During the day, she walked in the forest, although the walk was hard and with many obstacles. When it got dark, she went out into the open, bypassing some isolated villages that were on her way and deciding not to take unnecessary risks.
On the third day of her walk, when she ran out of food and thirst bothered her, she decided to approach a wide river along which she noticed several bridges and some scattered houses. She braided her hair and tied a handkerchief round her head, took a thick branch in her hand, and looked like a villager who had gone out into the woods to look for mushrooms.
As she walked along a wooden fence that surrounded one of the houses, a dog began to bark, followed by a chorus of more dogs. Most of them were tied up, but one large dog managed to jump over the fence and ran towards her in a threatening manner. She picked up the branch and hit it hard, but the dog did not flinch; he grabbed the stick between his teeth and pulled it from her hands. While looking for a stone to protect herself, an older man came out to her and shouted at the dog. The dog left her and ran to his owner, still looking back at her.
"Where are you from? I do not know you," the man turned to her.
"I got lost, I was with a group of some young people, but I cannot find them," she said.
"Where do you live?" He asked again.
"I'm from Maluszyn."
"Maluszyn? It's about two hundred kilometers from here. How did you get here?"
"A friend who was transporting goods in a truck drove us. He turned to his destination and dropped us off near the forest, and then they disappeared."
The farmer looked at her and frowned, "Are you Jewish?" He asked suspiciously.
"No, Bron Boze, God forbid, and why do you ask, do I look Jewish to you?"
The farmer approached and looked at her, unconvinced of her answer, "Are you hungry? Want something for your way?"
"I would be very grateful if you would give me something. May God bless you for your great generosity," she crossed herself.
"Come on, come in; my wife is home; she's going to make you something to eat."
She noticed that the farmer had several pigs in the yard and a small vegetable garden where he grew different kinds of vegetables; the house looked well maintained relative to the houses in the remote villages along the river.
"Basia, I brought you a guest," he shouted as they entered.
The dog coming in after them doesn't leave Violette's side, looking at her and the farmer as if waiting for a sign from his owner. The farmer opened the door and kicked it out.
"From time to time, some vagabonds steal from our yard; there are many nomads in the forest and also Jews who jumped from the trains that led them to Auschwitz."
His wife came out of the kitchen and looked at Violette.
"Chwala Boga," Violette greeted her.
"Chwala Boga, welcome to our home."
Violette sat down at the kitchen table. The smells of the stew on the fireplace made her stomach cramp; she was starving.
"Soon, I'll serve the stew." She poured her a glass of water from a clay jug.
"There are German headquarters at the edge of the village; they check that the villagers will not give shelter to Jews. In the neighboring village, they shot dead an entire family who hid a Jewish child," she said, looking at Violette with great suspicion. "What is your full name?"
"Bozena Kulak," she replied, "do you want to see a certificate?"
"No, no, but you know, we are afraid; the Germans are serious."
Violette took out the certificate, "look here and calm down."
The woman looked at the certificate, and Violette hurried to put it back in her pocket.
After eating a legume stew with potatoes and carrots, Violette got up to thank them. "I'm grateful; I wish there were a lot of people like you; God bless you. I will continue on my way and hope to find my friends who will surely be looking for me."
"Maybe stay the night with us; it is dangerous for a girl like you to walk around in the dark alone," the woman said.
Violette had hoped that she would indeed be asked to stay. However, she showed slight signs of hesitation, "If I do not find my friends, I will be left alone; on second thought, I will accept your generous offer, and may God bless this house and its occupants."
Basia arranged a mattress by the fireplace. "Here, you will be warm," she told her. The woman went into the bedroom with her husband. Behind the door, there were loud whispers during which the man left the room and took his coat hanging by the door, and left.
The woman remained in her room, and Violette was worried that she might suspect her of being a Jew and report to the Nazi command unit at the village. She approached the window and pulled back the curtain, still not completely dark, and she saw his figure moving away towards the exit as his dog ran after him.
Violette sat down on the chair and hesitated. The time available to her was not long as she knew that the Nazis would arrive in their vehicle within minutes as soon as the farmer handed her over.
The bedroom door opened, and Basia appeared, "I just need a glass of water; why are you up? Are you not tired?"
"Where did your husband go?" Violette asked her.
"He went for a drink with his friends; he'll probably come back drunk as usual," she replied.
"Go to sleep, I will go out for a breath of fresh air, and then I will sleep better," she replied without her face revealing anything of the emotional turmoil in her head.
When Basia entered her room, Violette hurried to fill her backpack with some food lying on the shelves, half a loaf of bread, and left the house. She knew that Basia was following her through the window, so she walked slowly and confidently, occasionally stopping and looking through the clear sky at the full moon. Then, she advanced towards the edges of the forest. Finally, when she was far enough so that Basia could not see her anymore, she crossed into the woods. Then she grabbed a good observation position and, from a distance of a few hundred meters from the house, lay behind a tree trunk and waited.
It was not long before what her heart had predicted happened. Two vehicles approached the house and stopped with a squeak, from which several soldiers escorting the villager jumped out. They entered the house and came out with Basia. She pointed in the direction of Violette's escape.
She could not hear the voices from her hiding place but saw one of the soldiers pushing the farmer who fell on his knees begging for his life, then she heard a single shot and saw the farmer fall, Basia's screams reached her. Before the soldiers got in their car, they shot the barking dog.
Basia was left lying on her husband's body, next to the dead dog, when they left.
Violette did not raise her head; she lay motionless, well-hidden until the two vehicles disappeared. The Germans probably realized that there was no point in looking for her in the depths of the forest. They also feared an ambush of partisans which the girl could have served as bait for them.
From conversations with the villager, she understood her geographical position. Now she knew which direction she should take and waited for it to get darker, not to continue her way through the dense trees and be prey for jackals.
At nightfall, she began to walk in the open area bordering the forest. She realized she had to move away from the region to the southwest and hoped to reach a city where she could organize herself with a new identity and find safe shelter. Unfortunately, forests are an existential danger to her. As a young and lonely girl, regardless of her religion, she is easy prey for the forest dwellers, whether Polish partisans or members of the Kraiowa army who have found shelter from the Germans.