[Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland: Statement No 109]

Testimony of H. M., 33 year old trader from Hrubieszów. The city was taken over by the Germans, and then by the Russians, who arrested people as provocateurs. The Russians left the city after only a short time, returning it to German control. The Germans executed Jews in town and kidnapped Jews for conscript labor. After the German reentry, the Polish population attempted to dismiss the Jews from the civil guard and city authorities, until the guard had been dismantled by the Germans and replaced with a Ukrainian contingent. With which the Polish population cooperated against the Jews. The author describes confiscation of trade goods by the Germans, as well as demands for gold and money. The demands for contributions were recurring, with the Jews paying the much greater sum.The Jews of Hrubieszów planned to leave the city and cross to the Russian side together with the Jews of Chelm, when they arrived in Sokal, held by the Russians, they were made to wait in a field for 12 hours, and after 12 hours were all turned back. Protocol No. 109 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.