Escaping

Stanislowow was made a ghetto where the remaining six thousand or so Jews lived. Bob's mom (Bertl), grandmother (Golde) and brother (George) were still alive. In the ghetto, Bertl met Emil, the man she was to marry after the war. Emil had Jewish connections who informed him that the Nazis were planning to eliminate the ghetto. Bertl knew she and her family had to do something to save themselves. She left the ghetto every morning to go to work. In late 1941 or early 1942 (Bob wasn't quite sure of the date), Bertl devised what was a quite brilliant plan to sneek her two children out of the ghetto. Bob, a boy of about six, hid underneath his mother's skirt and George hid under one of Bertl's girlfriend's skirt. In the morning rush out of the ghetto, nobody noticed that there was an extra pair of feet underneath each woman's skirt. The two boys hid inside a closet for the entire day. Then, Bertl came to take them both and they escaped to Warsaw, a big city where Emil had a sister who could care for the family. All those who did not escape the ghetto were killed twelve days later.

In Warsaw, the family changed their last name to Kaminski so that their name would not call out the fact that they were Jews. The Geminders pretended to be Catholic: they would put up Christmas trees and lights. They had to move a lot, also. What is more, they had to do all kinds of things in order to survive: they borrowed carrots and potatoes from nearby fields so that they could eat. Bob was sure to say his brother and he were not stealing food. He did not like the connotion of a word like "stealing"; it was an innocent, if desperate, act of survival. Once, Bob and George found tobacco and rolled it up into cigarrettes that they then sold to make a little bit of money.

Bertl became very nervous about being found out. She decided she would send her children to live with some Catholic acquaintances in Krakowow because she wanted to make sure they lived. The children would have to act Catholic. That, however, would be a small role to play for survival. Bertl promised that in exchange for the family taking care of her boys, she would give them lands after the war(remember, the Geminders were relatively wealthy before the war brok out). All would have been swell. But, one Sunday, the family took Bob and George to mass. Christian custom dictates that hats are to be removed in mass while Jewish tradition says it should be kept on during religious services. George forgot to play his role and, instead of taking off his hat, he put it on. The Catholic mother became very nervous about being caught. She called Bertl to go pick up her children. She did. She could only take one, however. Since George had been the one who had made the mistake, it was imperative that he be the one taken first. Bob was left behind and had to hide in a very small attic. For two and one half months at the age of seven, Bob live hungry and dirty, lice ridden, in an attic. Sometimes, Bob would leave the attic at night and would eat raw eggs that the family's chickens laid. To a starving child, this was delectible.