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ullet hadn 't even touched him.
Under Austrian Occupation
The Austrian army entered the town toward
evening. Our people received them with joy, and
as evening descended they stood in their doorways
holding lamps to light their way.
The front had moved further east and we all
felt greatly relieved. Danger seemed to have passed
us by. For the time being, there was enough food,
and we dared hope that the war, with all its
horrors, would soon be over and life would return
to normal.
Not much time had passed, however, when
our hopes and illusions were shattered. First, the
conquering Austrians confiscated all our wheat,
flour, produce, and other food products from the
stores and warehouses. Then they took our animalshorses
and cows. They even took away the
only cows from families with many children. I
shall never forget the night of terror when dozens
of gendarmes and soldiers suddenly surrounded
the streets, going from one courtyard to another
confiscating the cows. They beat our people with
gun-barrels, not even sparing women or children
...
THE EARLY DAYS 75
who tried to stop them from stealing their cows.
The conquerors became increasingly cruel.
They grabbed men in the street for all kinds of
forced labor. They caught women, too, forcing
them to pick nettle, apparently for use as cloth.
Women also had to wash the floors and clean the
living quarters of officers.
To travel by train or commute by wagon to
other towns was forbidden, unless one obtained
a special permit. Food became scarcer day by day.
Hunger was widespread. The food that some
were able to get from villages did not last long.
Even the villages suffered from hunger. By the
summer of 1916, the whole population suffered
from hunger.
The Typhoid Plague
The typhoid epidemic broke out that summer,
and with it also came cholera and dysentery,
playing havoc in our shtetl. There was hardly a
house without a death. The mortality rate was
very high, and the Chevra Kadisha (burial society)
worked day and night to lay the dead to rest.
Some of the bodies were brought to the cemetery
-
The house of Yakov Feller, at the southernmost corner of the marketplace. Next to it is the Hotel
Tseylingold.