Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-06-30
Warsaw. May IL. 1919.

NddSdWs MAI IL a@A@' =
For the first time in weeks 1 am able to
collect my thoughts to write a letter % any
length, and thus tighten the burden that is
on my heart, by narrating to others the tale
of suffering and sorrow on which my eyes
have feasted since my arrival in this God
accursed, war-stricken and Jew-hating coun-
try, Poland. 1 have seen SO much, and my
soul is filled with so many scenes of suff-
ing and death, that I shudder at the thought
that 1 myself am living, that there is red
blood flowing in my veins, that my eyes
can see and my ears can hear, that my
body can function as God intended 1T to. I
feel guilty at the thought that ] can eat,
drink. and sleep. AT times / seem to lose
all feelings, at other moments, / hate myself
for being SO heartless as to think of any
thing, except those living corpses that are
always before me, in city, town, and ham,
let, of whom the happiest are those whom a
merciful death has taken away and ended
their sufferings.
My hands tremble, my eyes are filled with
tears. my soul is filled with darkness and
anger at the thought that 1 must live
through again. the terrible scenes of hunger
of pain, of desolation. / shall try to tell
you the story of just one city, Pinsk. Some
cities have fered worse, some q little better;
but, Pinsk will serve as a good illustration
of the conditions our brothers and sisters
are living through not only in Poland, but
also in White Russia, Galicia, and Lithu-
ania; in fact all OF the country bordering
on the erstwhile front and the present
fields of operation as between Poland and
Russia, Poland and Ckrania, and Russia
and Ckrania- Throughout these fields lies
the spine of European Jewry, and so every
nerve in its body is affected by what zap
pens there.
Apportioning Food" at the Free Kitchen
And now. my reader. in the words of
Byalek:
o steel and iron. hard, silent and cold:
Smith thee a heart, and hear my tale
unfold"
For, without a heart of steel, you cannot
follow me through this city of death. DESC
1afion, and slaughter. Hear and I will tell.
There Is. or rather, there was, in Pinsk a
Jewish Free Kitchen. The magistrate OF
the city had apportioned for it a thousand
s.meafs" daily. The meal consisted of one
bowl of soup, made up of hot water, and a
mixture of -four and mud to thicken it. At
first there was also put in each bowl of soup
a quarter of a potato. At the time I was
there the supply of potatoes had been ex-
hausted and the meal was therefore flour
and mud only. I tasted this soup. But I
could not swallow it. For weeks the taste
of 1t remained in my mouth. SO that I
could not eat. There is also in Pinsk a
Polish Free Kitchen for which there are
also apportioned a thousand meals daily;
but there are less than five hundred in need
of its help and SO there are fewer portions.
but OF better quality to distribute. Con-
slider. now, that the portions of the Jewish
Kitchen must be trebled in order to feed
three thousand people, and consider that
there are another three thousand people
who are shut out from this kitchen daily
and you have a fair idea of the true con-
ditions in this, one time prosperous. city.
How do these people get their "meals?"
The kitchen is open form IL noon until
8 in the afternoon. When I got there one
morning at 6 a long line of people was al
ready waiting. People? No. just living
beings from whom all traces of human ap-
pearance had long vanished. Every minute
the line seemed to lengthen, and as it length
ened 1t got more and more disorderly.