Page 17 - LEIBY

Chapter 2 17

“I have a draft notice.”

The guard snorted. “It’s not a kids’ playground here, go home!”

“But I was ordered to come here,” Leiby waved the letter in
his hand. “I can’t leave unless you give me a written exemption
authorization,” he insisted.

The soldier shrugged and opened the gate. Leiby found himself
waiting in a long line of people. They were all young men who
had reached draft age and had therefore received call-up notices.
None of them was thrilled at the idea of going to the battlefront,
and many had declared that they were unhealthy and unfit for
combat. The soldiers there warned them that anyone suspected
of trying to evade his military duties without good reason
would be sent to the very front of the battle lines. One after
the other, the recruits were sent to be evaluated by the medical
committee, and all returned after just a few minutes, their faces
glum and holding affirmations that they were perfectly fit for
fighting.

Leiby stood in line behind a dark-haired young man. It took
him just a couple of moments to realize that he too was Jewish.

“Excuse me,are you Jewish?”Leiby asked,and noticing the man’s
look of alarm, added, “amcha?” The question was widespread
among the Jews who wanted to know if the person they were
speaking to was Jewish, too, but preferred that anyone else who
may have been listening would not understand the question.

The stranger shook his head, but his eyes darted around
nervously and did not meet Leiby’s, and it was obvious that
Leiby’s guess had been correct.

“The war is over, you don’t have to be afraid to admit that you’re
Jewish,” Leiby observed.

The young man shifted from side to side uneasily. “Life for the
Jews in the ghetto was unbearable. Eventually I managed to
procure some forged documents that allowed me to live with
the Aryans, but even then, I hardly left my home in all the three
years that Lida was under German occupation. And even when