––––––––
It was not a decision I could make on her behalf and I resolved to raise this with Elone at the first opportunity, for Henryk would surely need to stop and leave the truck soon, for fuel, food or to meet nature’s call.
But when we next stopped I peered cautiously through the tarpaulin to be greeted by the legend Zwangsarbeitslager Plaszow. Then, without warning, we were driving through the heavily-guarded gates of the Nazi labour camp.
Suddenly we were tense, the Rubicon crossed. To be discovered now would surely mean ours and Henryk’s detention by the SS and if I could hardly bear contemplate the possible consequences for Nicolae and I, the fate Elone faced was quite unthinkable.
I grabbed both children and brought them alongside me, a hand over each mouth, unwilling to trust either child in these dire circumstances. In doing so I drove home to them the importance of their total silence, and they made no protest.
From our hiding place we heard the canvas cover of the wagon pulled back and men shouting orders, some in German, some in Polish. At any moment I expected our huddled bodies to be exposed to the merciless gaze of the SS, and I could not drive from my mind memories of the Nazis spraying the dead and injured with bullets after the train crash those many months before. My whole body trembled and I could feel the children tremor likewise.
Suddenly the wagon floor rocked and I realised laden pallets were being loaded onto the rear of the wagon, pushed back towards us. I held my breath, realising we were about to be crushed by the cargo. As the tarpaulin over us began to push up against our bodies I began to silently pray.
If I had seen too much evil already to believe my prayers should suddenly be answered now, still it was surely a miracle that, even as we were forced against the cabin wall and I was about to cry out and declare our presence, the pallets’ advance stopped and we heard the canvas drag back across the wagon’s roll bars.
As the engine started up we breathed again, struggling from under the tarpaulin into the semi-darkness of the wagon. Just how close we had come to death or discovery was now apparent, for there was hardly room for us to sit up, so little space was left between us and the cabin wall.
Again too noisy to talk we huddled together, three frightened children, desperate for guidance, but in the sure knowledge our options were few. We drove only a short way across the camp before the vehicle stopped again. The engine switched off and I heard Henryk climb from his cabin and call out for someone to sign his documents. From the gap in the tarpaulin I could just see him, some way distant, in conversation with a guard, and knew this was my only opportunity to consult my companion.
“Elone, dear friend, our fate rests with you now. I will surrender us all to Henryk’s tender mercy once we clear this camp, if that is your wish, that you may return to Izabella and Wojciech. They will care for you, Elone. They will look after you as if you were their own, I promise you.”
She took my hand. “And if I did, Anca? What of you? What would you do?”
I answered without hesitation. “I would somehow make my way to Auschwitz still, with Nicolae. I have to, Elone, please try to understand. For all that we now know, still it is there, I am certain, Nicolae and I will learn the fate of our own mother.”
Her fingers clasped tightly around mine. “Izabella and Wojciech are kind people, Anca, but they are not my family, nor could they ever be so.”
She peered at me through the dim light and I could see her eyes glisten. “You are my family now, Anca. You and Nicolae. You are all I have. All I need. I will go with you, wherever you must go.” She leant across and kissed first me, then Nicolae, on the forehead, saying, “My sister. My brother.”