The peasants told us it was dangerous to move around in Ejszyszki, because the Lithuanians were arresting all foreigners. So they knocked on a Jew’s door and led us in. The Jew received us very well.
There was an aid committee for refugees in Ejszyszki, organised and administered by the local rabbi, a man with a great love for all Jews.390 Words cannot express [16] the enormous assistance provided by the Ejszyszki committee.
The committee had an agreement with the Lithuanian border guards that, for payment of a ransom, all Jews detained while crossing the border illegally would be released and handed over to the committee. If a Lithuaniancaught a foreign Jew at the border or in town, he brought the Jew to the committee and received a certain amount of ransom money.
The committee provided food, drink, clothing and money to all refugees without exception. They were then sent immediately to Vilna at the committee’s expense, because it was dangerous for Jews who had come from the Soviet side to remain in the little town of Ejszyszki. When Germans took the town from the Russians, the rabbi along with his entire family died as a martyr to the Jewish faith. May his good deeds and those of the committee members never be forgotten.
My husband, who had by chance joined another group in Werenowo to steal across the border, [16a] had not yet arrived. We were very worried, because there had recently been many cases of people being fired on at the border. There had also been cases where “guides” had left their charges standing in the middle of the forest and run off. Many people had to try several times before finally succeeding in crossing the border. I therefore wanted to wait in Ejszyszki until my husband arrived, but I realised that this was impossible because of the frequent searches carried out by the Lithuanians.
The aid committee bought tickets for me and the other refugees on a truck that was going from Ejszyszki to Vilna. We went to the truck one by one, accompanied by local youths, so as not to draw attention to ourselves.
