of some twenty kilometres awaited us, which we had to cover by foot. Thus
we were unable to take any baggage with us and instead of baggage, we had
to carry our children, who were not able to walk such a long way, etc., etc. But
all of my justifications did not mitigate against my “crime”; the main question
was how one could set out without all the above mentioned necessary
articles. “The court” did not accept my justification. Nevertheless, we were
offered tea and sweets, unlike our first hosts “the beggar-women”, who had
given us well-sweetened hot milk. Slowly their tongues began to loosen and
they gave out some information about themselves and surprise, surprise! They
told us that the woman and the two girls could sleep with them in the bedroom,
where there was an empty bed. In the straw bag, there remained some
straw, so I could take a bit of straw from what I had brought and put it inside.
On that bed there was also an eiderdown and a pillow and thus they would
have a comfortable bed. Furthermore, the bundle of bedding which they had
purposely laid down in the pantry in order to drive us away from there, was
made available to the men, that is to me and my two sons. The bundle contained
an eiderdown, a pillow, and a blanket. Who would have expected such
a thing? Such unexpected kindness after such a cold welcome [10] I certainly
did not expect and I became angry with myself for thinking badly of Jewish
women, who gave the impression of being evil and mean, but who in truth
were very good people. . .
It turned out that my description of our suffering when we were driven
from home and the journey to Biała made the needed impression on the
women, to the extent that they gave me and my family quite a lot of bedding,
in great contrast to their [general] bad character about which I only
later learned.
The room, or the so-called pantry which my sons and I had received to
sleep in, was cold, because the windows were not properly closed. The Almighty,
however, always sends relief from the plague. Next to the room lived a tenant
of my landladies, whom I have mentioned previously, Pinkhes Murzynek.
In the evening, Pinkhes had said to the family whom he had taken in, “those
people in the pantry will really freeze”. What did he do? He took a good deal
of wood and peat and, before lighting candles,¹⁸⁸ lit the stove in his room.
The back side of this stove was [part of the wall of] my room, and he stoked
188 Before the beginning of the Sabbath.
