48
PARTISAN REVIEW
artist, with dark semi-circles under her eyes, and lids that came half
way down . There were man y ti ght curl s in her ha ir. "The Judenra t
requests that the twenty kilo limit be doubl ed . Forty kil os is all tha t a
strong man can carry. Let a Jew take whatever he is able to lift !"
Wohltat pondered. "The limit is raised
to
thirty-five kil os," he
announced.
It
was an important concession . Some o f those assembl ed broke
into applause. Verble, of Housing, was especiall y excited. " Peop le say
the Judenrat is a worthless instituti on . That it should be abolished.
But look what we've done!"
Now Paradyz stepped from th e group. He was ho lding a number
of rings in his palm. " Noon tomorrow is too soon . People need time.
Twenty-four hours more! Just twenty- four! To wind up one's affairs.
To say farewell. "
"The time limit is extended from noon to 4 PM!"
The Council let out a collective sigh. The Mini ster of Wa ter and
Power slipped the gold bands into the Volksdeutscher's hand.
"This is rea l diplomacy!" excl aimed Gutfreind , like so many
cooks a baby-faced man .
Now the Ministers urged Urinstein forward, so tha t he faced the
head of the Civilian Authority alone. His red lips showed through hi s
di stinguished beard. "Let us speak frankl y," he sa id. " I have been
authorized by the Judenrat
to
o ffer you a certa in sum-not jewelry, not
watches, but so many thousands o f zlotys, in exchange for a reducti on
in the number of listed Jews. It has already been mentioned: what good
are old people and criminal s upon a fa rm? We shall ra ise a special tax,
and with the proceeds you can buy tractors and fertilizers, whi ch will
take the place of the J ews."
•
"One tractor," said Wohlta t, "costs forty thousand zlotys."
"Agreed !"
"The J ewish quota is reduced to eighty- five!"
Urinstein was fa r from fini shed . "Then we sha ll raise eighty
thousand zlotys. Am I correct when 1say tha t makes a total of no t mo re
than seventy J ews?"
The membership became agita ted. "Shhhh ! For God's sake!" some
of them said.
Nomberg whispered, "Urinstein, Urinstein. We've done enough .
We've saved fifteen lives!"
But to the amazement of everyone Wohltat crooked a fin ger in his
damp collar and said, "All ri ght. Very well. It 's a hard barga in . Seventy
Jews."
