Czestochowski Street

... After November 1942, when it became clear that all Jews in the Bialystok region were destined to be exterminated — the specter of gas chambers pressing on the minds of Jews in the Bialystok ghetto — some peo- ple made their decision: better to die by one’s own hand than in a Nazi death camp. On the eve of the February liquidation campaign in 1943, some poisoned them- selves, while others fashioned gallows. These included: Kagan, the fruiterer, whose store was on Lipowa Street; Chaim Grynsztejn, bricklayer, who lived on Supra- selske Street; Szloyjme Jankelew, barber; Dr. Franka Horowicz, instructor at the Hebrew Gynmasium; three orphans killed themselves in a suicide pact at the orphanage on Czestochowski Street. Most of the people I knew, however, albeit shattered and in deep mourn- ing, wanted to continue living.