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[photo:] German forced labor during World War I. Young children were forced to engage in heavy labor.

        We were told that they would take our grain and distribute it according to the German system that was used by other German commanders. Fortunately, we got away with just being scared about it, since the plan was never carried out, and we held onto our grain.

        As soon as spring arrived, we started working in the fields with zest, and we realized instinctively that only the soil could save us from hunger. The commander did everything possible to assist us with our work in the fields. We got some horses from the military hospital and sometimes [nasiniya] as well.

L.

German forced labor and slavery

        The first commander was gone and was replaced by a new one who was not at all a friendly person. He wanted to make sure that Jews were not idle. He would oversee the work himself and make sure no one cheated, for which he would make us pay a heavy price. I remember how once in the summer he stood by the worksite and watched us like a hawk, and wouldn't even let us take a break, calling us a lazy bunch, while he would hit people with his whip. If someone asked him if it would be all right to put on a coat because of the cold, he refused to permit it. It was under such conditions that we had to work until nightfall.

        The same commander made sure that the chickens were registered, and that no Jew would "cheat" him; he would go through the village and record the chickens. If a Jewish woman did try to trick him, saying she didn't have more than three chickens, and that the others he saw weren't hers, the cunning knew he had her in his hands, and responded, " Oh, the damn woman wanted to cheat me."

        On one Sabbath morning, we suddenly heard knocking on the door, and yelling at the windows: "Jews, get out of the house." We quickly got dressed and ran outside to see what had happened.

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The Germans had canes and were running from house to house, and were sadistically chasing Jews out of their homes onto the street. No one was spared. They even ordered the old rebbe out of his house. The Germans divided the men into groups and sent them off to work in the fields. I was in a group that had to shovel hay. When we arrived behind the village, the commander ordered us to start shoveling hay. We told him that until now we hadn't worked on the Sabbath, and we weren't going to do so from now on either. He started making faces and slapped me on the face with a wet rod. Suddenly, as if to spite him, rain started falling, and we went home. I was lucky not to have to violate the Sabbath.

[photo:] First row, from right: Aharon Lasovsky, Dr. Goldstein, Tevel and Freidel Zbar, Tanya Gratch, Yosef Berezovsky, Yirmiyahu Grossman. Second row: Chaika Lasovsky, Alter Saratchik, Mrs. Goldstein, Rachel and Shlomo Zelig Goldman, Dora Grossman. Bottom: Avraham Gratch and Chaim (Herman) Grossman, in 1927.

        We later found out that it was punishment because a Jew in the village of Vortzevich, where the commander lived, was discovered with a few pounds of grain he got from some stalks while he was working in the field with the Germans. Therefore, the Germans penalized all the Jews, forcing them to work on the Sabbath.

        In the autumn the Germans took small children, 8 to 10 years old, to plant potatoes and other vegetables - it was extremely hard work. If the soldier was a decent person, the work was bearable. However, if he was mean, he would persecute people and report to the commander that they didn't want to work.

        This type of situation occurred once on the day before Rosh Hashanah. I remember that day very well. Another fellow and I were forced to plant potatoes. Our work was overseen by a Polish-German soldier, a Jew-hater, who persecuted us while we worked, watching us like a hawk and not giving us a moment's rest. The other fellow, a frail person, was too slow and drew the attention of the soldier when he said that we were doing enough work for the money we were getting. A minute later, the commander showed up, riding his horse. As he approached us, he expressed his dissatisfaction with our work and insulted us by calling us a "damned lazy bunch," even though this time we were working quite well. The soldier told the commander what my friend told him. The guard became upset, turned swiftly and headed toward my friend. He rewarded my friend with a strike of his whip over his head, promising to punish him even further. We had to work until late that evening, and by the time we got home, people were already coming home from synagogue.

        I remember that we had very bad weather on the day before the festival of Sukkot. It was raining and a cold wind was blowing. There was no way we could work in the fields, but the commander would even release the children from work. The next day, when we went to synagogue, the children were taken to work. They weren't let go, not on Yomtof and not on the Sabbath, until they had finished digging up the potatoes.

        In the second winter, in 1917, the labor got even worse. The Germans were getting increasingly nervous, and persecuted us even more. Once they had us hunt hares. It was a cold frosty day, and the snow was very deep. The Germans and we lined up to go hunting for hares, but the hares went into hiding, and we wasted our time moving around the forest, sinking in the deep snow. That evening, when we went back to the wagons that were waiting for us, we heard the commander yell out, " That no good lazy bunch!

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Updated 10 Dec 2001 by LA