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When the Germans entered Warsaw in 1939, the writing era ended.
Murdering of Jews begun on the first day and Urke Nachalnik was not able to hold
a pen in his hand anymore. He saw how the German soldiers shot Jews in the
street, and only a few of them were quick enough to save themselves and
disappear at the right moment. He traveled to Warsaw several times to meet
friends from days gone by, but they moved like shadows in the Jewish quarter. The "bla'teh" (the Warsawians)
became helpless. Urke attempted to preach to them: "What ever happened to you?
Weren't the whole of Warsaw at one time afraid of you? Wouldn't we know how to
hold weapon in our hands?..."
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Icek Farberowicz,
aka Urke Nachalnik |
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Urke wanted to form a brigade from the underworld people, with
the goal of destroying Germans. But his friends from days passed lost their
self-belief. The German brutality shocked them. Following the disappointment
from his friends, Urke went the public activists of the Warsaw Jewish community.
He told them that it is possible to purchase weapons and ammunition from the
remaining officers and soldiers of the defeated Polish army, but the public
activists were deterred. The Jewish people will overcome the Germans, with God's
help - this was their position.
Urke Nachalnik returned bitter to Otwock. He decided to seek a
way to destroy, by himself, as many Germans as he could. He was away whole
nights from his home, even though there was curfew placed [by the Germans] and
it was forbidden to be out on the streets. Lack of food was felt at home,
especially for the boy. Did Urke go back to do his "good" deeds, as in the past?
"We shall sell some of our cloths," Liza tried to stop him [from going out],
"and you shall not have to go out at night and earn something."
Urke looked at her with his hawk eyes, and after a long time he
said, whispering:
"This is in connection with destroying the Germans..."
Liza held her head:
"Do you understand the meaning of this thing?"
Urke answered:
"I know... I know..."
"And should you be caught," she started to cry, "Who will you
leave us with?"
Urke did not have an answer. He sat petrified near his child's crib, and later that night he left the house again.
From all his pleadings with the thieves and public activists to
organize a fighting unit against the Germans, he was able to recruit only two
men from Otwock. These were two fast men, who also excelled in the use of
knives. They obtained a wrench for releasing the bolts that fasten the train
rails to the sleepers.
Urke released the bolts so as to cause the German trains to
derail. His two assistants stood guard, while he was skillfully doing his
thing. Later on they went to the closest forest, from where they could hear the
enormous noise of the overturning train cars and the screams of the injured
Germans.
One snowy night, when Urke sabotaged the train railways as he
used to, the two men did not see that a German patrol was approaching them. The
three were caught and led to the headquarters in Otwock.
Only a rough person such as Urke Nachalnik could stand the
pounding blows. The SS man Schlicht demanded to know to what underground
organization they belonged to, and who sent them to perform the sabotage. He did
not believe that one man alone dared stand against the German army.
Nothing could be taken out from the [other] two men, because they
lost their consciousness from the beatings and the abuse. Only Urke remained
still standing on his legs, in spite of the fact that his mouth and nose were
bleeding.
In the morning, when the three were led to their place of
execution, it was snowing heavily. Urke Nachalnik went first, his hands
chained. Behind him, his two friends could hardly walk. Three soldiers, headed
by the SS man Schlicht were leading them to their death. Would they have been
taken to the train station, it might have indicated that they were led to
investigation in Warsaw, but they were led to the field, so Urke understood that
this was their last walk.
Schlicht abused Urke and occasionally stuck his rifle end in his
body. Precisely, this helped Urke, at the last moment, to try to demonstrate
what he was capable of. At the very moment that Schlicht was about to stick him
again with his gun, Urke performed an acrobatic turn, in which he put all of his
underworld experience, and as befitting a man of this background, he struck the
SS man with his two tied fists straight in his face. Urke was still able to see
the broken tooth of the SS man, his crushed nose and one of his eyes hung on a
piece of skin.
They did not reach the field. The petrified soldiers shot the
three on the spot, near Kosciuszko
Avenue in Otwock.
Otwock people who survived, told after the war that they saw Liza
with her son in the Warsaw Ghetto. Nobody knows what befell them. |
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