The Nazis broke into the home of Stanislavsky Lech, who was Jewish, took the entire family out at gunpoint, put them on a crowded train, filled with the stench of death and despair, and sent them to Krakow.
Then, before his eyes, Lech saw his entire family shoot. Somehow he managed to live overnight, in a numb, unconscious, zombie-like state. Impatiently, he awaited his own death. But one day he realized that his own death was not an inevitable truth. In fact, he could do something about it: he could try to escape.
Once he made his decision, he did not know how to execute it. He only knew one simple thing: his decision was irrevocable and somehow he had to find a way to act on it.
As weeks turned into months, he questioned his fellow inmates. “How can we escape?” asked. It became a nuisance, an irritation. “It’s useless,” they repeated to themselves. “Stop hurting yourself,” they begged. Some would abuse him openly; others would walk away in silence.
In turn, he rejected their answers, their silences, their overwhelming despair. There has to be a way, he told himself, and I’ll find it. This is my revenge: surviving I will show that the Nazis are not invincible and that they are not in total control of our will and that they cannot do what they want with us.
Every day a dialogue passed through his head. “Today I choose to escape from this nightmare. I will not remain a victim. I will not accept these conditions. I am a man, with rights and dignity, and I will, help me God, to find a way to let everyone know what is happening here I am going to escape. I have no doubt. How can I escape today, perhaps right now? There is a weakness in your security.
They can’t look at us every minute. There is something I need to find, and I will find it today, something I have overlooked, something that will bring me freedom. There is a weak link here, somewhere. I will find it. “
The urgency of his question struck his heart and mind every waking moment, and it followed him into his dreams.
Then one day, as sad as any other, he saw what had been before him all along. The Nazis let the bodies of naked men, women and children, shot because they were too weak to work in the labor camp, pile up on the ground before a truck came and took them away. With typical efficiency, the truck would only come when there were enough bodies to fill it.
Hiding behind a bush, he stripped off all his clothes and then plunged into the pile of corpses. He stood still, pretending to be dead, with the foul smell of death all around him.
He stayed there for a day. More corpses were thrown on him. He was unfazed. Finally, the truck arrived. Rough hands pushed his limp body into the truck.
Many more hours of horror passed in the truck. Finally, his body was thrown into an open grave.
He waited until dusk before leaving.
The sweet smell of the night, the cool breeze, filled his lungs as he ran twenty-five miles to freedom.