None came. The post must have absorbed the shock as he had hoped. Jakob could hardly believe that his long-imagined, long-anticipated plan had actually worked and that they had eluded the feared and ruthless Gestapo—for now.

Time passed. He could not judge how much.

Slowly Jakob could feel the air getting stale and thick and more difficult to breathe. All was black.

Hear O Israel, he began to whisper, and as he did Ulrike and the youngsters joined with the Shema, the Lord our God is one, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might…

They continued to quote favorite passages, first from the Psalms, then from Deuteronomy.

It must be nearly midnight, thought Jakob.

He wondered if his contact would still be at the designated location. Would he wait, or would they be left on their own, to wander through the night until the Gestapo picked them up at the break of dawn?

Carefully he wriggled his cramped legs free from the weight of his son’s now-sleeping body, put his hands above him, pushed up the lid, stretched himself upward, and dared a peek into the open yard.

The immediate rush of the cold, fresh, night air felt like a bracing tonic against his face. His eyes peered about, heart pounding.

Behind him, the lights of the house were still shining. He wondered if someone was inside, awaiting their return. They probably had someone guarding it.

He lifted the makeshift roof a little farther, then enough to poke out his head. He glanced about quickly.

All was still. It looked safe enough. The Gestapo appeared to be gone.

Gently and quietly, he laid back the sod and board, then stood and climbed out. Adjuring Ulrike to silence with a gestured finger against his lips, he knelt down and took the sleeping little girl from her arms.

65 Night of Death

65

Night of Death

In a distant part of Wloclawek, the final search on the list had just been completed.

Neither rabbi nor kingpin of the Jewish escape network had been found. Only more Jews. None of them knew anything. These mostly came from the day’s investigation of the textile factory. Where did these Jews come from, the section chief wondered. Why were there so many in Poland and Russia?

He climbed into his car and waited, then started the engine and fell in behind the truck.

It was one or two in the morning. The city was silent save the two SS cars, a truckload of God’s children about to be purged forever from the German Reich, and the lone car following behind.

Slowly the four vehicles snaked their way to the outskirts of the city, then four or five kilometers southward into the country, to a lonely forested area along a dirt road some distance into the trees, where at last they stopped beside a great mound of earth.