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The Jews in Sokal are busier than ever making arrangements for places to hide when (and I no longer say "if") there is an Aktion. My plan is that our family should not hide together in one place but should be scattered, so that our whole family will not be wiped out at one blow. At least some of us must remain as living witnesses to the tragedy that befell our people.
My brother Shmelke has prepared the cellar of the home of Ivanich, a Gentile acquaintance, on New Street, as a shelter for our sisteres, Leah and Yitte, and Leah's little daughter Feyge Chashe. Chana and our two children, our sister Dvora and I will go to the home of Mrs. Francisca Halamajowa on No. 4 Street of Our Lady.
We have known Mrs. Halamajowa for some years. She is a Polish Catholic woman in her late fifties who lived in Germany for a time and learned to speak a perfect German. She was married to a Ukrainian whom she threw out of her house because he was a Nazi, which she definitely is not.
This is how we came to the arrangement with Mrs. Halamajowa: Some time ago, my mother went to sound out Mrs. Halamajowa about a place where we could hide during an Aktion. Mrs. Halamajowa took Mother to her pigsty next to her home and pointed to a hayloft that could be reached by climbing a ladder from the pigsty below. "That's where my daughter Hela hid out when the Germans were picking up Ukrainians for slave labor," she explained. "You and your husband could stay there, too, Mrs. Maltz." Mother was surprised and deeply touched by Mrs. Halamajowa's offer. "You'd really give us shelter at your own home, in your own hayloft?" she asked. "Why not?" Mrs. Halamajowa replied.
On her way home, my mother stopped at my house to tell me about her visit to Mrs. Halamajowa. I gave my mother a ring, and enough material for a blouse, and said to her, "Please take these things to Mrs. Halamajowa as gifts from your family and tell her that if there is an Aktion, your youngest daughter and son Moshe with his family will be coming to the hayloft along with you."
My sister Leah accompanied Mother to Mrs. Halamajowa's house. Mrs. Halamajowa took Mother and Leah outside and showed them a path around the back of her house that led directly to the pigsty. "Better use this roundabout way when you move into my pigsty, Mrs. Maltz," she said. "People are less likely to see you then."
The next day Leah took me to Mrs. Halamajowa's house by this arranged roundabout route so I should know the way also. The house virtually touches the east bank of the River Bug that formerly marked the border between the Russian and German sectors of Poland.
On the way to Mrs. Halamajowa's house we saw a number of Jews hurrying past us alone the streets near the river. They were probably looking for hiding places. Some were carrying packages; perhaps they were taking their belongings to the homes of Gentile friends for safekeeping.
from: "Years of Horror - Glimpse of Hope," pp. 36-37, by Moshe Maltz, Shengold Publishers, Inc.,
New York, 1993
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