Resistance (29 page)

Fortunately for Leah, her past periods of isolation were mixed with interruptions during which she was reconnected with some of her underground contacts. The fall of 1942 had been one of these lonely times on the Aryan side. She found employment as a kitchen helper in a rehabilitation hospital that specialized in tending to German soldiers wounded at the various fronts. The place was called Soldatenheimat, a home for soldiers.

Passing for a Polish Catholic, Leah's document identified her as Leokadia Bukowska.
¹²
She shared a modest room with a stranger, who turned out to be a professional prostitute. Leah's job was demanding and dull. All day long she had to wash and peel vegetables, clean pots, and contribute continuously to the spotless appearance of the kitchen. Leah showed an overall willingness to do favors for her Polish coworkers. She had hoped to win their support through her accommodating attitudes and extensive work.

One day on her way home, she met Tuwia Szengut, whom she remembered from their prewar participation in Hashomer Hatzair, the leftist Zionist organization. Currently he was known under the Polish name Tadek. He explained that through underground channels he had heard about her living and working in Warsaw and had decided to reconnect. He told Leah that he belonged to an
underground in Tarnow, made up of young people eager to fight the Germans. They needed guns. Then, almost casually, Tadek suggested that perhaps here Leah would steal a gun for them. The German hospital in which she worked had offered her such opportunities.

Leah remembered that at this point she began to shake. Was it Tadek's request that she should steal a gun? Was it the strong wind? Or was it simply the fact that she was not wearing a coat? Tadek noticed this and decided it was because of the lack of a coat. He would find her one. Indeed, when they met several days later, a coat was hanging on his arm. Although it was too big, it was warm. Leah was grateful and touched.

At their next meeting, Tadek did not even mention the gun. But by now Leah was preoccupied with the idea of appropriating one for Tadek's group. She knew enough to understand that possession of one gun could lead to the acquisition of more. She also realized that this could end as a suicidal gesture. At the same time, she could not help but see that getting them a gun could make a huge difference in the lives of these young Jews. She continued to vacillate between her desire to steal a gun and fear for her life. Leah was well aware that with the many military men around her, there were ample opportunities, but she had no idea how to do it. “Yes gun” and “no gun” became Leah's obsessions. They inevitably translated into sleepless nights. The brief walks between Leah and Tadek continued, and though Tadek did not refer to the gun again, Leah was hardly able to think about anything else. Yet she did not dare to mention it to Tadek nor to anyone else.

Then one morning at work, as Leah was moving from the kitchen to the bathroom, she passed next to a few empty rooms. Some of these rooms were being used by recovering German soldiers, others by some German guards. The place was silent. Without thinking, Leah entered an unoccupied room and walked over to a closet. When she opened the door of the closet, she saw a pistol. It was as if it had been waiting for her. She took it and placed it under her dress, and then quickly moved into the bathroom. When she locked the door behind her, she was both happy and miserable. What should she do now? She looked around. By standing on the toilet seat, she found she could look through a small window in front of her. The window opened with a gentle push out onto a roof. She took off her underwear, wrapped the gun into it, and placed it on the roof.

Leah left the bathroom, forcing herself to act normally. She resumed her place and work in the kitchen. She was silent, but she usually was. She knew that she had to remove the pistol from the roof. When it was her turn to dispose of potato peels, she went outside. Assuring herself that no one was around, she retrieved the gun. She knew that she had to act quickly. In the back of the hospital was a door that led to the hospital grounds. The door, rarely used, was surrounded by all kinds of tall weeds and thick grass. Leah pushed it open and put the gun, still wrapped in her panties, into the thick growth, where it was lost next to the tall weeds and grass. Leah returned to the kitchen.

After half an hour she became aware of a commotion. An announcement came that there had been sabotage and that all employees would be searched. She knew that no one would suspect her; and even if they did, they would find nothing. The gun was under the grass and weeds close to the back door. Then the search began. A German who knew her and seemed to like her looked into her bag and declared that she was free to go. Slowly she moved in the direction of the unused gate. No one was around her. When she doubly reassured herself that no one was around, she reached quickly for the gun and put it into her bag, then opened the gate and left. Slowly she moved in the direction of her house. The next morning, when she came to work she heard that the German soldier to whom the gun belonged had been accused of stealing and selling it.

Tadek was delighted when Leah presented him with the gun. He promised to treat it with due respect. Soon Leah heard that they had used it in an attack on a police station that yielded more guns and ammunition. Eventually, according to rumors, this gun played important roles in several subsequent actions. When Tadek and Leah met, they would invariably touch on how helpful getting this first gun was.

I asked Leah whether she had considered keeping the gun for herself. She was taken aback by my question. No, she never once thought about keeping the gun. After all, she had no use for it. When I suggested that it might have made have her feel more secure, her “No” was very definite. Again she said that she would not have known what to do with it. Also, because Tadek initiated the stealing of the gun, it was proper that his group should benefit from it.

Between March and August 1944, the date of the Polish uprising, Leah was actively working as a courier. “I was delivering money, and documents, and I was going to Skarzysko Kamienna
[an important railroad town located 90 miles south of Warsaw]. I would go to Starachowice [another town south of Warsaw], and I was helping families in Warsaw who were in hiding. My reason for going there was to deliver documents in case people had an opportunity to run away, that they should have Polish papers to do it with.”
¹³

Leah had limited contact with other couriers during the war because it was potentially so dangerous. “At one point I returned to the Aryan side of Warsaw and reconnected with my friend, Julcia. She was also a courier. Actually as couriers we tried to keep our contacts to a minimum because knowing other couriers had a potential of discovery. The less information we had about each other, the safer we were in case of an arrest.” One of these couriers, whom she met only after the war and admired greatly, was Hela Schupper (
figure 5.3
).

Hela Schupper was born in Krakow and was eighteen when the Germans invaded Poland. She had finished her schooling with a business degree. She was popular and her friends valued her honesty and her independent spirit. For some time, she had been involved in Zionist activities and hoped eventually to settle in Palestine. Schupper's looks, manners of speech, and courage made her a perfect candidate for becoming an underground courier. Her devotion to her Jewishness, together with her membership in Akiva, a moderate Zionist organization, offered her special opportunities to cooperate with Jewish youths who were similarly inclined. On one of her visits to Warsaw, she met Lutek Rotman, a young leader of the Warsaw ghetto underground; they fell in love. Often separated by their underground duties, to those around them Hela and Lutek seemed like a perfect couple.

FIGURE 5.3
Jewish youth on a train taking them from Germany to Belgium. In the middle is Hela Schupper, a daring female courier. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Dola Kogan and Josef Horowitz)

Hela was ready to take on any underground assignment. By August 1942, she was constantly on the move between Krakow and Warsaw. She was in effect a full-time courier. Indeed, playing the part of a Christian Pole, Hela would accompany Jews who, for a variety of reasons, had to move between Warsaw and Krakow. Hela's Aryan looks and relaxed manner offered invaluable protection to those whose underground duties required frequent relocations. In addition to transferring people, she also smuggled false documents, money, and arms.

She considered herself fortunate that she happened to be in Warsaw during the ghetto uprising. As Lutek's girlfriend, Hela stayed in the bunker, which served as the headquarters for the
Å»
OB underground. Lutek also brought to this bunker his mother, known to others as Mrs. Maria. Maria, a widow, was closely attached to her only son. Other underground leaders also brought those who were close to them to this bunker.

By May 1943, the Germans had intensified their search for bunkers. They were particularly eager to locate the one that served as
Å»
OB's headquarters. At one point, with many of its fighters engaged elsewhere, the
Å»
OB fighters left in the bunker sensed a nearby fire. This could spell the destruction of all those inside. After discovering a bunker, the Germans would pump gas into it, suffocating those who hid within. The Germans counted on burning the Jews out of their shelters. As those inside the
Å»
OB headquarters contemplated their next move, they suddenly realized that the German soldiers were getting ready to depart. The soldiers started singing, generally proof that they were done for the day. Finally, from their hiding place, the Jews could see the Germans leaving—yet they still smelled fire.

Everyone at the
Å»
OB headquarters had agreed that the Germans should not take any of them alive, and that the last bullets in their
guns should be reserved for their own suicide. As they smelled the fire approaching, some concluded that the end was near. Lutek's mother had poison in her hand. Hela, who was with her, urged her not to swallow it, insisting that the time was not yet come. They removed themselves to a part of their cellar where there were fewer fumes. As they were thinking over what to do next, Lutek and several underground fighters entered their bunker, bringing with them news: the entire
Å»
OB headquarter had been invited to relocate to the bunkers at Mila 18 street.

As mentioned in
chapter 2
, the Mila 18 address was a network of bunkers that had once belonged to a group of Jewish thieves. In preparation for the ghetto uprising, the Polish underground had collectively acquired a spacious area underneath the ghetto, extending over a number of cellars, which had been transformed into networks, divided, and reinforced, and was now being used for a variety of functions. Mila 18 was well-equipped and supplied with food, water, electricity, and arms. At the head of this syndicate was Shmuel Iser. Aware that the
Å»
OB headquarters were in danger of being burned or attacked, some members of the Polish underground wanted to help the Jewish fighters. Indeed, the accommodations that they offered to the
Å»
OB were luxurious in comparison to the spaces they had used previously. With time the generosity of these hosts extended further, including offers of food as well. The help given to
Å»
OB was critically important and greatly appreciated. The bunkers at Mila 18 attracted
Å»
OB fighters who were forced from their own bunkers by fires; they sought shelter there usually as a last resort.

Jewish fighters and the Germans operated at different hours, as we have seen. Less familiar with the ghetto, the Germans and their collaborators limited their activities to the daytime. For the Jewish fighters most activities began in the evening. Some of the fighters went off in search of food and supplies in houses that the Germans had not yet destroyed. Others went to the Aryan side in search of help. Some groups were exploring the possibilities for moving the ghetto youths to forests, where they might join the partisans. But no positive responses had reached the ghetto from the forests—and no responses meant no options.

The burning of the ghetto continued, reducing the availability of grenades, Molotov cocktails, and other ammunitions. Small arms with limited amounts of ammunition were ineffective. However, with each group that managed to escape to the Aryan side, hope
was reinspired among the rest. Jewish fighters continued to hope that their representative on the Aryan side, Antek Zuckerman, might help with some of the problems they faced. All the ghetto fighters were eager to do something useful, yet often there was little one could do. The leaders did not give up, however. They were constantly sending more underground members to the Aryan side, usually through the sewage system.

On May 7th, Mordechai Anielewicz approached Hela, asking her to leave the ghetto with a group of people for the Aryan side. Her Aryan looks would be helpful to her and to those who would come with her. Hela told him that she would prefer to remain in the ghetto. Anielewicz assured her that while he would not force her to leave, he viewed her departure as her duty. Hela said that she would like to discuss this with Lutek.