A few months after arriving in the U.S., Violet went downstairs with her mother's dog and noticed an envelope peeking out of the mailbox. The letter was from Lublin, Poland, directed to Family Michalson, New York, and the sender was Juziek. When she tore the envelope, she found a folded letter inside.
"My dear Vivi, I wish we could go back in time to the moment we were about to enter the cafe in Lublin; I would then grab you by the hand and drag you back to the forest, where we were protected.
During my interrogation in the SS basements, I did not break. I told them I met you by case near the restaurant and invited you to eat with me. I do not know why two days after my arrest, a Nazi officer came and told me that my friend Bozena Kruk had asked him to transfer me to "hotel" Majdanek (those were his exact words). I'm sure even today, it was a cruel lie as they knew how to deceive us well. Every day that passed and I stayed alive in this death camp was a miracle for me. People died around me like flies. Every day we got beaten up, and twice they broke my ribs. I realized that I would not survive the camp, so I decided to run away. I organized a revolt, and we succeeded in stealing some weapons. During the uprising, I also managed to kill some of the Ukrainian kapos who were worse than the Nazis. We fled to a forest which is not far from the camp and survived. I tried to search for our base for two days and did not find it. On the third day, when I was hungry and exhausted, some Russian partisans found me wandering and brought me to their camp, and from there, we moved to Kaunas and finally arrived in Kiev. After that, the Nazis withdrew from Russia, and we killed every one of them we found. Before the end of the war, I was captured and interrogated by the NKVD for several days. They suspected me of being a spy and sent me with other detainees to a Gulag in Siberia, where I stayed until the war's end. In the Gulag were imprisoned Russian mafia members who harassed Polish prisoners. One day in a challenge, they tried to kill me, and I beat the prisoner and eliminated him.
Because it was self-defense, I only got two more years. When I was released, I went back to Poland, to Lublin, to look for you. I came to Juziek, who sheltered me, and for a long time, I was at his house incapable of writing. Finally, he convinced me and sent my letter to you. When he told me you went to Warsaw, I realized we would not see each other again, but I wrote to you anyway, wishing there's a chance you still love me and are willing for me to join you. There is not a single moment that I did not think of you, while a kapo broke batons on my back or while carrying bodies from the gas chambers to the crematorium or during my hard time in frozen Siberia. The happiest moments were here at Juzieks; to lay in the room we slept together, smell the pillow on which you placed your head.
My love Vivi, even if you answer me that you are fine and your life goes on without me that too will make my heart happy. I will keep thinking of you and waiting to receive a sign of life. I know that as soon as I leave Juziek's apartment, our connection will be lost forever.
Yours, with great love, Ginger."