Chapter 44 Section 44

The whistling of the siren and the sound of the train wheels woke me up quickly.I realized it was daylight and we were making the pit stop. I wiped the fog off the windows to see where I was, and jumped up when I realized where I was.Even with the swastika flag hung, the sign of Warsaw Central Station is still clear at a glance. I gently woke up Ilo who was asleep, and then I woke up Nicholas who was on the opposite chair. I knew we were going to get off at this stop and take another train to Krakow.The guard who came to check the ticket last night also confirmed this with us. Fortunately, Isabella and Wojciech have considered these contingencies for us. When the guards came in front of me, the two little guys were still sleeping soundly beside me. I successfully pretended to be a very capable teenagers, and took them both on a long trip over mountains and ridges.My lack of fluency in Polish did not arouse suspicion.Because the guard was not an official, he didn't bother to question other than what he had planned and practiced in advance.

Now, stepping onto the icy platform of Warsaw Central Station, I finally realize how dangerous our situation is, and I feel a first wave of fear in my heart.We were alone, in a foreign capital, surrounded by hurried Poles and Germans, many of them wearing hideous Gestapo badges. I pulled Nikolai and Ilo to my side, and looked at the station for signs, so I could figure out where we boarded the train to Krakow.But there were no obvious clues anywhere. Nikolay said he wanted to use the bathroom, so we walked around the station trying to find one.But just as we were leaving the train, I saw a livestock train parked on the opposite side track, and my blood turned cold.

The children also saw it, and the little hand that was holding me tightened in fear.Nikolai fell silent for a moment, forgetting about going to the toilet.Yiluo pulled my arm and pulled us in the opposite direction. I let her lead the way forward, trying to form some comforting words, but couldn't think of a word. When we walked to the center of the station and were strenuously moving forward among the crowd, we heard a series of loud whistles, and the crowd dispersed instantly, and people quickly left from the exit or moved towards the edge of the station. Before we realized what was going on, we were slow to react, and suddenly we found ourselves alone in the middle of the station.

Confused. Panic. A Polish guard shouted, "Hey you guys! Where are your parents?" In my panic, I answered in my mother tongue, then shut my mouth quickly, cursing myself for being careless. Fortunately we were too far away from the guards to hear him, and when he called out again, Ilo replied in Polish: "We got separated in the crowd. They were with us just now and now they're gone .” Her quick-witted response saved us from drawing further attention, and the guard angrily gestured us out of the hall, shouting, "Get away, quick! Do you want to get plagued by dirty Jews?"

Before Yiluo responded, I quickly took her and Nicholas' hands, led them to the side of the hall, and mixed into the waiting crowd. "Don't be mad, Ilo," I whispered, "he's talking like that because the Nazis are here." But deep down, I knew people were already prejudiced against Jews, and I worried that Ilo's language skills and her quick wit might not be our advantage, but a potential danger. As we looked back, the long procession of Jews began to enter the station without haste, occupying the center of the hall with their usual calm dignity. As they passed, I could only watch in amazement as the Germans and Poles jeered at them, the SS guards on both sides happily encouraging the attack.When they were asked to chalk their names on their luggage and told it would arrive with them in Treblinka, I recalled painfully the scene at the Bucharest station.

Elo held my hand tightly.I knew Treblinka wasn't where Mommy and we were sent, but I figured it was a similar camp, so I watched with mixed feelings, thinking of the horrible conditions these Jews would be in. Being transported away, they can't help but be jealous that if they survive the journey, they will have the chance to start a new life when they reach their destination. I could feel Ilo trembling, the terrible memory eating at her, and I pushed the children to the back of the crowd and asked in Polish, "Toilet? Excuse me, where is the toilet?" We were ignored at first, but then someone pointed to a hut a few meters away, and I took the kids under its shelter, deciding that we couldn't let them think about the last time we saw our parents alive. Those scenes are gone.

I lead the kids into a dirty, smelly cubicle and urge them to use the opportunity to hurry to the bathroom because I really don't know when the next one will be. I couldn't help being curious, so I climbed onto a window sill and peeked at the scene at the station through the narrow window. When I saw the last of the Jews crowding into the carriage and the doors closed, I became alarmed, because now the station workers pushing the trolleys began to load the luggage with their names written in chalk on it, but not on the waiting train, and It was sent to a warehouse near the toilet where we hid.

Even with my poor Polish, I can be sure that the Jews were told that their luggage would be loaded in the last car, exactly as we were told in Bucharest.However, when the steam came out from the front of the car, and it was ready to set off full of despair and cruelty, it was already obvious that the Jewish luggage would not join their journey. I couldn't help but wonder, what are these people going to do when they arrive at Treblinka without luggage?Not even a change of clothes. Curiosity forced me to continue investigating.I whispered to Yiluo and asked her to stay in the toilet with Nicholas until I came back.I told her I was going to see where we were supposed to wait.

I found the information board showing when and which platform our train to Krakow would leave from, and I checked the clock on the station, thankfully we didn't have to wait long. My proper mission is done, and perhaps I should go back now, but what will happen to the Jewish luggage is something I can't let go of, and for Ilo's sake, I must find out further. I pretended to be nonchalantly walking around the side of the warehouse, looking for a window that would give me a glimpse of what was going on inside.I found a pile of cracked wooden pallets under a high window, on the side barely visible from the hall, so I sneaked there, out of sight, and crawled to the dusty Under the glass window, carefully peering inward.

It seemed to me that only a few seconds had passed, but the big clock at the station clearly confirmed that I had been lying at the window for nearly fifteen minutes, standing precariously on those pallets, staring in disbelief at what was happening inside.