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| The perfectly dressed and groomed Jewish doctor from Brest-Litovsk |
We saw a strange man as he crossed the bridge to enter our village dressed in clothes never seen before. When we arrived in shul, there was that same strange man, wearing a black chinchilla overcoat with a high Cossack-type hat to match, trousers pressed, and shoes that gleamed: Everything [was arranged] to perfection, including his neatly trimmed black beard that did justice to his clothes. At the shul he was a distinguished and honored guest [and] had many invitations to stay at various homes and to share the Friday evening Sabbath meal. He gracefully declined, saying that he was well taken care of at the estate. After the services, when he felt free to leave without hurting the feelings of the would-be hosts, the doctor walked back to the estate, leaving the villagers with stories to tell for a long time about the distinguished visitor.
It was no doubt the friendship of the nobility with the Jewish doctor that made it possible for the Jewish villagers to be permitted on Saturday afternoons to walk through the estate, undisturbed by gardeners and others, to admire the beauties of nature. Trees, shrubs, flowers, pools, swans, and the magnificent French architecture of the off-white palace buildings -- [all were] practically next door to our village.
A more important part of the friendship was that it saved our village from being turned into rubble and ashes... because of the [frightening near-pogrom that] occurred before our very eyes...
An Unwanted Policeman and Trouble Arrive
[It] started after the Russian authorities decided to send us a policeman, whom we did not need or want. His duties were not to protect the villagers but to spy on them and to locate revolutionary groups among the population. On a summer afternoon while a few of us were sitting outside on the long open porch of the duplex house in which we lived ... a warp-minded Jewish youth attempted to assassinate the recently appointed Russian policeman.
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