Page 16 - LEIBY

16 Leiby – Border Smuggler

dog,” he remarked and Stefan, already in an inebriated fog, just
smiled bemusedly and made no reply. “You want to send me to
my death while you enjoy yourself in my home!” Leiby raised
his voice.

“Let the Zhids fight the war – it’s a shame that Hitler didn’t
win,” Stefan mumbled and slammed the door closed right in
Leiby’s face.

Leiby returned to the empty house that he had found. He
laid his head down on the rickety table and fell asleep, waking
up only when the sun’s rays filtered through the cracks in the
window the next morning.

Quickly, Leiby got himself ready and hurried to the train
station. He wanted to let his mother and sister Chava know
about the latest developments, that their home had been seized
by the police, but that he had already found them an alternative
place to live.

The train pulled into the station with an ear-splitting screech. It
was filled to capacity with Russian soldiers and weary refugees
in threadbare clothing and tattered bundles on their shoulders.
Leiby waited on the platform and scanned the crowds for a
familiar face, but there was none. Eventually the train left with
another screech and left him standing alone on the platform.

He glanced down nervously at the document that he held in
his hand. At ten o’clock he had to report to the authorities in
the recruitment office. If he didn’t present himself there, he’d
have to go into hiding – but then how would Mama and Chava
possibly find him? Besides, if he didn’t go, Stefan was liable to
arrest his entire family. He knew that was a tactic the Germans
employed; if someone they were looking for disappeared, his
family became the scapegoats and were usually taken away and
never seen or heard of again. Would the Russians do that too?
Leiby broke out in a cold sweat at the thought, and hurriedly
made his way to the city square, to the recruitment office.

A uniformed soldier stared at him through the bars of the guard
booth. “What are you doing here, boy?”