We Were the Lucky Ones

As Mila is sewing in her workshop, she hears whispers that German soldiers are raiding the building. It has been over a month since occupying forces sealed Radom’s two Jewish ghettos. The soldiers forced all of Radom’s Jews living outside of the ghettos out of their homes. Many struggled to find places to live inside the ghettos, which others already overcrowded. The dreaded SS—Schutzstaffel—replaced the Wehrmacht soldiers. Mila’s friend Isaac is a member of the Jewish Police and has witnessed their brutality. Raids happen regularly in workplaces, as the SS comb the ghetto for those without work papers: “Most without papers—the elderly, the sick, and the very young—have already been deported” (135).

Mila has spent weeks trying to devise a plan to get Felicia to safety, while she waits for Halina to return from Lvov with money and forged papers. Nechuma has been able to buy a little food on the black market to supplement their inadequate rations, but their savings are almost gone. Mila and her parents are growing desperate, pinning their hopes on Halina coming back to get them out of the ghetto.

Now, Mila takes Felicia and puts her in a large paper sack, hidden among sewing materials.