People

The final journey

When Białystok ghetto was liquidated, Czesław was around 20 years old. He lived on Wasilkowska Street, and his house was located right in front of Traugutta Street. In the second half of August '43, in the afternoon, he watched, standing by the gate, as Jewish families were being driven along the Sienkiewicza Street towards Traugutta Street, to the Poleski Station. There were probably about a thousand of them, escorted by Ukrainians and a few Germans. Among the crowd, he recognized many Jews who he had known before the war. At the beginning of this "procession", there was a director of a Jewish hospital, doctor Kapłan - he still had his white apron on. My interlocutor remembered him very well, because before the war, the doctor had been treating his mother. Next to him, there was a very well known pharmacist, Frauszter, whose pharmacy was located on Sienkiewicza Street. There was also a famous dentist, Szapirsztein, he had an office in the city centre. I also saw Tylman, an attorney. There were nurses in the crowd, in white aprons as well, carrying small children. My interlocutor witnessed an elderly woman fall, a Ukrainian approached her and shot her, and ordered the Jews to throw her body onto the platform, which was at the end of this "march". Everyone in Wygoda knew that woman very well, they called her "smarkatka". Her son ran a large store at Sienkiewicza Street, near the overpass. People used to say that they were going shopping at "smarkatka". 

Everyone was loaded into railcars, and they were transported to the camp in Treblinka. 

(tł: mj)