Jewish resistance groups operated in tandem with the Polish underground to make it possible for Jewish men, women, and children to flee the ghetto secretly. But many who escaped the city to the countryside and the forests were slain by Polish farmers and locals.

The Germans ordered that the neighbours be put to death alongside the family that hid Jews. Some in the rural areas had established gangs to track down and murder Jews to gain favour with the occupation force; there was also long-standing anti-Semitic prejudice among a number of these communities.

Ewa tracked some of Irena’s Jewish contacts and managed to involve them in her workshops and schools. Since the partisans formed the only link between Irena’s connections on either side of the wall, she sought to gain information about its network and leadership in the ghetto to coordinate the transit of children to the Aryan side efficiently.

She found, however, that there were hardly any partisans on the surface, save a few who were directly involved in retrieving the children from operatives on the Jewish side.

“This business does not disclose names or true identities to protect everyone involved. Suppose one link in the chain of activities is compromised. In that case, the entire network derails.” Symeon explained when Ewa told him the dilemma she encountered in contacting the partisans to help more children.

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She finally had a chance to meet four underground members when they showed up to fetch eleven children from one of Irena’s contacts who was working at Ewa’s workshop. These women kept the kids at secret locations until the arrival of the Jewish partisans to take them to the Aryan side.

“Who is she?” one of the men inquired about Ewa from her.

“She is one of us,” the woman replied.

“She hardly looks like one of us,” the contact said. “Still, let us start moving. They will leave if we don’t make it in another thirty minutes.”

Ewa discovered that the women picked the kids to ensure they were healthy enough to run and spend extended time in hiding if required and free from cold or coughing, jeopardizing their covert transit.

She felt incredible satisfaction and joy once the kids had departed.

“Here, could you perhaps store this at your house or one of the workshops? They are going to send someone to pick it up tomorrow,” the woman said as she gave her a bag that the partisans handed her before they left. It was not too large but felt rather heavy.

The woman intended to involve Ewa in the resistance effort by this gesture.

Ewa peeked into it just before placing it in her basement’s closet and counted two pistols and eight hand grenades. She wished she could jump over the wall at that instant and toss the bombs at the Nazis.

She felt a moment of pride when she realized for the first time that her people had grown inside the ghetto the will to launch an armed struggle.