People lay crowded, crushed together, one next to the other. These beds quickly became clusters of parasites… The hygienic conditions were a mockery of the most elementary principles; there was no possibility for washing oneself or to wash one's clothes. The drainage work was often carried out in water coming over the knees, without any professional attire.[14]
In order to maximize the isolation of the Jewish population and to limit their freedom of movement, the Governor-General Frank issued another series of decrees. On the 23rd of November 1939, Jews had to put white bands with a Mogen-Dovid [Shield of David or Jewish Star] on their arms. This applied to all Jews from age 10 on. As indicated by this decree, there was the threat of jail according to the verdict of a special court for not wearing the band.[15]
A decree was issued by Governor-General Frank on the 26th of January 1940 that forbade Jews to travel by train.[16] Another decree from Frank of the 13 September 1940 restricting the areas of residence and ways of earning a living became the basis for the creation of ghettos and made it impossible to leave a designated neighborhood or town. On 15 February 1941, relying upon this decree, the governor of the Lublin district, Ernst Zörner, issued a decree[17]) that forbade the Jews in the Lublin district even provisionally to leave their place of residence. For disobeying, there was a threat of the penalty of arrest for up to three months and fines of up to 1,000 zlotys.[18] This penalty was increased at the end of 1941. Instead of arrest and fines, there was the death penalty for leaving a place of residence, according to the verdict of a “special court” (later, even without a verdict).[19]
The Hitlerist regime issued its decrees to be carried out by its Eltste Ratn [Jewish council] or Judenrat [Jewish council]. The military regime nominated the so-called Eltste Ratn that consisted of a majority of former councilmen from the Jewish religious kehile. For example, they had to collect the designated contributions, provide various items, equip the premises of the Hitlerist regime, and the like. The General Governor Frank issued a special decree on 28 November 1939 about the creation of the Jewish councils. The number of members was required to be from 12 to 24, according to the size of the Jewish communities. In the smaller communities, up to 10,000 Jews, the Judenrat needed to consist of 12 members, in
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the largest – of 24. According to Frank's decree, the structure of the Judenrat had to be presented to the Hitlerist regime for approval by the 13th of December 1939.[20]
The Judenrat in Krasnik consisted of 12 members. At the beginning of 1940, the chairman of the council was Dr. Josef Szapiro and members Finsze Ferleger, Avraham Dawidson, Shmuel Flug and Z. Beatus, among others.[21]
In order to facilitate the later looting of Jewish possessions, the General Governor Frank began to issue decrees that Jews were obliged to inform the regime about all of their possessions on special forms. The undeclared possessions would be confiscated.[22]
The draconian decrees of the Hitlerist regime made it impossible for the vast majority of the Jewish population to earn anything. The craftsmen lost many of their clients because lacking raw materials they often were unable to work. All trade with the villages in which many Jews were involved ceased and no food could be bought from the peasants. The number of Jewish shops, craftsmen's workshops and factories continuously grew smaller. Those that still existed found their turnover sluggish.
However, the number of Jewish shops was still too large for the district captain, [Hans] Lenk, who took office in the autumn of 1941 in Janow Lubelski. He sent out a special message on this matter on the 3rd of October 1941 to the Department of Internal Affairs in the governor's office of the Lublin District: “I have determined,” he wrote, “that the influence of the Jews in communal life in the Janow Lubelski district is still too significant. The number of Jewish shops is extraordinarily large. I consequently intend that all of the businesses of the kind cited be closed, the owners of those businesses should report to the labor office to be drawn into work.”[23] Lenk received an agreement from the higher regime to liquidate Jewish businesses and factories. The chief of the “economic” division in the Lublin governor's office, [Kurt] Becher, ordered that after closing the Jewish shops the goods must be given over to the Poles and the German shops that earned trust. He also advised using the business experience of the former Jewish owners and employing them for a certain time in those shops that had taken over their goods.[24] Here it was important to assure their success with the assistance of the Jewish tradesmen.
In December 1941 during the offensive by the Hitlerist army on the Eastern Front, the Reichsfuhrer [special SS rank] of the SS, Himmler, issued an order to confiscate all furs and pelts from the Jews. A number of these were to serve the Hitlerist army during the frosty winter on territory of the Soviet Union. The action of confiscating the pelts was carried out at an accelerated pace in order to end it by the first days of January 1942. The ordenung [order] police and the security police were involved with this. There was the threat of death for possessing a fur after the declared period. [25] The Jewish population had to give their furs, pelts, fur skins, fur trimmings and collars without payment during a difficult winter. One could be shot for keeping even the smallest fur collar.