Page 88 - LEIBY

88 Leiby – Border Smuggler

past events and filled with fear. He knew that there had been
no mistake. He had been arrested with good reason. But what
would he say in the interrogations that he was sure to undergo?
Should he deny everything, or admit the truth?

A short time later the door opened, and just as Leiby had
expected, he was taken for interrogation. He was brought to a
musty room, with just a single yellow light bulb hanging from
the ceiling behind the investigator’s head, blinding him.

“Empty your pockets,” the interrogator commanded.

Leiby turned out his pockets onto the table. A torn page from
a siddur, a letter from his mother, a fountain pen and half a bar
of American chocolate fell out. The policeman looked at the
chocolate.

“American chocolate,”he howled.“You’re an imperialist traitor!”

Leiby shrugged. “I got it from my aunt in America. She wanted
me to look for her son who lived in Warsaw before the war.”

The man’s face softened visibly. “I also lived in Warsaw before
the war, my father was a religious Jew!”

Leiby raised his eyes and looked at the man, a young, wide-
shouldered police officer with a head full of dark curls.

“I learned in cheder as a child,” he reminisced, and began singing
in a rich Yiddish.
,ĘĤøĞĕĕý Ġÿ Čÿ ĔĜø ĞĤþčăø ģĕĥü Ĕø ĞĠþă ĕĤüĠøă ěĠø ĕđā Č
,ĝĕĕĐý ĒĕČü čă đă Ĕĥø Ĉ ěĕČü ěđă Č
,Ėø ĞĘþ ĤøĞďþ Ĝø ĕģü ĞĜþ ĕĕĘý ģø ĔĜø ĤøĞĘþ ĕčăü Ĥþ ĤĞďþ ěđă Č
.Ħĕčăý ąğĘþ Čÿ ęĞďý
,ĞĤþĞþ ĕĕĔÿ Ğĥþ Ēø Ĕģø Ĝø Ğďþ ĞĎþ ,ĖĞĘþ ĤøĞďþ Ĝø ĕģü Ğĥþ Ēø ĔĎø ČĒĀ
,ČďĀ ĔĜø ĤøĞĘþ ĤĕČü ĝČđĀđ
,ĘČĚĀ Čÿ Ėø ČĜĀ Ğģþ Čÿ Ĕ ěđă Č ,ĘČĚĀ Čÿ Ėø ČĜĀ Ğĥþ Ēø ĔĎø ČĒĀ
!ČĀ :ğĘþ Čÿ ąġĚþ ģĀ
In a small room, cozy and warm,
ƐŵĂůů ĮƌĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ƐƚŽǀĞ ŝƐ ĂďůĂnjĞ͕