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e the heavy workload in the pharmacy (which for a period of almost two years consisted of constant day and night duty), time flew by in the company of my friends and acquaintances, many of whom were very dear to me. Together we shared the pains and worries of the ghetto residents, we took an active interest in each Nazi or local authority directive which affected the ghetto and its populace. After every important event, every deportation, the pharmacy was the first port of call for our friends. I was rarely alone there, particularly after the curfew. Out of fear of arrest, many people stayed the night there. They would leave the pharmacy in the morning through the door in the annexe. We were glad to see those who remained after every deportation. We would drink to good fortune, to drown sorrow and dull the pain of those touched directly by fate. And then we would find out who was gone, who was wounded, who had perished, who had lost their closest friends and family. Here we told each other about the acts of destiny, the miraculous coincidences and the luck or misfortune of various people. With great excitement each person described their mishaps and adventures, expressed their opinions on a great number of matters to do with the deportation, and criticised or praised individual OD men. Occasionally non-Jews would drop into the ghetto. I should mention one of them, Dr Ludwik Żurowski, a doctor who, as a so-called local physician, had permission to enter the ghetto. Taking advantage of this entitlement, he used to bring the ghetto residents foodstuffs, mainly fats, he also made them look younger. Thanks to an appropriate hair dye, grey-haired old people, who were considered as unfit for work (and therefore were at particular risk of extermination), suddenly became arbeitsfähig - capable of work. Hundreds of litres of liquid to restore natural hair colour and hide the grey was sold from our pharmacy laboratory. My school friend, a lawyer named Mieczysław Kossek, often visited the pharmacy. When I was gathering materials for my memoirs, he handed me his own account of the period, entitled "An Encounter at the Pharmacy". What follows is an extract from this account. "The first time I found myself in the ghetto area was in 1941, on my way to the court in Podgórze. I was gripped by a strangely unpleasant feeling, seized by anxiety, sadness and a deep sympathy for the people who had to suffer so terribly there. I saw a small group of pale, emaciated children playing a game of hopscotch; at the sight of me - a stranger, perhaps a German - they stopped playing and watched me anxiously, waiting to see how I would behave towards them. I gave them a few sweets, which I brought with me to give to the secretaries at the court. Then I left because the trial was about to begin. The courthouse was on Czarniecki Street in the ghetto area. I walked past the Pod Orłem pharmacy but as I was in a hurry I didnt go in. Only once the trial was over did I go inside; I couldnt believe my own eyes when I saw my friend, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, standing there in a white coat. We talked for a long time. 9. Tadeusz Pankiewiczs colleagues in front of the pharmacy entrance [->] 10. Tadeusz Pankiewicz in the back room of the pharmacy [->] "From that day on, I would drop by the pharmacy several times a week, whenever I had trials at the court. Other friends came there too, and we used to chat and share news from the BBC and the underground press. "That was when we agreed to find ways to help get our Jewish friends out of the ghetto. Now and then I provided Pankiewicz with two or three civil court summonses, which would be grounds for the German guards to allow Jews to leave the ghetto. "These summonses had authentic court record reference numbers written in by the court secretaries, Aleksandra Wysocka and Mieczysława Kobylarz. The space for the recipients name was left blank, to be filled in later by Pankiewicz as required. Many people came out of the ghetto this way." Antoni Wroński, a teacher in Podgórze, also used to come and see me on his way to or from the court. Before the war, he and Bolesław Taszycki - father of the famous linguist, Witold Taszycki - would come to the pharmacy almost every day to get herbal medicines from my father. A popular character in Podgórze, Professor Wroński was a good man. Nicknamed "Goatee Beard" by his students, he used to teach illiterate inmates at the court jail as a volunteer; he also brought cigarettes and distributed them to the prisoners there. One time he came to me and, handing me a piece of paper, said: "Tadeusz, what are those rascals playing at? Its not enough that theyve pilfered cigarettes from my pockets, cigarettes which Id intended to give them anyway, now theyre poking fun at me." I read the piece of paper: "Dear Professor, thanks for the smokes. Please bring vodka next time and well learn better." From time to time I would meet Professor Wrońskis son, Dr Józef Wroński,