Page 222 - LEIBY

222 Leiby – Border Smuggler

Poland by Germany, however, all work in the city had ceased.
The machinery in the many factories lay dormant, collecting
dust. The buildings and factories were, for the most part, still
intact, but the city itself was lethargic, not having recovered
from the German onslaught. The hum and buzz of thousands
of industrious workers had been replaced by the sound of weary
refugees attempting to piece their lives together again now that
the war was over.

Leiby walked through the streets looking for the Jewish
Committee building. He eventually found himself in the
crowded building, surrounded by busy, rushing people. He was
glad to see that among its other activities there was also a soup
kitchen in the place, and he enjoyed a cooked meal for the first
time in ages.

“Hey, my boy,” he heard a call, “aren’t you the partisan who
jumped from a speeding passenger train into a coal train?”
Leiby raised his eyes and saw an older man whose gold rimmed
glasses gave him a wise, professor-like appearance.

It took Leiby just a second to recall where he had seen the man
before. He had sat beside him on a train and had taught him
some interesting historical facts. Leiby had actually wanted to
hear more but had cut the conversation short when he realized
that he had to return to the place he had just left and jumped
off the train into a coal train that was passing by at that moment
on the parallel tracks.

“Yes, of course, we were in the middle of discussing the division
of Poland,” Leiby told him.

“That’s right,” the man sighed. “Poland has historically
always had bad luck. She’s been a constant source of dispute
between her neighbors, the political powers greater than her.
Because of the endless internal clash between the aristocracy
of Russia, the Austria-Hungary leadership, and Prussia, she’s
been divided again and again between these countries. And
history is repeating itself now once more. After the short glory
period between the two world wars when Poland achieved total