Page 6 - LEIBY

6 Leiby – Border Smuggler

The third medal adorning his uniform, he recalled with a smile,
had been given to him for having taken two Nazi officers captive.
They had been on their way to a wedding in the nearby village
and had mistakenly presumed Leiby and his friend Mendy4 to
be two village boys. Afraid of a partisan confrontation, they had
asked the boys to show them the way to the village. Of course,
Leiby and Mendy had grabbed the golden opportunity without
any hesitation. They innocently explained to the officers that a
partisan group was patrolling the forest at that very moment
and that they should turn back immediately. Leiby volunteered
to direct them on a different route, to evade the partisans, and
led them straight into a waiting ambush. The terrified Nazis
had blurted some vital information in an attempt to save their
skins, and a short while later Leiby had received a Class One
medal from headquarters in Moscow.

Sweet revenge! The sight of the captured Germans stumbling
through the forest, hands tied behind their backs and a look
of pure terror in their eyes, was like a soothing balm on his
memories of the cries of the tortured ghetto Jews that never
stopped reverberating in his ears.

Leiby’s glance moved over to the numerous military awards that
decorated Zalman’s coat too. The number of medals that each
one received had always been a source of covert competition
between the two, and during their time in the forest Leiby had
certainly taken first place. Now, however, he did not have a single
medal left, and the picture in his room was the only memento
of all his triumphs – and that, too, was sure to disappear soon
enough.

Despite Leiby’s young age, he had already earned a reputation
as the best scout in the forest. At the victory parade at the end
of the war, he had marched at the head of the troop, adorned
with all his medals and feeling on top of the world. But that

4 ůƚŚŽƵŐŚ ŚŝƐ ƌĞĂů ŶĂŵĞ ǁĂƐ DĞŶĚLJ͕ >ĞŝďLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŽƌĞ ĂĐĐƵƐƚŽŵĞĚ
ƚŽ ĐĂůůŝŶŐ Śŝŵ ^ĂŶĚLJ͕ ĂƐ ŚĞ ŚĂĚ ŚĂĚ ƚŽ ĐŚĂŶŐĞ ŚŝƐ ŶĂŵĞ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĨŽƌĞƐƚ͘ ZĞĂĚ
about it in the previous book, Mendy, a Jewish Child in the Forest. In this
Ŭ ŚĞ ǁŝůů ĂůƐŽ ĂƉƉĞĂƌ ĂƐ ^ĂŶĚLJ Ăƚ ƟŵĞƐ͘