There are dead bodies at every step. I change direction and run to the left off the road. The car continues along that Polish road and soon it is ahead of me. We run in various directions. The murderers pursue us from all sides.
I notice that the peasants working the fields and the shepherds are running away out of fear. Finally, having run about 3 kilometres, we find ourselves in a small woodland. We decide that there is no point in running further and hide in the dense brush. We number some twenty people. The group is too big, and we divide into two groups of ten men each. The groups are separated by about 150 metres.
We lie there for several minutes and suddenly see that Ukrainians with several S.S. men have surrounded the wood and are entering it. They encounter the second group and all of them are immediately shot.
Among us is a Czech called Masaryk, a nephew of the former Czech president Masaryk. His wife was Jewish and he accompanied her to Treblinka. When he sees that the murderers are closing in on us, he takes a razor blade from his pocket and slits his wrists. Blood spurts from his wrists. I try to stop him, but he cannot be dissuaded, out of fear of falling yet again into the hands of the murderers.
We lie quietly for a brief time. Fortunately, they have not noticed us and have left the wood. I bind Masaryk’s wrists with a bit of linen and succeed in stanching the flow of blood. We lie there for a time, then notice that civilians have entered the wood.
They apparently have noticed us and have turned back towards us. We decide to run away quickly. We run for several hundred metres and come to another wood. Evening falls and it grows dark. At midnight we proceed further, not knowing where we are going.
Masaryk, a former officer, is able to orientate himself at night by the stars. With him leading the way, we move on. We walk all night. At sunrise we find ourselves in a big, dense forest. We decide to stay there. We are exhausted and very hungry.
We lie there a whole day. We take turns every few hours to make sure that no-one snores loudly if he falls asleep since every rustle resounds in the forest.
17
At midnight we set off and leave the forest. The night is clear, and we realize that we are not very far from… Treblinka. We roam around, then return to the forest where we walk till morning.
On the way we come to a muddy stream. Our comrade Masaryk crouches on all fours and drinks the muddy water. We do the same.
After three days of wandering, tired and hungry, we decide that we have to take a chance and go to a peasant’s house to find out where we are and ask for something to eat.
I and my comrade Kalman, the one who set the gas chambers on fire, knock at a peasant’s gate. The others remain hidden in the forest, afraid that we might encounter unfriendly people.
The peasant opens the gate but will not let us in. He tells us that Germans in automobiles and on bicycles have been looking for us all day long. At the same time we learn that the mayor has let it be known that any peasant who turns over a Jew to him or to the police will receive a big reward.
The peasant gives us a loaf of bread and some milk, asking for gold in exchange. We give him two watches. We learn that we are 15 kilometres from Treblinka. We want to find out if he knows where there are partisan units. He doesn’t know, but he informs us that there are big forests 5 kilometres from here. We head in that direction and wander around for fourteen days. But we do not encounter any partisans. It often happens that when we knock at the gates of a peasant house, they refuse to open or to answer our questions. We are so weakened by hunger and thirst that we can hardly stand. We pull up potatoes and beets in the fields and eat them raw. Our situation is desperate. By day we are afraid to show ourselves since everyone we meet tells us that there are round-ups going on.
After a fortnight in the forests, seeing no way out, I propose that we take a chance and travel to Warsaw. Several of us have acquaintances there, and perhaps we will succeed in saving ourselves. My proposal is rejected out of fear that along the way we might fall into the hands of the murderers.
Seeing that it is impossible for me to remain, I decide to leave for Warsaw by myself. It is painful for me to take leave of my friends. Still, I start on my way. We embrace each other and express our wish that we may meet again.
After walking several kilometres I come to a village. It is evening. I enter a peasant’s house. He is afraid to talk to me. He hands me a piece of bread and tells me that Warsaw is 99 kilometres away. As I stand there, I suddenly hear the sound of shooting in the distance. The peasant runs back into the house and shouts to me to run away at once. I run into the potato fields and hide there. I hear more shots. Night has fallen. Heavy rain begins to fall and continues all night. I lie there for twelve hours until dawn. I feel I will not be able get up, but with my last ounce of strength I get back on my feet. After walking a few kilometres, I see a man approaching me. By now indifferent to everything, I keep going. The man comes closer. I see from his clothes that he is a peasant and ask him the way. He thinks about it for a little while then asks me: — Are you one of those who fled Treblinka?
Seeing that he feels compassion for me, I tell him that I am indeed one of those who fled and ask him for help. He tells me that he has to go to the mill to buy flour for tomorrow’s holiday.
But he turns back with me towards his house, some 2 kilometres away. He leads the way and I follow.
When I enter his house I see a woman with a child in her arms.
I embrace the little child and kiss it. The woman looks at me in astonishment and I tell her: — Dear lady, it is a whole year since I have seen a living child… The woman and I cry together. She gives me food, and, seeing that I am soaked through, she gives me a shirt of her husband’s to put on. She mentions that it is her husband’s last shirt.
I see that these people want to help me. Weeping, the woman says to me: — I would very much like to help you, but I am afraid of my neighbours. After all, I have a small child…
After spending half an hour with them, I thank them warmly and want to say goodbye. The peasant points through the window to a barn standing in the middle of the fields not far from us. The barn belongs to a rich peasant and no-one ever goes there. He advises me to hide there and come to him in the evenings, when he will give me food. I thank them and head for the barn. I burrow deep into the straw so that no-one can see me. A real stroke of luck.
When evening falls I crawl out of the straw and head for my friends’ house. They receive me in a very friendly fashion. After I have been sitting there for a few minutes, a neighbour suddenly enters, and without so much as saying hello slaps me hard twice on the face. He screams: — Yid, come with me!
Unfortunately I am helpless. The woman, seeing what he means to do to me, begs him to let go of me and allow me to escape. But he refuses to budge. The woman kisses him and begs him: — Franek, what do you want with that man? Do you even know him?
He screams at her for defending me: — Don’t you know that these bandits set fire to Treblinka? I’ll get a reward for him!
Her entreaties and tears are in vain. Seeing that she cannot change his mind, she goes over to him, grabs him from behind and shouts to me to escape. I tear myself away and dash out of the house. I cross the garden and run a couple of hundred steps and lie down in the field. I decide not to run away since it would be a shame to lose such good people. When it is clear to me that Franek has gone, I crawl back towards my friends on all fours, go into the barn and lie down again. In the morning the peasant comes in and when he sees me he greets me warmly. He is afraid that I will be caught because the neighbours all around are very bad people. He brings me food several times a day, and in the evening I hide in the barn in the middle of the fields.