RESCUING THE TOWN FROM FIRE
During the
first World War, in the summer of 1915, Zambrów, being far
removed from the fortifications and battles at the
Frontier, turned into an asylum for hundreds of refugees
from the whole environment. Scores of families and
refugees arrived there from Grayevo, Shtuchin, Yedvabne,
Novogrod, Ostrolenko and many other places where the
battles were raging. The Russians started to retreat. They
got instructions to leave for the German enemy a "parched
territory." They put to fire every village, and every
place abandoned by them was burned down and a scorched
territory was left.
A Cossack division occupied Zambrów. All the inhabitants
of the town lived in fear and terror because of the
Russian designs to burn the town. The Jews were
particularly afraid of the Cossacks. Most of them hid in
cellars and other shelters. Yankel Pravda, together with
the Polish Town Clerk Komorowski, collected a big amount
of money from the Zambrów inhabitants in order to bribe
the Cossack Commandant and to "persuade" him to give up
his nefarious intentions of burning the town. They
succeeded in this task and were congratulated by all the
citizens for saving the town from the Cossack clutches.
The Cossacks left the town without causing any damage.
WHEN THE POLISH STATE AROSE
At the end of the First World War when the Germans
occupied the town of Zambrów there suddenly entered a band
of wild Poles and disarmed the Germans, who [then]
capitulated and returned to Germany. These Polish knaves
and scamps headed by the son of the shoemaker Jashombeck
took the reins into their hands and became the lords of
the town. They started to make pogroms against the Jews,
accusing the latter of collaboration with the Russians.
Later when the Bolsheviks invaded, some young Jews
cooperated with them. The Bolsheviks, whilst at Zambrów,
appointed some Jews as officials, police officers, etc.
because the Russians put no trust in the Polish [people].
When the Bolsheviks retreated, the Poles started to wreak
their vengeance upon the Jews, visiting the "sins" of a
few Jewish youngsters upon the whole community. The
parents of these youngsters were awfully treated, beaten
and arrested. Yirmiahu Sayeta was tortured owing to the
fact that his son ran away with the Russians. Israel
Pravda's wife jumped from the balcony when the Poles came
to torment her on account of her husband's escape. Many
other Jews suffered from the Poles, many were robbed of
their property, maltreated and some even shot without any
trial.
THE APOTHECARY SHKLOVIN MURDERED BY THE POLES
The apothecary (or druggist) Shklovin was a leftist
although he participated in Jewish public life and even
used to come to the Hevra Shas House of prayer in
order to pray. During the Bolshevist invasion he got in
touch with several Russian commandants staying at Zambrów,
[and] cooperated with the Bolshevist army. This he had to
do in his capacity as apothecary. After the Bolshevist
retreat from Poland, Shklovin was looked for by the Polish
police. When they did not find him, they began to molest
and harass his wife and children. The wife applied to the
apothecary Skarzynski who was head of the civil
authorities. She implored him to save her husband.
Skarzynski advised her to bring her husband to him, to his
apothecary, where he [would] be safe.
Shklovin put
on his best clothes and went to Skarzynski. A multitude of
Polish scoundrels and scamps, knaves and rascals thronged
the apothecary's house and demanded that Shklovin be
handed over to them. The perfidious Skarzynski did not
even try to save Shklovin, but permitted the Polish mob to
drag Shklovin into the street, take off his clothes, and
to harness him to a cart filled with filth and dung.
Shklovin together with another young man from Warsaw were
forced to drag the cart along the Zambrów streets until
they breathed their last breath and dropped down dead....
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