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Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

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THE BARBER OF GOERLITZ - A MEMOIR

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Chapter Two

             Slonim

"The Final Solution"

  called for active

  participation of

  civilian Nazi 

  sympathizers who

  rampaged through 

  Jewish houses.

Alfred Metzner was a simple German who was a former taxi driver and gardener. At this time, in Slonim, he was an active translator and also a supervisor of the Jewish workers at the headquarters of the military police. Metzner usually incorrectly translated the interrogations of Russian prisoners of war, as well as some of the statements made by civilians. He was, there-fore, responsible for many deaths.

The Final Solution, as conceived by the Nazis, called for the very active participation of civilian Nazi sympathizers in the occupied areas. These individuals were more than willing helpers in the eventual atrocities.

Some of them held grievances against their former Jewish employers and some had the feeling of power when they held a rifle or machinegun in their hands, and they murdered people with impunity. Many of them were made into auxiliary policemen who used to rampage through Jewish houses in the ghetto to rob, intimidate, beat, and occasionally shoot the inhabitants. The people of these victimized communities, including those of Slonim, had no illusions about their fate. They no longer trusted the authorities, the police or even their former neighbors.

As thousands of people tried to run away from the Nazis, my father decided to settle in Dereczyn, a small town northwest of Slonim, part of Soviet White Russia. In past centuries, this area was located between the borders of the Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. It was a flat land, full of lakes, rivers, forests, and half of it was wilderness. Little towns with scarce populations, and small old fortresses were scattered across this region. 

The borders of this White Russian territory had never been exactly defined. During the last 600 to 700 years, it was first a part of the Lithuanian Kingdom, and then it belonged to Poland. During the partitions of Poland, centuries ago, it was dismembered and incorporated into the Russian Empire. Some historians say that the beginning of the settlement of the people in this region was somewhere between the 14th and 15th centuries.

Dereczyn was built on the crossroads of commercial tracks leading to other settlements and larger cities. After changing hands so many times, the entire area then became the property of the Polish aristocratic family by the name of Sapieha. There are still remnants of their palace in Dereczyn. It was a time of relative prosperity in the region, because the rich landowners employed many people, among them some Jewish artisans. However, the Polish uprising against the Tzar’s regime caused the expulsion of the Polish nobility and the confiscation of their possessions, including the destruction of some of their dwellings and palaces. The final delineation of the borders with Poland took place after the Bolshevik Revolution, when White Russia became one of the 15 Soviet Republics. 

After the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution, the Western part of White Russia, where Slonim and Dereczyn are located, became a part of Poland again. This lasted until the beginning of the Second World War, at which time the Germans occupied it in June 1941.

On September 17, 1939, according to the agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany, Poland was divided between the two giant countries. As the Soviet Red Army came into Dereczyn, the majority of the population very enthusiastically greeted it. This euphoria didn’t last too long. The reality of the Soviet communist system came into focus, dampening the population’s enthusiasm and anticipation. Commercial free trade had been immediately abolished. Private stores were closed. There were huge shortages of many items, which caused long lines of people waiting to get any of life’s necessities. 

When we arrived at Dereczyn, the city had a mixed population of about 3,500 Jews, Poles and White Russians. Until this time, they lived to-gether in peace and harmony. The reception by the Jewish inhabitants was friendly and warm. My family and I stayed with a widow and her son, sharing one room and a kitchen.

This way of life was very hard for most of us, especially for my father who was a businessman with international connections. At this point, my father had no work, and he was afraid that he might be declared a traitor, since he was, according to the new regime, a capitalist. My brother went to junior high school, my sister attended an elementary public school and I went to a neighboring city, Baranowicz, where I attended a govern-ment high school and lived as a boarder in a Jewish home.

On June 10,1941 I graduated from high school. Since I was a good student, instead of getting a diploma written in White Russian, I had the privilege of having my diploma written in Russian which I thought was more prestigious. I came back home to my parents. In the meantime, my father had gotten a job in Slonim providing equipment to bakeries, and on June 20th, he had found an apartment there and finally we could all be together.

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