Small Riga Ghetto

103
XXII.
On 31 October 1942 the ghetto's peace was disturbed yet again; this happened
on a Saturday. That morning, as I was getting ready for work and was already
half-dressed, my neighbor knocked on the door, saying, "Everyone has to report
to Viļānu Street for roll call." My son and I tried to guess what this might
mean. I rushed at once to the attic to hide my little hoard of money and our
remaining valuables in the sand that was lying there for protection against air
attacks. I kept behind a few gold coins (which were sewn into our clothes) for
my son and me, in case we might need them. My boy, who was looking out of
an attic window, noticed a great commotion on Ludzas Street. He didn't want
to come down from the attic at all; instead he wanted to hide on the roof,
which was already covered with hoarfrost. With great effort I finally convinced
him to follow me to the columns that were forming in Viļānu Street.
On the way there we met many armed SD men wearing the skull insignia.
They were swarming through the entire ghetto, hunting people down, breaking
down locked doors and searching all the apartments.
They even stormed into the hospital on Mazā Kalna Street and dragged
Friedman the policeman, who was ill, out of it. All of Viļānu Street was full of
people. They had lined up as usual in their work crews. We were very frightened
and totally unable to determine what was going on. From afar we saw
that the police station was surrounded by a cordon of SD men.
Now it was announced that all the work crews should march to work. This
relieved the tension somewhat. Armed SD men were standing directly at the
ghetto exit at the corner of Viļānu and Ludzas Streets. They were led by the
SS man Gymnich. The SD men now pulled the older people out of the columns
that were marching by and made them move to the side.
That morning I had not had time to shave and thus looked older than I was.
In my fear, I made my way to the very middle of the work crew so as not to
be seen. My son, a tall boy with broad shoulders, tried to hide me by moving
in front of me. In this way we passed the first gate successfully. I will never be
able to forget how my friend Abrascha Slutzkin looked as I walked past him!
He stood at the side among those who had been selected out; he was wearing a
summer coat and looked very wretched after a long illness. He was pleading
with Gymnich and trying to explain to him that he was the column leader and
had to go to his work site. Gymnich simply pushed him back with a blow of
his fist. Some of the other people who had been forced to step to the side tried
to slip away unnoticed, but the SD men beat them with their guns.