[Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

Testament of Herzke Freitag, a 23 year old textile worker from Belchatow. He describes the arrival of refugees on the first day of the war, and the panic they spread, and the air raid sirens. The author with a large number of townsmen, including local peasants, fled to Pabianice, which was burning. Together with the population of Pabianice the refugees continued to Lodz. He describes the entrance of the German military into Lodz on Saturday with a marching band and the rejoicing of the local German population. He describes his return to Belchatow and the repressions against the Jewish population; forced labor, confiscation of property and businesses, the burning of Jewish books and torah-scrolls and reprisals against Jews engaged in religious practice. Protocol No. 37 is an extract from a volume of protocols /statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists who fled to Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1939 they formed a committee to collect evidence on the condition of the Jews in Poland under Nazi occupation.