Remnants of Linas Hatzedek on Rozanski Street. them over their heads and forced them into the Great Synagogue. As this august house of worship filled with people, it was surrounded by Nazi vandals. Armed from head to toe, they hurled grenades into the syn- agogue, which immediately went up in flames. Crammed with more than 2,000 Jews, the synagogue burned for twenty-four hours until Saturday morning. Only then came the order to extinguish the fire. The victims included: Dr. Kracowski, Note Jakob- son (accountant), Kaplan (manufacturer-merchant on Kupiecka Street); the famous chess master Aron Zablu- dowski; Poliak (pharmacist); the comic Alter Sztajnberg (Chalele); Izchok Brener; Radzinower (restaurateur of the “Aquarium’’); the cork manufacturer Jamnik; res- taurateurs Michel Grodzenski, his son and son-in-law; the merchant Byspucki; Fuksman (son of the former furniture manufacturer); the football player Izchok Lach; Awram Spektor and his two sons; and Dowid Wisock1. Disregarding danger, Git] Chajkowski-Plac saved sixty Jewish orphans and became their substitute mother. She hid them in a cellar, where they remained throughout the early days of the Nazi invasion of Bialystok. The Nazis forced other Jews, beating and chasing them from their homes, to put out the flames. Many human tragedies took place in the synagogue inferno. No longer able to withstand the putrid smoke, a son, following the wishes of his father, hanged him with his belt on a menorah. In many instances, people slashed their friend’s and neighbor’s wrists in order to shorten their ordeal. A daring young man, not yet overcome by the gas, climbed up to a window inside the sanctuary, where he knocked out several panes and spoke harsh words against the Nazis. The brutes fired upon this young man, who immediately fell from the window but survived. Because of the fumes, the Nazi soldiers were forced to put some distance between themselves and the synagogue. At that moment, the Polish watchman, risk- ing his life, opened a side door, enabling several Jews to 60 escape, among them the young man who had dared insult the Nazis. While 2,000 Jews were perishing in the synagogue fire, Nazi soldiers moved through the Jewish sections of Bialystok, hauling men out of their homes and shooting them in front of their wives and children. The Tragic Results of the First Two Days of Nazi Rule : In addition to the 2,000 who died in the synagogue fire, more than thirty Jewish streets, which accounted for a third of all Jewish homes in Bialystok, were gutted. Despite the fact that the burning houses were sur- rounded by cordons of heavily armed Nazis, it was pos- sible for some Jews to escape. Because of the resistance of a few remaining Red Army soldiers, the Nazi mur- derers threw incendiary bombs on many homes. Entire streets and buildings disappeared, replaced by moun- tains of ash. The first two days of Nazi rule in Bialystok brought about tragic consequences. But this was to be only the beginning in a series of catastrophes that would befall the Jews of Bialystok throughout the years of Nazi occupation. The Judenrat and the Beginning of Oppression Sunday, June 29, 1941, two days after the Nazis entered Bialsytok, their commandant summoned Chief Rabbi Gedalja Rozenman and the former Director of the Kehilla, the engineer Efrajim Barasz. He ordered them to form a Judenrat (a Jewish council), through which the local Nazi authorities could issue all kinds of ordinances and regulations affecting the Jews. Rabbi Rosenman and Engineer Barasz conveyed the new edict to other leading Jewish figures. Soon afterward, a Judenrat was appointed containing twenty-four Jews, including two women. They included: Rabbi Rozen- man, Efrajim Barasz, Dowid Subotnik, Mr. Liman, Jakow Goldberg (these five constituted the executive committee); Mend! Kaplan, Dr. M. Kacenelson, H. Glikson, Pejsach Kaplan, Mordechaj Chmelnik, Szmuel Punianski, Rabbi Boruch Eli Halpern, Rabbi Pinje Ajzensztat, Jakow Lifszic, Aba Furman, Mojsze Szwif, Izak Markus; Awrom Tyktin, Cwi Wider, Pejsach Chmelnicki and Szmuel Polonski. Even before the Judenrat went into operation, the Nazis demanded thousands of Jewish men and women for forced labor. The Jews had to work under exceed- ingly difficult conditions, and they were often beaten and tortured. At the same time, they had to surrender their jewelry, fur coats, leather jackets, satin covers, down cushions and similar items. Every Nazi order had to be carried out exactly as issued, in forty-eight hours, under threat of severe sanc- tions. But in addition to these commands and forced contributions, Gestapo officers would frequently seize The Bialystoker Memorial Book