Page 26 - LEIBY

26 Leiby – Border Smuggler

heard that the farmer she had approached to beg for food had
reported her to the police and she had been arrested. Papa and
I fled the area immediately and looked for a different place to
hide. But soon Papa was caught too, in a trap that the Germans
had set for us after some farmers had reported us as well. I was
all alone.” Yosef stopped his monolog for a moment and sighed
deeply.

“I ran towards the forest, gunshots and bullets all around
me. Eventually I reached the forest and began to search for
a partisan group that I could join. I ate only blueberries and
raspberries that I found and drank dew each morning. After a
few days I finally noticed some signs of human life – footprints,
foliage that had been trodden on, and ashes from a bonfire, and
I knew that there must be a partisan unit somewhere, but where
they were hiding, I couldn’t fathom.

Yosef paused again, remembering. Leiby listened, fascinated,
and Yosef continued. “But the partisans saw me, and all of a
sudden two men appeared, seemingly from out of the ground.
They were armed from head to toe and looked at me menacingly.
They ordered me at gunpoint to leave the area immediately
before the Germans would come after me and discover their
troop, and they cursed me with the best of Russian curses. But
it was cold and dark, and I was just a young boy. I started to cry,
and unbelievably one of the tough partisans took pity on me
and tried to calm me down. ‘We’re not bad people, and we won’t
harm you,’ he tried to convince me. ‘It’s only the war that’s bad.’
He pulled a small bottle of vodka out of his pocket and offered
me a swig.

“I drank the vodka in one big gulp. I felt as if my intestines were
going up in flames and I almost choked, but I drank that vodka
till the very last drop.The partisans enjoyed the sight and one of
them exclaimed, ‘He’s one of us, he drinks like a true Russian!’

“He gave me a piece of bread and some pickled vegetables and I
ate everything quickly, in an effort to extinguish the fire burning
up my stomach. The partisan introduced himself. He told me
that his name was Vanya, and he came from Kharkov. He also