Mitla Pass - Leon Uris [81]
WHITE RUSSIA
Wolkowysk-Bialystok, 1916–1919
THERE HAD NEVER been what might be termed a stampede by the Jews to rally around the flag of Mother Russia. Forced into conscription at an early age, many Jewish boys were sent off to Siberian duty and were not heard from for years. Once the Jews were in the Army, the authorities used fair means or foul to get them to convert to Christianity.
Avoiding service in the Russian Army was considered an honorable pursuit by the Jews in the Pale. False documents were a standard commodity and no one in the Jewish community considered it ethical to profit from their traffic.
As soon as the Czar’s new edict calling up eighteen-year-olds was published, Yehuda Zadok traveled immediately to the nearby town of Lida where a close rabbi friend had excellent connections for obtaining false papers.
One of the common methods was not to report the death of young men to the authorities, but keep their documents and pass them on to someone who needed a set.
Yehuda was able to acquire the papers of a seventeen-year-old youth who had died of pneumonia. On Nathan’s arrival home from Minsk, his father presented him with his new identity, that of one Pinchas Hirsch.
Nathan’s reunion with his family was rather pleasant. He was welcomed with an affection he had never known before from his father. Right was right. The boy had worked very hard to keep the family fed and was always prompt in sending money home. He deserved some respect. Not exactly the respect one would afford a scholar like Mordechai, but respect nonetheless.
Since he recovered from his stroke, Yehuda Zadok had also changed many of his attitudes. Mainly, he became a supporter of the Zionist movement. Yehuda’s sentiments favored the religious elements, but he no longer disdained the socialist labor movement of Poale Zion which had captured the imagination of the younger people.
Their family reunion was limited to only one meal, hardly enough time to get caught up, but it didn’t matter to Nathan. He almost completely ignored the fact that his older sisters were blossoming—not raving beauties, but nice solid girls in a plain and wholesome way. He showed equal disinterest in the progress of his younger brothers. He made a perfunctory inquiry about his father’s health and, of course, never mentioned Mordechai.
What was most important to Nathan was that he had won the right to hold court at the table, now that he was respected. He used the opportunity, speaking nonstop of his accomplishment as a Poale leader in Minsk, his mastery of languages, and some of the more palatable experiences in his journeys. With only a passing comment on the outstanding meal Sophie had scraped together for the occasion, the occasion was over.
Nathan was scheduled to register for the Army in a few days, so an urgent meeting was called at the rabbi’s home. Aram Hornstein was the local leader of the Poale Zion chapter and the main mover of young men trying to avoid army conscription. The general plan was to move the escapees as far west as they could get by train. Once into Polish territory they would be beyond the reach of the Russian authorities. It was a dangerous business. In order to get to Poland, one had to pass through the battle lines. There were a number of safe houses in the shtetl villages forming an underground route. The ultimate object was to reach Warsaw where Poale was strongly organized.
Hornstein reckoned it would be best to move Nathan out of Wolkowysk that same night. He was to board a train when he reached Bialystok, which still had rail traffic moving west.
For fear of being spotted by the local police, Nathan left Wolkowysk without so much as a farewell to his mother. The next morning