A second way was to hide one’s soul and assume a new identity. These Jews performed as non-Jews, an act that many assimilated Jews had rehearsed, playing down their differences. Now Jews had to take advantage of the false construct of what constituted a “Jewish appearance” by deemphasizing those traits and accentuating their non-Jewish characteristics to whatever extent that they could.
Renia had the great fortune—greater than actual fortune—of looking Polish. Jews who did not appear Jewish had the potential to “pass” and be reborn, so to speak, as Christians. Those with money and connections purchased counterfeit travel documents or expensive originals if they knew Polish officials. They’d move to new cities, where they were unrecognizable. If they were lucky, they registered under a new name, found work, and started fresh, nobody imaging their true identity. It was easier for girls, who landed jobs in offices or stores and as actresses and housemaids. Educated women who’d never done a day’s physical labor eagerly took on housekeeping jobs. Some joined nunneries. It was harder for men: if the Germans suspected that a man was Jewish, they ordered him to pull down his pants. An entire family could be caught because of a circumcised baby boy. Plastic surgeons developed an operation to reverse a circumcision—according to Renia, the surgery cost 10,000 z?otys （roughly equivalent to US $33,000 today） and was rarely successful; others reported better outcomes. In children, the technique to restore foreskin required surgical intervention, special massage, and bearing weights. Some men obtained fake medical certificates claiming that they’d been circumcised at birth due to genital problems. The tiny Association of Tartar-Muslims in Warsaw also provided false papers to a few Jews, explaining away their circumcisions.
Even for those “imposters” who made it to the Aryan side, life was difficult. “Schmaltzovniks,” or blackmailers （literally, “greasers”）， approached disguised Jews on the streets, threatening to turn them in if they didn’t pay up. The Poles had a better sense of who was Jewish than the Germans did. If a Jew was leaving the ghetto for a short trip, she had to carry a pile of cash just to hand out to the schmaltzovniks on her way. Gangs of Poles extorted Jews, stole from them, beat and threatened them, and sent them anonymous notes demanding payments be left at random locations. Sometimes they extorted the same Jew over a period of time, living off of her. Or they’d take the money and still hand her over to the Gestapo, which offered small rewards for each Jew caught alive, like a bit of cash, two pounds of sugar or a bottle of whiskey. Some greasers worked directly for the Gestapo, splitting the loot with them.
Several Jews ran to the forests instead of to the cities, pretended to be Polish, and tried to join partisan troops or spent months, even years, simply wandering. Children were placed in orphanages, usually for a bribe. Kids worked on the Aryan streets, selling newspapers, cigarettes, and shoe polish, hiding from Polish children who might recognize them, flog them, and then hand them in.
Regardless of the difficulties, Renia had no choice. It was rumored that the Aktion would take place any day. No one’s name could be taken off the list this time. The only people who’d be allowed to stay were the ones selected to dismantle the ghetto and sort the Jews’ possessions. A man who escaped from the deportation camp in nearby Kielce ran with a warning: he’d witnessed the Nazis torture young men and force them to write fake letters to their families telling them that they were fine, that it was not a deportation to death. Those who refused to comply were shot on the spot. This man was sure that the trains he’d seen stuffed with people were heading to certain death.
The Kukielkas needed to flee. They gathered all the cash they’d received from selling furniture and divided it equally among the children. Renia’s parents and her little brother Yankel would leave for the forests. Her two sisters would travel to Warsaw disguised as Aryans, stay with relatives, and then attempt to bring over Leah and Moshe. “No matter what happens,” Moshe told his children, “promise me you will always stay Jewish.”
Renia was to set off alone. This would be her last night in her family’s home.
*
Saturday, August 22. Renia made it to a Nazi-run Jewish labor camp on the outskirts of S?dziszów, thanks to her brother. Aaron had escaped from the first work camp, returned to the family by pretending to be a Pole wandering the woods, and then came here to build train tracks. He was particularly well liked among the guards and had arranged for Renia to join him. The camp was composed of five hundred talented Jewish boys who paid thousands of z?otys in order to work, believing they’d be safe from deportation. Alongside them were twenty Jewish women doing light labor, like counting bricks.