This was, as I said, in the autumn of 1941. At that time, many Polish underground patriots – both officers and civilians – took that route to escape from Hitler’s clutches. They did so without Schmid’s assistance.
Schmid would be paid well for transporting refugees on such a journey: 200 dollars per head plus a couple of thousand roubles. His convoy consisted of as many as ten or so lorries, in which the refugees would travel. The Adlershad absolutely no financial resources, so for them the sum of 200 dollars was just a dream. They were nevertheless determined to do everything in their power to escape from the Vilna inferno, so they decided to look among the Jewish “capitalists” in the ghetto for people who wanted to emigrate in this fashion, charge them a slightly higher price, and thus cover themselves financially. But their search proved fruitless; no one could be found who was interested. Since their search among random people in the ghetto yielded nothing, and since Adler was, after all, a member of Poale Zion, he went to the Vilna HeHalutz and asked them to look for capitalists who wanted to get out. The prices were to be doubled – 400 dollars per head instead of 200; 8,000 roublesinstead of 4,000 – so that for each capitalist, one of the halutzim could join the transport. HeHalutz would give its moral guarantee. For the transportto be able to leave, 12 capitalists plus 12 halutzim were needed (the Adlers, of course, would be among the first to go). But recruitment of the pairs dragged on, and although the atmosphere in the ghetto was very [5] tense, the necessary number of candidates could not be found. Meanwhile, news arrived from Polish revolutionary circles that the latest “excursions” to the Åland Islands had failed. Thus the whole enterprise with its rosy plans came to nothing. In view of the risk, both parties abandoned the idea.
Schmid then carried out another operation directly connected to his activity as a friend and protector of Zionist youth in general and HeHalutz in particular: he transported four people from Vilna to Warsaw (Shloyme Entin536 from Hanoar,537 Edek [Boraks]538 from HaShomer HaTzair, and two
