For days after that mass round-up, extra police continued to be stationed around the ghetto. I didn’t dare go there for fear of being caught. I felt like such a traitor to my friends.
But then in the wee hours of the morning, about four days after that train had taken the hundred Jews, our front door squeaked open.
I scrambled out of bed.
Mama grabbed her pistol. “Stand behind me,” she whispered, as she quietly pushed open the bedroom door and peered out into the blackness of the kitchen.
“Kataryna, Krystia, it’s me.”
Mr. Segal’s voice!
Mama put the pistol down and we quickly got dressed, then walked out to the kitchen. In the darkness we could make out Mr. Segal at our kitchen table.
“Michael! Thank God! How did you escape?” asked Mama.
“With this.” He held up one of the tiny hacksaws. “I sawed through the window bolt and shimmied out of the train car. A few of us made it out.”
“What about the Kitais?” I asked. “Were any of them on that train?”
Mr. Segal shook his head. “As far as I know, Dolik and Leon are both still in the ghetto. So is Doctor Mina.”
“Thank goodness,” said Mama, sagging down in her chair. “But what are you going to do now?” she asked.
“Could you …” He drew a deep breath. “Could you please hide me?” he asked. “I know it puts you at risk. But I can’t go back to the ghetto. I was selected for that train. If I’m discovered there, the Nazis will kill me. But that’s not what really terrifies me. They’ll also select others, even hundreds of Jews, as punishment for my escape.”
“Collective responsibility,” said Mama. “Ivan told me of a village that was burned to the ground because of one Nazi officer being killed.”
“Why were the Nazis after you in particular?” I asked.
“Forged documents were found in my coat.”
“If you stay here,” said Mama, “they will find you.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, Kataryna. There is a way to make a hiding spot that they wouldn’t find,” said Mr. Segal. “Your house is the same layout as our old house.” He gestured to our wood stove. “Beneath the metal sheet under your stove is solid earth. A hiding spot could be dug in there. The metal sheet would fit on top.”
Mama said nothing for long moments. She closed her eyes. I think she was praying, because I could see her lips moving. One tear rolled down her left cheek. She opened her eyes and brushed away the tear. “I need to speak to Krystia in private,” she said. “This is a decision that we need to make together.”
Mr. Segal stood up. “Do you want me to leave?”
“Stay here,” said Mama. “We’ll talk in the bedroom.”
Mama put her arm gently around my shoulders and guided me back into the bedroom. She closed the door and we sat side by side on her bed. “Tell me truthfully, Krystia. What do you think we should do?”
“It’s a horrible thing to have to decide,” I said, leaning my head on her shoulder. “If we don’t do this, Mr. Segal will die … and so will many Jews who will be punished with him.”
“But if we’re caught, the Nazis will kill Mr. Segal, and might also kill us,” said Mama.
“Would they kill just us?” I asked. “What about this ‘collective responsibility’? Who else might they kill in retaliation for our actions?”
“Sometimes they’ll kill families of people who have killed a Nazi officer,” said Mama. “I don’t know if they do that for hiding Jews.”
But who was left to kill in our family? Maria had escaped; my cousins and Uncle Roman had already been killed. And Auntie Polina was Auntie Iryna’s distant cousin by marriage, so not really family at all. I only had two relatives left who were at risk.
I raised my head from Mama’s shoulder and said, “Auntie Iryna and Uncle Ivan … would they be punished if we’re caught hiding Mr. Segal?”
Mama’s eyes narrowed. “Your aunt and uncle have been risking their lives, defying the Nazis, all along.”
I realized the truth of Mama’s words. And it wasn’t just Auntie Iryna and Uncle Ivan. Borys had defied them as well. And in our own ways, Mama, Maria and I had been defying them too.
“I think we should hide Mr. Segal.” My heart was pounding at the thought of this huge decision.
Mama leaned her head against mine. “If we do this, you must live with Auntie Polina for a while.”
In my mind I saw my parents’ wedding photograph. Tato wasn’t here to protect Mama anymore, but I was, and I would never abandon her. “I’m not leaving,” I said in a voice that I hoped sounded firm. “Besides, it would raise suspicions if you were living here on your own.”
“You are a brave girl,” said Mama. “I’m proud of you.”
We sat on the bed together in silence, letting the magnitude of our decision sink in. Then Mama said, “We should tell Mr. Segal.”
“One more thing,” I said. “If we dig a hole for Mr. Segal, can we make it big enough for Dolik, Leon and Doctor Mina?”
Mama reached out and grabbed my hand. She gave it a firm squeeze. “Since they will kill us for hiding one Jew, we may as well hide four.”
We walked back to the kitchen.
“We will do this, Michael,” Mama said. “But we’d also like to hide the Kitais.”
Mr. Segal’s shoulders shook with emotion at Mama’s words. It took him a moment to find his voice. “Thank you,” he said.
“Can you give me three days to prepare the hiding place?” asked Mama. “Meanwhile, you need to disappear.”
Mr. Segal slipped out.
The next morning, Mama went to find Uncle Ivan to help dig the hiding place.
* * *
It is not an easy thing to dig a hole in the floor of your kitchen without enemy soldiers and enemy neighbours noticing the extra activity and all the new dirt. It was hard-packed clay under the stove, and even Uncle Ivan was covered in sweat from the effort of chipping away at it.
The Nazis were on the lookout for fresh piles of dirt because they knew that there would be townspeople who would risk the danger in order to save their long-time friends and neighbours. My job was to fill my pockets with dirt and then go outside to dispose of it. Krasa’s manure pile hid most of the dirt, but I also sprinkled it into the garden and onto the ground and then walked on it so it blended in. I got rid of more in Krasa’s pasture, and still more in the graveyard behind our church.
But it was a lot of dirt.
Uncle Ivan rigged the hiding hole in such a way that between Mama and me together, we could push the stove and metal plate over to one side a bit, to make a big enough opening for Doctor Mina, Mr. Segal, Dolik and Leon to climb into it. He also made sure to leave a gap behind the stove so they’d be able to get fresh air while they were hiding.
We put straw down on the bare dirt floor, and a blanket over top of that, then pillows. It looked like a horrible place to stay. I could only imagine how awful it would be with four people crowded in and the stove on top of it.
Mr. Segal came back to us three days later.
“We haven’t been able to tell the Kitais of our plan yet,” Mama told him.
Mr. Segal stayed down in the hole for the entire day and into the night. Once it was dark out, Mama and I pushed the stove to the side so he could get out. He gulped in the fresh air, then collapsed onto a kitchen chair. Mama gave him some milk and a bowl of kasha.
“It must be awful down there,” I said as I watched him eat.
“Right now,” he said, smiling sadly, “for a Jew, that hole is the best place in Lebhaft.”
* * *
I had not been able to get over to the barbed-wire fence since Mr. Segal had come to our house. Word of the Belzec death camp had spread, and many Jews were trying to escape. The Commandant dramatically reinforced the ghetto patrol.
The closest I got was across the street from the ghetto. I could see Dolik standing there, but with the police passing about once a minute now, even if I got across, there wouldn’t be enough time to explain our plan. So the next night I brought a written note and timed my crossing to the one-minute gap. I shoved it through the barbed wire, then immediately walked away without saying a word. Two nights later, Dolik and Leon managed to sneak out of the ghetto and reach our house.
“But where’s your mother?” I asked when they arrived.
“Mami is staying in the ghetto,” said Dolik, his voice faltering. “We couldn’t convince her to leave her patients.”