When the FRACs had gained control over a large segment of the Warsaw trade unions, their terrorist acts escalated, especially in the Transport Workers Union where the former American gangster, Shetshke (Szeczka in Polish), became Secretary of the FRAC’s Transport Workers Union. Shetshke and his gang began to terrorize the workers, extorting money from them and driving away from their work those who wouldn’t let themselves get pushed around.
One time a group of transport workers from the Danzig train station (near Muranów) came to our union hall with the complaint that Shetshke had driven them from their workstations with the pretext that it was for the purpose of changing their workstations. The truth was that he had sold their workstations, because the workers of our union had refused to pay him extortion money. He made several hundred dollars from the sale of a workstation. This dirty dealing was probably accomplished with the knowledge of the aforementioned Dr. Loketek. These workers came asking us to take their part. We stood up for them, several times sending our people to defend them and preventing them from being driven from their workstations. But Sheshke didn’t give up easily. One time we were alerted that Shetshke had come again with his gang of toughs and was once again driving our people away from their workstations. We—Yoysef Lifszytz, “Bosak,” the Secretary of the union, several others, and I—went there. It came to blows and shooting. Luckily no one was hurt. But Shetshke never bothered that group of transport workers again.
Some time later a similar situation arose at the East (Dworzec Wschodni) Station in Praga. A group of workers from whom Shetshke was trying to extort money would not allow themselves to be terrorized by him. They came to our union office asking us to defend them. Again in this case it came to a fight. Seeing there seemed no end in sight for these acts of terror, we sought to get somewhere with them in a civilized way, by talking to them. We approached Loketek about talking things over, and we agreed on a conference in their offices in Praga. I went there with Yoysef Lifszytz. When we entered the offices, their Secretary, Kelbasa, was sitting there. He asked us to sit in the reception area and wait; they should be arriving soon, he said. In addition to Loketek, Matraszek, the Chairman of the union, as well as Shetshke himself, were supposed to come. We sat down to wait. Soon various people came in, took a look at us, and left. After that, some of them stayed near us. We waited a long time. I began to suspect something was wrong. I said to Yoysef, “I am afraid we are in a trap here. We are not going to get out of this in one piece.” He asked, “Maybe we should try to break out?” “We are surrounded,” I answered. He asked again, “Do you have anything with you (he meant a gun)?” “Yes,” I answered, “but we must wait a little. It is too risky now—they are watching us.” I became terribly nervous; a shudder went through my body. I saw that we had no way out. I was certain we were surrounded by an armed gang that was watching us and wouldn’t let us move from this spot.
Suddenly two tall young men entered the reception area. They approached us up close and looked into both our eyes. All at once one of them cried out joyfully, “Bernardzie (a Polish ending indicating endearment), to ty jesteś? (Bernard, is that you?)” I was totally relieved. I lifted my eyes up and saw the brothers Pawlowczyk, slaughterhouse workers who slaughtered pigs, whom I knew from the slaughterhouse for many years. “Come, Bernard,” they said. We went out onto the street with them. They asked Yoysef to leave, and the three of us went into a restaurant. Here they told me they were supposed to give us bates (in their lingo, “beat us up badly”), but they weren’t told who we were, just that two guys were sitting there that needed to be taught a “good lesson.” But when they saw it was me, they didn’t want to carry out this “assignment.”
We sat for a while in the restaurant. One of the Pawlowczyks was continually running to the telephone, trying to locate Loketek. Finally, around ten o’clock in the evening, Loketek together with Matraszek, came into the restaurant. We told them what happened and I told Loketek openly, to his face, that I was sure he knew about the trap that was set for me and that is why he was “late.” Loketek swore he knew nothing, and that he and Matraszek were very busy, and that that’s why they had come late. His explanation was that when Shetshke saw Loketek was not coming on time, and that I was waiting and was in his hands, so to speak, he exploited the situation, organizing an attack on me on the spur of the moment. Whether they were telling the truth or were partners to a prearranged attack on me—I will never know.