Read Online In the Sewers of Lvov by Robert Marshall - Free Book Online Page B

implication was obvious. Besides, there had been arguments between Weiss and his wife ever since Halina had arrived at their house. Mrs Weiss was convinced that her husband was in love with the young woman.
    ‘Why is she going down?’
    ‘Everyone is going down.’
    ‘You can’t live in a sewer.’
    The argument escalated, but no one wanted to intervene. It may seem extraordinary that just as their world was being engulfed in flames, a husband and wife might reach a crisis over a suspected infidelity. From all accounts, Mrs Weiss’s suspicions were wholly unfounded. There was no such relationship between Weiss and Halina. Yet, living in an atmosphere of constant persecution, perhaps it’s not surprising that deeply buried fears and anxieties had come to the surface.
    While her son and daughter-in-law argued, old Mother Weiss and Halina climbed down into the cellar and were led by Berestycki into the shaft. They slipped down into the underworld. In Halina’s account, she wrote, ‘I heard something that sounded like a river. I saw a lot of people. Some held torches and some had candles.’ Every so often, she heard the sound of a splash when someone slipped, or jumped into the river. Soon Berestycki descended too, took Halina by the hand and led her and old Mrs Weiss away.
    ‘Our sewer workers will be here. Just come with me.’
    She hadn’t a clue what he meant, but she followed.
    Meanwhile, in Weiss’s room, Margulies still had hold of Klara’s hand. His grip had become almost vice-like, wordlessly imploring ‘I won’t let you go. I’ll look after you.’
    Manya stood like a statue, unable to move. Then Margulies suddenly remembered a woman they had taken down on the previousoccasion. A mother of two daughters. He told Klara to stay where she was and that he’d be back in a few minutes. He dashed down the corridor in search of the woman and her children. As he passed a window, he caught a glimpse of the scene outside. Some of the Jewish police who had escaped the initial slaughter were being chased towards the barrack. Were they seeking refuge amongst their erstwhile kinsmen? Margulies knew they could not be allowed anywhere near Weiss’s room or the cellar beneath. If everyone didn’t climb down the hole immediately, they risked leading the Germans to the shaft, and eventually those already down below.
    He stumbled into the woman’s room but stopped dead in his tracks. There, in a corner, the mother and her two daughters lay retching. The cyanide they had taken had all but completely flushed the life from their bodies. ‘I just covered them up with a blanket – what could I do? – and closed the door.’
    Back in Weiss’s room, Margulies took hold of Klara’s hand again. Time was now critical.
    ‘The Jewish police are coming this way.’
    Manya had become hysterical and began to scream.
    ‘I want to live, I want to live!’
    Around her the last remaining escapers had become infected with her hysteria and the final moments were lost in almost total panic. In order to regain control, Margulies had begun striking people before launching them down to the cellar. The final few were sent down and Margulies turned to Klara.
    ‘Come, come, come. …’
    ‘He was pulling me one way and she was pulling in the other,’ recalled Klara. But Manya was no match for Margulies’s determination.
    ‘Come!’ he repeated. Klara, in a daze, stepped into the cellar and did not glance back. Margulies followed and heaved the stone into place, closing the hole in Weiss’s floor. Manya was left behind. Then Marguiles led Klara to the shaft and told her to climb down it. He followed, pulling the iron grate into place.
    Klara landed on the narrow ledge, took one or two tentative steps and suddenly felt her foot slip off the edge and into thewater. Margulies’s powerful hand instantly grabbed her arm and she felt his weight hauling her back against the wall. In the flashes of light that punctured the darkness, she saw the