N.Z.L. (NIZL)

“NIZL” is not a mystical or symbolic designation, although in Ashkenazic Hebrew it means 'rescue.' In our town, the letters were the initials of Nirler, Zimrner, and Lempert, who were the pillars of the Skalat Judenrat. They thought of themselves as the protectors or saviors of the Jews and, indeed, their intimates and friends considered them their 'guardian angels.' It was the general population who began calling the Judenrat “NIZL,” which, for some indicated wishful thinking, for a few hope, but for most irony, disappointment and distrust.

While the Jewish population of Skalat was still in shock from the “Wild Action,” the Kripo ^[50] wandered among the empty Jewish homes, collecting all the household items, such as furniture clothing and valuables, to be sorted in the huge warehouses that formerly belonged to Bishel & Co., the egg export firm. The Judenrat was required to provide dozens of workers daily to sort these belongings of the deported Jewish families. Furniture overflowed the warehouses and was piled up outdoors, where it was exposed to the elements for a long time.

A few days after the “Wild Action,” on 25 October 1942, the Tarnopol Gestapo ordered the Skalat town commissioner Ellenburg to reduce, immediately, the area of the ghetto and the Judenrat were required to participate in tightening the ring. More than three thousand Jews were compressed into a small area of the town. The Jewish Ordinungsdienst maintained regular patrols around the perimeter of the Jewish section, since crossing the line was punishable by death. Similarly, non-Jews were forbidden to enter the ghetto. Despite these restrictions, village peasants sneaked in to sell their wares at greatly inflated prices. The Judenrat and the Jewish police were exempt from these laws and were permitted to move freely. Some of them even lived outside of the ghetto. The NIZL's work fell into a routine. They were doing business and generally leading an easier life than their brothers in the ghetto. No one in their families had yet perished. During that difficult time, living was far easier for those who could lay claim to privilege and/or authority. Characteristic of this situation was the ditty that children would chant about a Judenrat member, Leibisz Degen, who lived a relatively normal existence with his family, was assured an income and, so far, suffered no hardships. A pious soul and not a mean person, and although a Judenrat member, no victims suffered at his hands. He kept repeating his simple, innocent refrain: “Dear God, as long as it doesn't get worse!” The children would chase after him through the street, chanting in a mixture of Polish and Yiddish: “Leibisz Degen cries loud and far Let things stay at least as they are!” How much tragedy and irony is reflected in that bit of doggerel!

The Skalat Jews were painfully aware of their danger. They felt themselves caught in a prison from which there was no escape. Day and night people were obsessed with one concern: where to find a secure bunker. And, indeed, they spent their nights building new hiding places, new mouse-holes. A few of the better off Jews paid fortunes for arrangements to hide with Christian families in town or in the villages.

Jews lived in constant terror. Fear of new slaughters denied them rest. Crowding, poor sanitation and sewage led to outbreaks of typhus, grippe, diphtheria and other previously rare diseases. The mortality rate kept rising. Rumors about forthcoming 'actions,' abounded. The German town commissioner was alleged to have declared that Skalat must be made as Judenrein as all the neighboring towns and villages and that Jews would not be allowed to live because they had been declared “war criminals”. It was said that only young, Jewish people, capable of work and confined to forced-labor camps, would be permitted to exist.

All of these second-hand reports produced confusion and increased panic. The Judenrat s demanded bigger and bigger payments from the Jewish population to cover the communal needs, and especially the bribes for the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Kripo. The NIZL traveled regularly to

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Tarnopol to see what they could learn from their contact man. Each time, though, they returned disappointed and still more confused - not knowing what to do. They had finally become convinced of the Germans' deceitful ways and also realized that there would soon be an end to keeping their own heads above water. At the same time, the Judenrat was required to provide contingents of laborers for the surrounding camps in: Borki- Wielkie, Romanovka, Stupka, Kamionka, etc., under the command of Obersturmbannfuhrer ^[51] Rebel. By then the camps were filled with thousands of Jews and Russian POWs, who were dying from exhaustion, hunger and thirst, as well as the blows and beatings of the Germans. While there were no crematoria in those camps, the living conditions were not different from those in the more infamous death camps. Here the SS-men brought on death by shooting, hanging and torture. The most one could hope to survive was around three months. The unremitting drain of people resulted in the constant demand for replacements, which the Judenrat s were required to supply on schedule.

Again the Jews had to hide to avoid capture for the camps. The NIZL demanded large sums to ransom people and often those ransomed were replaced by the poor. There even were cases when the NIZL captured elderly, well-to-do people as a way to extort money from them. This was how they captured my own sickly 62 year old father for the Kamionka Camp. My mother, who survived, reports:

“I went to Nirler and to Eliezer Schoenberg to get them to release my husband. There I was beaten mercilessly and left lying on the ground for over an hour, bloody and unconscious. Eight days later, through great effort, influence and the payment of 15,000 zlotys, I was able to ransom my husband – exhausted and broken - out of the Kamionka Camp.”

This was the situation in the shtetl before the “Little Action,” which took place twenty days after the “Wild Action.”

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