1.9 -- Shots in the Woods

German soldiers and Warsaw citizens

End of December, 1939 

Early this month, 53 tenants of the house at Nalewki St. No.9 - exclusively Jews - were arrested in reprisal for the shooting on the premises of a "bluey" policeman, killed by a Jew released from prison, Pinkus ZYLBERYNG.  (The nickname "bluey" was given by us to Polish police who were immediately placed under their orders by the Germans to work together with the German police, or the SS.)

All Warsaw schools (elementary, secondary State and State teachers' schools, also private secondary and trade schools) have been closed by order of the German authorities, ostensibly as a preventive measure against the spread of a typhoid epidemic - which is not true.   It is only a pretext to prevent these schools from functioning.  But there still remain our "komplety", the clandestine schools.   A lot of studying goes on, although it is a bit uncomfortable without a permanent location for study. Most often private homes serve as classrooms. What else can be done in such a situation? We must study because it is a pity to waste a year.  We young ones find it quite fascinating and exciting, for it is something quite different.