KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
and he always found one reason or another to kill a Jew.” 9 Keck was the first, but not the last, Jewish slave laborer to be buried under that road. Being unable to lift a heavy stone, stretch- ing for too long, or being too far from the road were reasons enough to be killed. Survivors’ testimony in Ludwigsburg and Yad Vashem refer to other atrocities perpetrated by Commissar Norgall and his under- lings Glanz and Spiegel. Norgall would barge into Jewish houses and order a thorough search for scraps of food; if even a crumb was discovered, a family member, perhaps a child, parent, or grandpar- ent, would be executed on the spot in front of the rest of the family. One time in June 1942, when those confined to the ghetto were dying from starvation, the Judenrat requested permission for a group to go into the woods and collect berries. Norgall permitted it, but when the Jews emerged from the woods with their pails, the precious berries were taken from them and they were beaten with iron bars. Those who cried out were struck fifty times, those who did not cry out were struck twenty-five times. 10 There were numerous citations of people who were murdered by Norgall for possessing bits of food. In the summer of 1942, Golda Goldin was inspected by the Ukrainian police on her way back to the ghetto after work and was found to be hiding food. Norgall and Glanz ordered her to be arrested and taken to the police station. The next day her body, beaten to death and perhaps drowned, was found on the fence outside the police station. 11 Berel Kogut, a laborer found by Norgall to be hiding five pota - toes in his pocket, was ordered to lie on the ground and then shot four times by Norgall. After the first two bullets, Kogut begged the commissar to spare his life. Jews nearby were ordered to bury the body and remove all traces of the murder. 12 Joseph Keck, arrested on Norgall’s orders for possession of food, was brought to the police station. The next day, the Judenrat was ordered to remove and bury his corpse. 13 A Jewish cobbler whose last name was Zimech, found to pos- sess a few potatoes, was shot and killed by Norgall. 14
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