Before the war, he was a student of the humanities at the University of Warsaw. His family was not particularly wealthy, but neither were they poor. He was supported by his family; however, he gave private lessons to earn money for his personal expenses. Currently, he makes a living trading gold and currency.
During the war, he went through a lot. He left Warsaw on the memorable day of 7 September 1939. He went by foot to Siedlce with a group of friends. There, they were able to get a cart, which took them all the way to Brest. From there, walking on foot again, he went to Kovel; he was there when the Russians entered. Initially, he was suffering terrible poverty: all his money had run out. He slept on a bench in the beth midrash, ate soup in the Talmud Torah. He expected things to change for the better, along with the stabilisation of the situation. He firmly believed that in the circumstances [. . .] he would be able to make a living with the work of his hands. [. . .] to Donbas.525 When they ran out, he left on a freight train [. . .] there to Sochi.526 There, he sold his watch to a Soviet soldier, and lived on that money for some time. And when that money also ran out, he went to Białystok. There he met up with his classmates and started selling items they had brought. In October, he decided to go to Warsaw, but the sight of the ruined [. . .] raids made such a disheartening impression on him that in less than two weeks he left for the Soviet Union. He was more cautious this time: he took with him a large sum of money, a couple of gold rings, and two watches. Some things were taken from him on the border in Małkinia, but still, he managed to carry much more. He intended to enroll at the University of Lvov, but it was too late. Therefore, he remained in Białystok and became a professional merchant. He tells me that [. . .] [2] He lived with a few friends [. . .] even made some profit, but when in the early 1940 a hunt for speculators began in Białystok, and good news came
