Nazi authorities

... The Nazi authorities declared that the ghetto was a State within a state and that the Judenrat had unlimited powers if only it fulfilled the orders of the regime. Ostensibly this meant that the Germans had no interest whatsoever in interfering in ghetto affairs, leaving everything to the discretion of the Judenrat. This was, of course, untrue. ...

... synagogues, the news that a division of the Nazi Army was at the gates of the city spread like wildfire. Panic erupted as Jews fled in all directions to hide from the murderers’ onslaught. At midday, the first platoons of German soldiers appeared in Bialy- stok. Shortly thereafter, as the streets of the city were practically emptied of people, the Nazi soldiers scat- tered all over the town with their weapons. Not encoun- tering any passersby, the Germans began firing their guns into the windows of buildings. That was the bloody beginning, a weird introduction to the calami- ties that would come later. The shooting left many dead and wounded. Most of the victims were Jews. At the same time the new Nazi authorities declared a state of emergency in Bialystok, imposing a curfew from 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. The Germans participated in and inspired a wave of robberies of Jewish homes. A number of Jewish women were shot for refusing to part with their rings. The Nazi murderers routinely beat and shot anyone resisting the robberies. ...