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13
30thMarch 1942
At seventeen years of age, Jan had smuggled regular supplies into the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw for two long years.He’d learned every place to scale the wall or push his way through.Every weakness in the structures of the ghetto, every tunnel built by resistors and every member of the Jewish Police who could be trusted, bought, or was dangerous to his cause.
Nathan held the barbed wire apart for him and he stepped through, then paused to look at the camera.Edek held the Rolleiflex camera steady atop a tripod.He peered down through the second lens and held up his free hand.
When his hand dropped, Jan sighed with relief and finished climbing through the wire.“Have you got enough photographs?”
Edek packed the camera away into a satchel slung over his shoulder.“That’s enough for now.Thanks for posing.I’ll add these to my collection.”
“What will you do with all these photos?”asked Nathan.
Edek had followed Jan several times over the years, keen to document the smuggling operation that kept the Jews in the ghetto from starving to death on the meagre rations provided by the Germans.He’d photographed Jan riding in a rickshaw with Jakob, standing at the dividing wall with Antoni, one arm around Nacha in an awkward embrace that still made the heat rise to Jan’s cheeks when he recalled the moment, and a profile shot of him and Walter when they were considering the best way to get back to the Aryan side of the fence one day during a particularly nasty bout of raids.
In the end, they’d simply marched through the open gate with a work crew and ducked into a nearby alley before running home.Thankfully, the guard on duty at the gate knew them well, had a predilection for fine chocolate that Jan was able to satisfy on a regular basis, and looked away at just the right moment.
“I have them hidden beneath the floor of my apartment.I hope to smuggle them out to send to the Allies, or perhaps they will be revealed when the war is over and I am gone.”He offered them a wan smile.
Jan didn’t like it when his friends spoke that way.“Don’t say that—you’ll still be around then.The Gestapo likes you.They’ve given you a job, after all.”
Edek’s face clouded over.“It isn’t a kindness.You can trust me on that.”
“What is it you do?”asked Walter.
Edek studied his expression.“You wish to know?”
“I do too,” replied Jan.
Everyone in the ghetto knew of the favouritism Edek received.That he put his camera bag over his shoulder and set off in the gleaming black staff cars with various Gestapo officers.Once he even went on an outing with Meisinger.But he never told them what he did on those expeditions outside the ghetto walls, only that the Nazis paid him to take photographs for the sake of their records and for posterity.
“You may come with me now, then.I have a small job to do, and if you keep out of sight, I don’t see how it will hurt.You should know, I think.You should see for yourself what I see.Too many still believe they can survive this war if they keep their heads low.Never mind all that—we won’t speak of it now.You can witness for yourself and make up your own mind about the fate of my people.”
Edek’s black moustache twitched as he spoke, and there was a deep sadness behind his almost-black eyes.His fedora was pulled low and tipped to one side.Dark brown hair curled out from beneath it.
He adjusted the satchel on his shoulder and beckoned them to follow him.Jan and Walter exchanged a curious glance.With a shrug, Jan trotted after the photographer.Walter waited a moment, chewing his lower lip, then followed them.
“Wait for me,” Walter called.
Jan slowed his pace and the two of them walked together, side by side, several paces behind Edek.The photographer paid them no attention.He walked with slumped shoulders and a swinging gate.He hummed beneath his breath all the while, waving occasionally to people they passed in the street.
Everyone seemed to know Edek, although he was a quiet, studious type who generally kept to himself.He was well-liked in the community, as well as something of a curiosity.People weren’t sure whether or not to trust him, although in Jan’s experience, he was a man of deep integrity and compassion.Still, anyone favoured by the Gestapo was immediately under suspicion in the ghetto.
They walked a long time until they’d passed through the entire ghetto and out the other side.The boys caught up to Edek to make it through the ghetto gates, where he simply doffed his hat to the guards and they waved him through.
Jan shoved his hands deep into his pockets and chewed on the stem of a long piece of grass to pass the time.He was missing his front teeth, but had learned to manage with the rest of the teeth he’d retained after surviving the Gestapo’s beating the previous October.
“I have a favour to ask you,” Edek said.
“What is it?”Jan asked.
“The photographs in my collection—will you take them?Will you get them to the Allies?Will you get them into the hands of the right people so the world will see what is happening here in Warsaw to my people?”
“Of course I will.”
“Can I give them to you soon?I don’t know how much longer they will tolerate me.”
Jan nodded.“Tomorrow?I’ll return then, if you like.”
