into them, thus adapting them to the [. . .] conditions and requirements of our [. . .] existence.
Mrs B. came to that locale throughout the winter of 1941 [. . .] she often spent about a dozen hours in that [. . . poorly] heated room, diligently separating books and putting them on shelves and into the cabinets which she had obtained. She also catalogued the books and repaired damaged volumes. During that period her only helper was a 13-year-old girl from a Centos boarding home. Even after the opening of the library that girl was Mrs B.’s only assistant for lending books.
Mrs B. worked without pay for half a year, resourcefully coping with the mounting shortcomings and needs. She kept stumbling over financial obstacles. The profits of the library were meager, almost nonexistent, for the first users [66] were the poorest children—from orphanages, boarding homes, Centos kitchens, and children’s corners. Only after some time did Mrs B. finally introduce a monthly fee running from the minimal sum of 25 groszes to the maximum sum of 1 zloty.
In November 1941 Mrs B. became the paid director of the library. “The most unpleasant aspect of my work is that I need to be remunerated even though the library brings meager profits. But I have no other choice. I have a mother and a sister, who is a refugee. They are living under very poor financial conditions. If I did not devote so much time to the library I would earn money through tutoring. For I need to help my family,” Mrs B. reveals.
After Mrs B. had become a paid employee she began to come to work at [. . .] and stay until 4 or 5 p.m. The library went way beyond the theoretical development framework she had set. It became necessary to take away some of her duties. Mrs B. engaged an employee to help her lend books. Aside from this, however, she continues to carry the burden of running the library on her own shoulders. This job is her passion. She fills it with cultural-educational ideals and a deep love for her fellow man.
Users of Mrs B.’s library can exchange books every day and take out two books at the same time: a Polish and a Yiddish one. Mrs B. knows from her pre-war experience that Jewish women from lower social strata (from the working class and in particular from the lower middle class) who had been virtual bookworms before marriage ceased to read after they got married. “After deeper reflection I came to the conclusion that the reason [67], or at least one of the main reasons, was that those girls were reading books
