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sign of it. It was a painful sight.

        During the battle, a few young men from Pinsk, who had joined the Bolsheviks, were captured by the Poles and shot after being forced to dig their own graves.

XVI.

The Poles take Drohitchin

        After the retreat of the Bolsheviks, the Polish army encountered no uprisings on the part of the Bolsheviks who fled without interruption.

        "Remember what Amalek did to you [Biblical verse]!" The Poles, who were overcome with hatred of Jews now had an opportunity to take revenge against the Jews. They cut and tore off beards together with flesh! Jews were scared to travel by train, because there were many cases of encounters with Polish soldiers, called Poznantschiks, who threw Jews out of windows of moving trains.

        We Drohitchin Jews suffered enough from Poles who would break into Jewish homes, cursing, "Dirty Jew, give us milk, eggs and butter!" They demanded more and more. If someone didn't give them what they demanded, he was struck by a rifle butt. The Poles behaved like coarse hooligans, and if all this wasn't enough, they called Jews "Jew-Bolshevik!" This meant that they could do anything they wanted with a Bolshevik without legal process.

        The Poles believed that if a Jew's oven was heated up and producing smoke, this indicated some kind of a signal to the Bolsheviks; many Jews went through these experiences. There was also the dreadful case of the rabbi of Plotsk, and in Pinsk dozens of Jews were brutally shot. We were afraid for our very lives!

[Photo:] From right: Yaakov Warshavsky,

XVII.

Material Aid from the United States

        After the Poles had established civil order in Drohitchin, the local Jews suffered very hard times. Many people were suffering from hunger, and were searching everywhere for a morsel of bread. As stated previously, under the German regime the Jews became involved in agricultural work. Each Jewish family worked on a small plot and barely had enough grain, potatoes and other vegetable for themselves. However, afterwards, when the peasants returned from Russia, the Jews no longer had any land to cultivate, and the Polish authorities settled Poles on the open land around Drohitchin. This created a very bitter situation for the town's Jews, who the Polish government cared little for.

[Photo:] From right: Yaakov Warshavsky, Yisrael Schmid, Moshe Altvarg, Leibe Oberman, Yeshayahu B., Fruma-Gittel Warshavsky, Yitzchak Kahn, Leizer Warshavsky, Baum and others. August, 1932.

        Those who hadn't prepared any provisions had nothing to use to buy anything with, because the money issued by the Germans was worthless. There were Russian snapping "hundreds" (known as Yekaterinkas), which were first made from linen. From what people were saying, this was the work of the Germans; this type of "currency" had to be handled very carefully so that they didn't get crumpled. The purchaser would have to hold the "hundred" up to the sun to see if there were any punctures or pins in it, because if there were, they wouldn't use the money. You couldn't buy anything with it, not even a bag of garlic. Therefore, when anyone would sell something, he would first announce that he was offering a "snap."

        If someone had something to sell, or if he did a job, he requested merchandise, such as grain or potatoes in exchange, since they had greater value than gold has for us today.

        People sold off anything they had, such as jewelry, household items and clothes in order to buy a pood [40 lbs.] of potatoes or grain to stave off hunger. Women whose husbands were in America, and who couldn't help them, suffered more than anyone.

        (I shouldn't forget to mention unforgettable people such as my sister Toiba Kahn and my sister-in-law Freidel Eisenstein. Both used the last bit of strength they had to provide for their children. But just before assistance

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became available, they passed away in their best years. They died from typhus. The first to die was my sister Toiba, just after Passover, 1919. Both my brother, David and I became very ill with the same illness at the same time as Toiba. When I recovered, I found out that my sister had succumbed. The disease didn't even spare my wife and children. Then my sister-in-law, Freidel, became very sick and died a few days before Shavuot. That summer my dear and unforgettable friend, Yaakov Sidorov, also died from typhus.)

        Finally, the long-awaited aid arrived from the United States, starting with aid through the Joint, which provided food and clothes, and also opened soup-kitchens for children. This was followed by visits from émigrés from Drohitchin in the United States, who brought money from relatives in the United States, and especially from men for their wives. Eliyahu Eisenstein from Chicago brought money twice from relatives in the United States. This saved many families from hunger who also had the opportunity
to emigrate to the United States.

XVIII.

The Poles run back in, and destroy the town

        In the summer of 1920 rumors circulated that the Bolsheviks were pushing the Poles back. This was noticeable in the attitude of the Poles, who had lost their arrogance and pride. It didn't take long for the retreating Polish forces to show up in Drohitchin as they fled to Warsaw. The civil administration had already lost Drohitchin, and the Polish military authorities then took over. The Poles were able to do whatever they wanted, including taking Jews into forced labor, robbing and expropriating horses, cattle, household items, and anything else they could get their hands on. People immediately started burying valuable possessions in the ground, and men fled to the forest. Only women and small children stayed at home.

        Each retreating group of military forces was followed by huge wagons with ammunition. They would stop over in Drohitchin, and like experienced thieves the Poles would go through gardens; using spears poked the earth in an attempt to find where the Jews had buried their possessions. Whenever they found things, they took them. I had buried all my worldly possessions in my brother David's garden. One early morning I found an empty hole. The Poles had taken everything – overnight we were as naked and penniless as on the day we were born.

        The situation worsened every day. Our house was safer than anywhere else, because there was a bakery where soldiers baked their bread, so there was some protection from the robbers. There were also officers stationed in the same alley, at the homes of Chaikel Milner and Yisrael Eliezer Kharsel, and people were hiding out on the Vion for days. However, from time to time they would sneak into a house to take a look what the family was up to, and then run away, since the Poles would take the men away.

        On the last night before the Poles left Drohitchin, the situation became very dangerous. None of the men stayed home overnight. People weren't as scared of the thieves because the Poles had already taken everything, but one's life was still in danger. Therefore, with a heavy heart I left my wife and children and went to hide out somewhere in another town. The whole town looked like cemetery – it was covered in darkness. Suddenly there was a light coming from a house; screams of "Help!" could be heard, but it was futile because no help was forthcoming. Every so often there were heart-rendering desperate cries breaking the silence of the night, but the Polish thieves kept up their violent actions undisturbed.

        At daybreak, I trekked home and found out that the thieves were also in the house I was living in; however, they were disappointed, since they didn't find anything to steal. They cursed and shouted. Finally, they threw cushions at the children, and fled. I then thanked G-d that we got off with only a fright, since later we found out about the destruction that the Polish thieves had perpetrated in town. They robbed and committed violence; they raped and abused many Jewish married women and girls.

IXX.

The Arrival of the Bolsheviks

        After everything we suffered from the Poles, it is understandable how pleased we were to get rid of them. On the same day

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