Thus, of the Baluters on the last transport, a third underwent the special treatment, another third—from illness, exhaustion, from starving—died in the camp, and the rest perished in this spot or that spot, along the snowy road. As for Lipiczany and Kipnis, they were too weak to join the marchers. They could not even get out of their bunk. They simply lay there—for months it seemed, for years, though in fact the Red Army entered the camp in a matter of days.

There are perhaps two hundred Baluters who lived through the three months at Oswiecim and the many years that have passed between now and then. Let’s say we wrote them, in America or South America or wherever, to ask a different question: What happened to I. C. Trumpelman? It’s surprising how many Jews would answer—surprising, too, how many would say that the Elder died there, in the killing camp.

In one version of this story, there was an additional transport—for the Jews who had managed to hide in the Suburb—and the Elder was on it. Another version has it that Chaim drove up in a special command car, just for himself. Many Baluters believe he had a letter, from Wohltat or some other high official, that supposedly guaranteed him all sorts of favors inside the camp. However, as soon as the letter was opened, Trumpelman was led to a wall, where he was shot. But other Jews say that, to amuse the Kapos and guards, the Elder was allowed to carry on as if he were still in the Ghetto, strutting about, giving orders, with his black boots and his cane. There are people who swear they saw him on a hilltop, shouting, hup-hup-hup!, as our Baluters paraded by: then he got onto the end of the line and marched into the death house. Here is a different tale. Chaim tries to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, he crouches down, he wears a disguise. But he is recognized by a crowd of Baluters—some say by Judenrat members—who beat him to death on the spot. Rumors! Gossip! Guesses! The Jews from Oswiecim can’t bear to think he died someplace else.

In the springtime, well after the liberation of the camp, a new rumor sprang up. It seems a handful of Jews had managed to hide in the Ghetto, and more had saved themselves on the Aryan side. Now these folk were saying that the Elder had not left the Balut, that, in fact, he was still living inside. It was because of this story, mainly, that the two underground fighters, Nachman and Nisel, decided to return to the town where they had been born.

But when they arrived there, Trumpelman could not be found. At Tsarskoye Selo, Red Army men blocked the mansion door. And only Poles were living on Krzyzanowsky, in the original Hatters’ Asylum. There was a report that Trumpelman took baths at the Rumkowsky Geyser; but the fire was out there, and boards had been placed over the top of the dome. Next, the boys stood opposite Dworska Number 20, studying each person who went in and came out. They had heard that the Elder was working for the undercover police, the Bolshevik ones, who had taken over the old House of Lords. A dead end, that clue, the same as the others.