Page 111 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. "Fragmenty pamięci".

Wielka Szpera 5-12 września 1942 The Great Szpera, 5-12 September 1942

Zofia Lubińska-Rosset
About Szpera in her Crumbs of Memory

At the end of the summer of 1942, the so-called Great Szpera was introduced. This was a total pro-
hibition on leaving houses, spanning over a period of approximately one week. During this time, the
Germans, with the participation of the Jewish police, drove all children under the age of ten, people
over the age of 65, and all the sick and the famished out of their homes. The panic in the ghetto was
extreme, as people were aware that all those caught were facing extermination.
I was barely nine years old at the time, but according to my previously altered birth certificate, I was
10. I suffered from measles with a very high fever, cough and photosensitivity. I was small, petite,
sick, and thus meant to be taken away. And the children, especially the younger ones, were taken
without exception, and no one bothered to ask for documents. When a Jewish policeman stood in the
doorway of our flat, my mum covered with herself the part of the bed in which I was lying that was
visible from behind the wardrobe and responded pointedly to the question about children: “No children
here!”. To this day, I do not know whether the police officer did not see me or did not want to see
me – suffice it to say that he did declare to the supervising German that he did not find any children
in that flat.

Fotokopia dokumentu podpisanego przez Hansa Biebowa chroniącego przed wywiezieniem w czasie szpery we wrześniu 1942 roku
Photocopy of a document signed by Hans Biebow protecting from deportation during the Szpera of September 1942

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