Page 202 - LEIBY

202 Leiby – Border Smuggler

realized that the people crowded there were Jews, one of the
first groups allowed to cross over with the authorities turning a
blind eye. About a thousand people were assembled there, not
disguised as Greeks or refugees returning to any other country.
They were Jews, and after the guards had made sure that they
weren’t taking any foreign currency with them, they’d crossed
over safely and proudly. It was a gratifying sight indeed!

This was Leiby’s chance. He slid down the tree, approached the
barbed wire fence and carefully crawled underneath. He broke
out into a run and reached the jubilant group a few moments
later. Slowly, he pushed his way through the crowd until he
stood at the head of the line. After a couple of minutes, he
suddenly turned round and started walking towards the Polish
side of the border, back in the direction that the entire group
had come from.

“Hey, my boy, where do you think you’re going?” A Russian
Tatar soldier, a genuine Genghis Khan look-alike, called to him.

“I left something important behind on the farm, I have to go
back to fetch it.”

“But the group will leave, and you’ll be stuck here alone,” the
soldier warned.

Leiby spread out his arms in a gesture of helplessness. “What
can I do? The item I left behind is crucial!”

The soldier shrugged, opened the gate, and let Leiby through.
Feigning indifference, he nodded in thanks and walked off. He
had done it! He was in Poland!

Expanses of green fields and a gray sky were all that Leiby could
see, stretched out ahead of him into the distance. He began
walking briskly along the path at the side of the fields. After
he had walked for some time, a farmer-driven cart pulled up
beside him. “Come, boy,” the farmer called generously. “You can
ride with me. Where are you headed?”

“I don’t know,” Leiby blurted, then catching his mistake he