a complex web of contacts, she asked around about him and looked for him at false addresses. Finally, she found his flat and paid him a visit. When Mrs B. revealed the aim of her visit, he initially refused to cooperate, under the pretext that gaining access to the place [64] where the books had been hidden would be too difficult. Mrs B. saw through the old man’s song and dance and did not give up. After several days she paid him another visit. She gave him such a long lecture about the gravity of the purpose for which she wanted him to devote his dead daughter’s book collection that he finally revealed the address of the hideout. It turned out that the chests with the books were in a flat which was being refurbished to become a kitchen. Mrs B. immediately rushed to that address. She concluded that some books had been lost, while others were now damaged. From the surviving books she selected those with torn pages and covers. She then glued the pages and fixed new covers with help from children from Centos boarding homes. In this way she managed to save a large number of books from the collection.
With the broadening of the scope of the cultural-pedagogical work and social help for children, the issue of a children’s library became a significant and vital matter. Mrs B. decided to quit her job in the clothing section to devote herself wholly to the organisation of the library. In early autumn 1940 she submitted a petition to the Community asking them to intervene with the authorities regarding a permit to open a children’s library. The matter of [the establishment of] the ghetto caused a delay and in the end the authorities did not respond to the petition. But Mrs B. did not give up. Persistent, she kept visiting the Community with regard to her cause. She filed her petition again, but the authorities refused to legalise the library. But Mrs B. still did not relent [65]. Through her persistence, enthusiastic persuasion, and pleading she made the Community intervene with the authorities for a third time regarding the library. This time, in November 1941, the district consented to the opening of the children’s library.
But in fact Mrs B. had started the children’s library as early as in April, much earlier than the designated date. During the initial period of the library’s operation, Mrs B. worked in an atmosphere of strict secrecy. The library passed as an internal Centos reading room and people could return books during only three hours (from midday to three o’clock). Mrs B. based the technical-organisational dimension [of the operation of the library] on models taken from her experience working in a public library, but she breathed up-to-date [. . .]
