Page 129 - LEIBY

Chapter 16 129

“When we get there, you’ll see.”

They exited the building and walked through the streets, a heavy
5 silence between them. They passed the train station, swamped

with refugees who were waiting for days for a train that would
take them further into Poland.

Leiby and Alexander found a comparatively quiet corner, some
distance away from the platform, but with a clear view of the
station. They could hear from there if any train happened to
arrive.

Alexander spread out a large map on his knees.

“Maybe you can tell me already where we’re headed,” Leiby
remarked sarcastically. “I need to know if I should pack my
Shabbos clothing, and perhaps my pistol.”

Alexander smiled, but immediately turned serious again.“Leiby,
we have to get the Jews out of Poland,” he stated firmly. “The
war is over in the whole world, and here Jews are still being
killed. Up until now, I was stationed in Steiten, as an activist in
the smuggling organization, and I always assisted small groups
in crossing over the border to Czechoslovakia. It was just by
chance that I got to Praga and baruch Hashem helped to save
people there too. But now, I must get back to my post. We’re
about to have a veritable flood of refugees. Everyone wants to
get out. Up until now, I worked by myself, but now, with the
inundation of refugees, I see that I desperately need help.” He
looked at Leiby intently. “I’ve chosen you, Leiby.”

“But what about the border police?” Leiby remembered all too
clearly the authoritarian policemen that he had encountered at
the Russian border. “They’ll arrest us all!”

“We’ve thought about that, and we’ve reached the decision that
we just have to increase the number of people crossing over.
The forces can deal with small groups of 20 to 30 people, but
not with 300! They don’t even have space in the jails for that
number, on any side of the border. Our guess is that they’ll just
tell all the immigrants to continue on, especially because they’re