Alongside the stuffiness, the people in the bunker lived in constant fear of the neighbors finding out. So did the Kobiletzes, who would also be executed if caught.
A few days after Renia arrived, she climbed back up the ladder at midnight and was transferred to a hiding place at the home of the Kobiletzes’ daughter, Banasikova. The move was uplifting. She was now with Dror comrades Chawka, the medic, and Aliza, who’d cared for the orphans. The door was locked at all times, so the neighbors knew nothing. If anyone knocked, they hid in the closet. Banasikova took care of all their needs. Her husband was in the army and barely earned a living wage, so she appreciated the money and goods she received for hiding people.
There were still a few hundred people scattered in the B?dzin liquidation camp and local ghettos, a population dwindling with each transport. Sarah, Chawka, Kasia, Dorka—all the girls with non-Jewish features—continued to sneak in and try to save as many as possible, even though it was nearly impossible to find hiding places. Renia, though, was still too weak to go outside.
They all knew that the only way out of their suffocating lives was via Slovakia, where, for the time being, Jews had relative freedom. But to transfer comrades there, they needed connections. It took many attempts until they received an address from The Hague. But how would they get there? After having been betrayed so cruelly by Socha, the group was particularly cautious. The Zionist Youth group, Renia wrote, would not divulge who its smugglers were. Mitek tried to arrange for smugglers, but as always, this was no easy task. The Kobiletzes were becoming increasingly afraid for their lives and, despite the payments, were urging the group to leave. Yet another ticking time bomb.
*
Renia and the group were in constant contact with Warsaw. Zivia and Antek also urged them to go to Slovakia, though they offered to bring Renia to Warsaw, where it might be safer. But Renia didn’t want to separate from her comrades. “Their fate is mine.”
At last, Mitek found legitimate smugglers. They would send one group first, and if they made it, the rest would follow.
That first group left in early December. They dressed up as Poles and carried fake travel documents and work papers. The smuggler took them by train from Katowice to Bielsko, and then Jelesnia, the border town. The others sat in their bunkers, thinking and talking obsessively about the mortal danger they faced.
A week later the smuggler returned.
It had been a success! Their friends were already in Slovakia. This time they did write to the group, telling them that the journey was less difficult than they’d anticipated. “Do not,” they warned, “wait any longer.”
December 20, 1943: Aliza and Renia waited all day for Chawka or Sarah to arrive and tell them who would leave with the second group. At midnight, a knock on the door. Everyone jolted awake. The police?
A few nerve-wracking moments later, Chawka entered.
She turned to Renia. “Get ready for the journey.” Eight people would leave in the morning. Renia would be one of them.
Fight or flight.
Renia refused.
This was not for ideology, but for love. Sarah had been on missions helping the Atid children who’d been smuggled to Germany, and Renia hadn’t seen her in two weeks. She didn’t want to leave without her sister’s knowledge—certainly not without saying good-bye. “She’s my sister,” she told Chawka. “She risked her life during my prison escape. I can’t go without her consent.”
But Chawka and Aliza tried to convince her. The Gestapo was after Renia: “Wanted” posters showing her face, calling her a spy, and offering a cash reward hung on the streets. She needed to leave right away. Sarah would understand, they told her, and would follow soon. Sarah and Aliza had to gather the Atid children who’d been dispersed among German peasants’ houses. Aliza promised that she, Sarah, and the children would join the very next group to Slovakia.
After an entire night of persuasion, Renia relented.