German police officer humiliating Jewish man in Zawiercie by cutting his beard off
Another German police officer shaving the beard of Jewish man in Zawiercie
EXCERPT FROM THE LONG NIGHT
After being abducted by the SS from his home in the middle of the night, Ernst is taken to a factory where a large group of other prisoners was waiting.
“The gendarmerie, police and Gestapo, equipped with rifles, truncheons and cudgels, formed a cordon, striking us right and left, and forced us through an opening. Bloodied and groaning, we reached the hall of the factory. The entrance to the hall was drenched in blood and wounded people lay everywhere. Old men had their beards ripped out and their bloody faces were stamped on with boots.
In all this misery I found my father again. Silently he laid his hand on my shoulder. Our shared grief stifled the words in our mouths. We both must have thought the same, about our families that were left behind without help or protection.
My father, with a few acquaintances, had hidden in a neighbouring house, but they were finally also discovered. The Gestapo and police had searched the attic and cellars with sniffer dogs and drove them out. There, a few of his friends who were wounded from beatings lay together and succumbed to their injuries; others were shot where they hid.”
