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332 LUBOML
control of the German commandant. For every
minor favor extended to the Jews, these people
demanded payment in gold. Knowing full well
what was awaiting the Jews of Luboml, they kept
quiet so they could squeeze from the Jews everything
they owned. And at a later date they
looked on with joy and actively participated in
the great Jewish Holocaust.
A Judenrat was formed and a force of 10 to
20 Jewish policemen was approved. They all
wore special armbands.
The first decree required all Jews to wear a
Star of David sewn on a white armband. The Jews
were ordered to report every day for forced labor
or face a death penalty. Utensils made of copper
and silver had to be turned in at a prearranged
location. Every day, a few hundred Jews
went to work in various places, including the train
station, a sawmill, etc. From the first day of forced
labor, the Jews were severely beaten by German
and Ukrainian overseers.
The marketplace for Jewish labor took place
every day, beginning at 6 a.m., near the Judenrat
office. All Jews called to work had to appear at
the marketplace. Later came the Ukrainian customers
with slips, and a Jewish policeman led
the Jews away to the assigned workplace. At the
end of the workday, he brought them back.
The Judenrat was assigned one bakery exclusively
for baking bread for the Jews. Every working
individual was apportioned 7 ounces of bread
and a child or a nonworking person 3.5 ounces
of bread per day. The bread was bad, but no one
dared decline it. Outside the stores where bread
was distributed, hundreds of inhabitants, men
and women, waited in long lines to receive their
allotted portion.
Together with all decrees came an order requiring
all peasants to sell their foodstuffs to the
cooperative and forbidding the sale of any merchandise
to Jews.
The decree brought about an instant, general
state of anxiety. Everybody began to worry
about ways of procuring food reserves. Peasants
brought products but bartered them for shoes,
clothing and other items. The prices of goods
were continuously climbing, and people who
had nothing to barter could not receive anything
from the peasants. They had to be satisfied with
the measly ration of bread.
Tuesday, July 1, the town commandant issued
a decree ordering all men to appear the following
morning in the town square with a pail
and broom and be ready to sweep the streets. A
considerable number of people came out.
Then the town commandant appeared, in the
company of gendarmes and police. Five young
men were selected from among those gathered.
They were: Meyer Tseylingold, Shmuel
Vayngarten, Moyshe Zilberman, Jacob Gelibter,
and Shmuel Shuster. The commandant stated
that the day before, on the road between Luboml
and Borki, the telephone lines had been cut. Furthermore,
he said, it is certain that Jews had carried
out this act of sabotage. The five Jews were
therefore sentenced to death.
The men were taken directly to the hill near
the area where the Jewish men were assembled.
A few minutes later, we heard gunfire. Jews were
sent to remove the remains and take them to the
Jewish cemetery.
The following morning, 50 young men, including
myself, were taken to work repairing the
road leading from town to Masheve. The road
near Marmorkow was very sandy and the German
trucks could not go through it. Twenty-five
Jews brought used bricks in carts from buildings,
and 25 other men laid the bricks into the sand.
At 11 a.m., we were given 15 minutes to eat and
they distributed black ersatz coffee.
We had not started to eat when an SS man
exclaimed: "Why are the filthy Jews stuffing
themselves?" Chayim-Wolf, Aliesker's son, went
over to the SS man and explained that we had
been working since 7 a.m. and a German supervisor
had given us a 15-minute break. The SS
man pulled out a rubber stick and began hitting
the Jew over the head until the poor man fell to
the ground in a pool of blood. The same German
beat up three other Jews.
One day, a rumor spread through town, in
the name of someone in the Judenrat. It was said
that anybody who worked at a steady job would
receive an identification card from the labor office
and would not be harmed. However, nonworking
individuals or those who could not find