until we came to a village, where a peasant told the soldiers not to take me
with them any further. So I set out again alone. As I was walking along,
I met a young Christian wearing a rucksack. I had a talk with him and he
told me that he was also going across the border, but if I wanted to cross the
border with him, I would have to pay him. I agreed and we went on together.
The Christian told me that they lived close to the border on the other side and
I could spend the night with them. At the border there was a stream which
we would have to cross, but when we reached it a border patrol [51] shouted at
us to stop. At that moment the Christian leaped across the stream and I was
left standing there. I tried to do the same but couldn’t. The patrol was getting
closer and I took fright and went halfway into the stream. The Christian gave
me a tug and I got out safely on the other side. The soldier shouted at us to
cross back over, but we replied that we would be back soon and ran off with
all our strength until we got to the Christian’s house.
I entered it more dead than alive. I asked them for milk and bread. I ate
my fill and came to myself a bit. I paid for that handsomely too, after which
I lay down to sleep on the ground, which was covered with straw, and paid for
that as well… I needed a shave because when I had left the town in the middle
of the night, there was no barber’s shop open. And here I was afraid that [52]
someone would recognise me as a Jew. So I went to a peasant and asked him
to shave me. I had to pay a lot of money for it because he threatened to tell
the yevonim that I was a Jew. The next morning, after paying the Christian
for taking me across the border — double what we had agreed, because he
too threatened me, I set off again.
On the road there was a peasant driving a cart, so I asked if he would
take me along with him. He replied that he would, but only if I paid him in
advance. I paid him. After a kilometre, he threw me off the cart and told me
I could continue on foot. There was no alternative, so I continued on foot and
dragged myself from village to village. When I saw that I would not be able
to reach the Jewish village by nightfall, and it was forbidden to travel after
dark, I went into [53] a village and asked every peasant to let me spend the
night if I paid him, but nobody would agree or listen to my pleas. Several villages
treated me the same way, on the pretext that I would soon reach the
Jewish village. Night was falling. I was seized with fear that I would have
nowhere to spend the night and the yevonim would catch me. The day before,
when I was in O[strów Mazowiecka?]. having a pass issued, they had warned
