The ‘‘new 612 ' was ushered in by breadlines surround- ing stores. It marched in with the harsh cadence of the Red Army’s song, Loudly resounding in the streets: “Tomorrow let there be war” And lurked in the night amidst strange steps of fear.... Although you tried to go on according to the days of old, Pretending not to know, in spite of the change, CHAIM LEJB FUKS And yet the clock atop the tower advanced another hour Pointing with its hands: a new era has come! In those days, Bialystok, I came to you covered with dust, Along winding paths of restlessness, I fled from Hitler’s Germany. Then you, Bialystok, greeted me with kindness, Sharing everything you had in your hour of pain. THE JEWS WELCOME THE REFUGEES (Editor’s note: The author, originally from Lodz, was one of the Jewish refugees who fled to Bialystok at the beginning of World War 11. In the September 1955 issue of the Bialystoker Stimme, Fuks described how the Jews of Bialystok received and helped the refugees who arrived in the city.) Was it possible for Bialystok to accommodate a mas- sive entry of hundreds of thousands of Jews? We know that Bialystoker Jews did not have spacious homes or enough public places to admit the large numbers who with each passing day flooded their city. And yet, as we look back upon that tragic period, we must reverently remember all those who ignored the difficulties to alleviate the needs of the unfortunate. The Bialystoker Jewish Kehilla, in addition to opening scores of public kitchens that provided free lunches for all the refugees as well as special help for small children, made places available for hundreds of Jews to sleep at night. The synagogues and batei midra- shim temporarily suspended their religious functions in order to serve as lodgings for the homeless, whose lives were thus saved. Many factory owners and artisans, without permission from the Russian authorities, employed the new arrivals in their factories. Despite the abject poverty of many Jews in Bialystok, they literally sacrificed their last morsels and gave up their beds to help their hapless guests. The same spirit later inspired the Bialystoker Jews to launch an armed resistance against the Nazis in the ghetto of Bialystok. Many merchants were arrested and exiled to Siberia for disobeying the authorities, for allowing the displaced to work in their shops. These banishments were an excellent excuse for the Soviet secret police to take over the merchants’ homes. Credit must go to the Jewish intelligentsia of Bia- lystok, which, refusing to be intimidated by the Com- munist terror in the city, hid Zionist and Bundist transients who sought to go to Wilno. People helped The Bialystoker Memorial Book those in need despite reprisal, loss of freedom and of life itself. Writers sympathetic to the refugees were blacklisted from gainful employment. It is clear that without the help of Bialystoker Jews in the first few months of the war, many thousands who survived the Holocaust would have perished. That 8 the legacy the Jews of Bialystok left before it was their great misfortune to be exterminated by the Nazis and for their city to be wiped off the face of the earth. May their souls repose in Paradise. An aged woman praying 55