man against man

"From all ends of the city, on this morning, people with heavy loads trudged slowly in one direction, like ants. These were Jews on their way to the ghetto. The ghetto was set up in the Peresip district, in that dull, depressed part of the city where scorched oil tanks stood at sea level, looking like traveling circus tents. The Fascists had surrounded a few dirty blocks with two rows of rusty barbed wire and left only one entrance, as in a mousetrap. The Jews made their way under the railroad bridges. They slipped on the icy sidewalks. There were old people among  them  who couldn´t walk and some people sick with typhus. They were carried on stretchers. Some would fall down and remain lying there, leaning back against a lamp post or hugging an iron hitching post. Nobody was escorting them to the ghetto. They were going there by themselves, without any convoy. They knew that whoever stayed at home would be shot. Therefore they were going by themselves. Anyone who gave shelter to a Jew would also be shot. For one hidden Jew everyone living in the apartment would be shot, without exception."

Our Father who art in Heaven - Valentin Katayev