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All Jan could hear as the train pulled away from the station were the cries of the people and the firing of the guards’ shotguns as they felled escapees.He turned to one side and heaved his breakfast onto the ground beside the stinking pile of garbage.Then he wiped his mouth and ran in the direction of the Wierzbicka apartment.He could watch no more.
Jan did his best to stay out of sight, shrinking into the shadows and dashing between buildings.When he knocked on their door, it took a moment before it was answered.Nathan pulled him inside, his face pale.
“What are you doing?”asked Antoni as he hurried to greet Jan.“It’s too dangerous for you to be here.”He shook Jan’s hand and held it.
Jan offered a shaky smile.“I came to get you.”
“What do you mean?”asked Nacha, who stood in the kitchen holding a bowl, an apron around her waist.
“Mama says we should try to get you to safety outside the ghetto.It’s dangerous for you to remain here.They’ll put you on a transport, and that will be the end of you.”
Antoni pressed both hands to his head.“Is it even possible?The Gestapo is everywhere.”
“I can get you out, but we’ll have to move quickly.I went to theUmschlagplatz,where they were loading up Jews by the thousands, bound for Treblinka.Only I’m not sure I can manage the entire family at once.”
Antoni scanned the room, exchanging looks with each adult member of his extended family.His expression was pained.“We could be walking directly into a trap.”
“That’s true,” Jan said.“It isn’t safe, but neither is staying.”
Babcia and Papa smiled at one another.Papa’s gravelly voice broke through the strained silence.“We will stay.We are too old to run anyway.”
“You should go,” Berek said to Antoni.“If we go, we’ll only make things worse for you.And besides, we haven’t received our orders yet.Perhaps they will allow some of us to remain behind.Surely they can’t mean for everyone to leave.”
Antoni shoved his hands deep into his pockets.“I didn’t want to say anything.But you should all know—Adam Czerniaków took his own life last night.”
A collective gasp circulated around the room.
“No,” whispered Babcia, covering her mouth with one gnarled hand.
“He wrote a note to his wife that said, ‘They demand that I kill the children of my people with my own hands.There is nothing left for me to do but die.’”
The room fell silent.Jan’s stomach clenched and bile rose in his throat.Adam was a good man.He’d done his best to lead the ghetto community after their imprisonment.Jan couldn’t imagine the ghetto surviving without him.It was time he shared what he knew with the family.
“I’ve seen what the Gestapo and SS do to the Jews they take out of the ghetto,” Jan said.“Walter and I followed Edek one night.We saw a large group, families of all ages, shot in the back and dumped in a mass grave.”
“So the rumours are true, then,” Nathan said, his eyes wide.“It’s not just scaremongering.”
“They say there’s a secret camp beyond Treblinka.That’s where they’re sending the Jews.Even the guards have never seen it.”Jakob’s voice was low, his dark eyes focused on Jan’s face.
Jan nodded.“I have heard that too.I will smuggle out as many of you as I can.Walter has offered to help.He wishes to rescue his family as well.But on the other side of the wall, there are dangers too.Our neighbours could report you, and us along with you.The SS are waging a war on the entire city.Even Himmler has come to Warsaw.Perhaps I could take you in smaller groups.It would be less risky.”
Nacha’s eyes glistened in the dull light.She bit down on her lower lip.Jan wanted to tell her everything would be okay, but it would be a lie.He’d do his best, but he couldn’t guarantee her safety.He was just a boy, rebelling against an entire army on his own.
Fela stroked her pregnant belly thoughtfully, her brow furrowed.“You should take Antoni, Nacha and Nathan first and get them situated.Then come back for the rest of us when you can.”
Berek took his wife’s hand and squeezed it.She smiled up at him.
It would be a big operation to smuggle the entire family out of the ghetto.But Jan couldn’t stomach the idea of leaving anyone behind, not after all he’d witnessed.
First, he would have to find a way out of the ghetto.With the current state of affairs, it seemed virtually impossible even for him on his own, let alone with a family of Jews in tow.
Every day,Jan, Walter and the Wierzbicka family haunted the ghetto wall, each with a small bag and Antoni carrying his precious violin.Antoni, Nacha and Nathan waited in the shadows, out of sight, while Jan and Walter paced the brick and barbed wire structure, looking for a way out.
Jan had never seen the ghetto so well guarded.Walter’s eyes were dull as the two of them worked.He’d arrived in his family’s apartment to find they’d already left.They’d been ordered onto a transport the previous day, according to one of their neighbours, and would be in Treblinka.He was too late.
Jan’s heart ached for Walter, but he had to focus on the task at hand.If he made a misstep, they would all die.The responsibility weighed heavy on his shoulders, and he found himself with a burgeoning headache that worsened as the day went on.
It seemed as though they’d never find a way through.But on the third day, he stumbled across one of the guards he’d managed to bribe previously when smuggling goods into the ghetto.He approached the guard without making eye contact, then offered him a can of salmon.The guard looked at the salmon, raised it in a kind of salute, then shoved it into his back pocket.
