A month since she found out to be pregnant, Violette married Janusz in a modest ceremony at the town hall. The ceremony was attended by several employees of the Jewish Agency and from Janusz's Red Cross office. But, unfortunately, Viktor was no longer in Warsaw; He had moved to a training center
for those candidates to relocate to Palestine, and she lost contact with him.
When they left the town hall, they went to a modest restaurant to celebrate the event. Violette and Janusz preferred a civil wedding to a Jewish ceremony without being able to explain to themselves the reason for it. "Perhaps in the future, we will have a Jewish wedding." It seems unnecessary to me now," Janusz explained to his friends who were interested in the reason.
One day he came with some news "Listen, Violette, I have received information that Polish officers who fought the Nazis, either in the Russian army or as partisans, are entitled to a free apartment in the city of Stettin, which we call now Szczecin. As you know, the borders of Poland moved west after the war, and about five million Germans were evacuated from their homes from the cities of Gdansk, Stettin, and Breslau. So I applied for a house in Szczecin. It's the most west located city in Poland; it's Central Europe."
Violette wanted to emigrate to America but knew she had no chance of getting a visa without a letter from her parents, which had not arrive till now. So she agreed to move to Stettin on one condition; Once they can move to America, they leave everything and emigrate; Janusz agreed to this condition, not wholly convinced.
Violette's belly grew. She was already past her third month when they were allowed to move to Szczecin. They packed up their few belongings and boarded a train from Warsaw to Berlin as they were due to get off at the Szczecin station, about a hundred kilometers before Berlin.
The train carriages were filled with young military men with their new wives. Only families could get a free apartment, so there were many hasty marriages among the young officers.
But other circumstances pushed many Jews to take the opportunity of leaving Poland. The Poles received the survivors from the battles, camps, and forests with evident hostility and refused to return their confiscated property. Janusz, who worked for the Red Cross and the Bond, thought there was no need to flee and emigrate from Poland. The Bond organization foresaw a shared future for Jews and Poles on Polish soil. It did not feel the hostility and hatred that was obvious everywhere. One of the Polish passengers passed from one cabin to another stopped near their seat; he looked around and said. "So many Jews again? Where did they come from?" Violette looked at Janusz. "Did you hear that?" She raised her voice. "I do not see anything unusual in this matter," he replied. None of the passengers responded.
"This is the cemetery of the Jews of Poland; it's time to leave; they will not let you stay here. The Nazis did most of the work for them, but they think they did not do enough, and they will not rest till the last of us is gone."
"Calm down Violette, what happened to you?"
"When we get to Szczecin, I want to take care of my visa right away. I do not want to stay and raise our child in this place."
"Think about it, wait and see the house" Janusz tried to calm her down.
Violette fell asleep; she was tired from the long ride in the crowded cabin. Janusz sitting next to her, was immersed in his thoughts. He gave up his job to get a house that would be only theirs; he hoped to find a job in Szczecin. He also knew about the pogrom that took place about a month ago in the city of Kielce, in which hateful Polish citizens massacred Jews accused of kidnapping a child, and the police did not intervene. Forty innocent Jews, women, men, and babies were butchered in broad daylight. It was in July 1946, exactly two years after the liberation by the Russians.
The house on Lukasiewicz Street No. 9 was two stories high with a pointed tile roof. The apartment they received was on the second floor. They received the home with all the furniture as if the previous tenants had vanished before they had time to take their belongings with them. The apartment had everything a family needed for a living. The bedroom was large and spacious, with sloping ceilings and a fireplace lined with colorful ceramics. There was a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and washbasin. Another small room served as a children's room and an adjoining kitchen with a cast-iron stove that works on firewood. From the living room was a large door leading to a balcony with a view to the front of the house. It was a quiet neighborhood with narrow streets in the suburbs of Szczecin, about a ten-minute tram ride to the city center. Violette loved her home and was very happy that her child would be born in its own home. This feeling of home kept her from wanting to leave Poland, and the thought of being in an advanced pregnancy did not allow for a long voyage to America.
Janusz was hired as a social worker at the military hospital in Szczecin. He would leave for work early in the morning and return in the evening. She did not have a social life, and the neighbors on the ground floor, with whom she tried to make friends, were rude in their behavior and common language, so the relationship did not develop.
As time passed, her loneliness increased. She would lie on the sofa in the living room of her house and stare at the ceiling for hours. The thoughts came in reverse order, from when she met Janusz in Warsaw to when Henrik saved her on the street, and she fell in love with him. Then, the forests, red-haired Jaroslaw, The partisan she saved from certain death and they fell in love to the point of exhaustion, and then Johann, her first love, came to mind and the same Austrian in Vienna who left her due to being a Jew. After that, she thought a lot about the good Juziek and all the orphans she had rescued, Sarah, who must have arrived in Palestine already, and Gita, who remained in Lublin.
"Why are you lying on the couch instead of making something to eat?" Janusz grumbled as he came home from work. Violette got up from the armchair and moved heavily to the kitchen.
"Please do not be angry; I have been feeling fatigued lately and depressed. I lie for hours without wanting to do anything," she replied, and tears flooded her eyes.
Janusz approached her and held her, "Excuse me, I arrived hungry and tired, I too am collapsing, the work is hard and the wages are meager, maybe it's time to look for another job. We do have savings, but I do not want to touch them."
The next day he decided to take a day off for errands, and they both went downtown. "Today, we will walk and eat outside; we deserve some air," he said.
They walked the sidewalk hand in hand and enjoyed a beautiful autumn day. "How beautiful it is here, the damned Germans who love order maintained the city well, not in vain they call Szczecin "Little Paris," Janusz said.
Suddenly they saw people running in front of them, they stopped and moved to the side, and then many more came and filled the street. "Jews go to Palestine! We do not want you here!" Screams were heard from all directions, "Too bad Hitler didn't finish the job," came a shout from the crowd. A group of thugs marched at the head of the demonstration, and one of them noticed Janusz. "Here is another leech sucking our blood." He pointed to Janusz and made a sign of killing with his hand. Some Jews who happened to be around started shouting back, and a fight ensued, fists were thrown all around, Janusz jumped on one of the thugs and punched him in the face, his friends grabbed Janusz with both arms, and the third kicked Janusz in his stomach. Violette tried to separate them but was pushed violently and fell on her belly while one of the rioters kicked her with all his might until she lost consciousness.
"Violette," she heard Janusz's voice. She opened her eyes and saw that everything was white around her; Janusz leaned over her, dried blood smeared on his forehead, and one eye was black and swollen. "How do you feel?" He asked anxiously. She leaned her hands on her stomach and jumped from her reclining to a sitting position. "Yes, we do not have a baby," Janusz said and burst into tears as he hugged the shocked Violette.
All night Janusz did not leave her bed. The next day Violette was released from the hospital, and they took a taxi to their apartment.
"As soon as I recover, we're going to the American consulate; promise me, Janusz," he nodded in agreement, "we have no future here," he said in a whisper.
On September 10, 1946, a courier knocked on her apartment door and handed her a letter. Violette tore the envelope and found inside another letter from America. The letter from America reached Juziek's address. He'd placed it in an envelope and sent it to Szczecin without opening it. He knew that Violette was eagerly awaiting this letter and therefore sent it at his own expense by courier.
She sat down, and with trembling hands, she opened the envelope that contained a densely written letter. She immediately recognized her mother's handwriting:
"My dear Vivi, my heart burst from joy when I received your letter. I did not know what to do with myself from happiness, and I danced in the room like crazy until the neighbor knocked on the door to ask what had happened. I pounced on him with kisses and screams until he ran away. But of course, not everything goes as hoped. The information I will give you will make you very sad, but I know that you will overcome it. You are stronger than you think you are. Your father could not stand the tension we lived in. Unfortunately, the news of your being alive came too late. Your dear father died of a heart attack on November 14, 1944. About five months before, the allied forces liberated Europe from the Nazis. I did not understand, and still do not understand what you did in Lublin and how you even got there?
I look forward to your arrival, please, dear, do not wait even an extra hour, come as soon as you can. I enclose herewith some money for the trip and an invitation letter that you will give to the immigration clerk at the U.S. Consulate; this apex will provide you with the right to obtain an immigration visa.
Hold on dear, my dear beloved, my only child.
Love you very much."
Violette burst into a bitter cry and laid the letter on the table. Then, she curled up in bed, covered herself with a blanket, and cried for a long time until she fell asleep.
Janusz came home in the evening. Everything was dark and quiet; he did not understand what had happened and where his wife had gone. "Violette, are you home?" He called twice, but there was no answer. Finally, he went into the bedroom and noticed the curled body under the blanket. He pulled the blanket from her; Violette woke up in a panic. "What happened?" He turned on the light and noticed her red eyes from crying. He went over and embraced her. "What happened, my love?" He asked. After telling him about the letter she had received, he knelt next to her and hugged her, "Be strong; we will reach your mother very soon."
The following day they arrived at the American Representation in the city center. The interview with them lasted a long time, and Violette presented the letter of invitation from her mother, who had been in New York for about eight years. Janusz also had rights due to being an officer in the Polish army who served under British command during the war. In addition, he had a good knowledge of English, and they were married. The two were told to return in a month to obtain an immigration visa.
Janusz and Violette decided on another step towards their upcoming move. They jointly decided on changing their first and last names. "We will travel to America as Americans and not as foreigners. We will be proud Americans who will not belong to one sector or another because of the sound of their names." So Violette became Violet, Janusz became jack, and they chose the family name Liberty.
On November 10, 1946, Violet and Jack Liberty boarded the ship M.S. Stefan Batory, who sailed with another two thousand five hundred passengers, most of them immigrants, from the port of Gdansk in Poland to Allis Island in New York.