At 9:10 am on Sunday, September 3, 1939, 15-year-old Gerda watched German forces entered Bielitz, Poland. Motorcycles carrying soldiers in green-gray uniforms roared past as voices shouted, “Heil Hitler.” The preceding night, Gerda’s family—her father, Julius Weissmann; mother, Helene Weissmann; and 19-year-old brother, Arthur Weissmann—sheltered in their basement during bombardment. Arthur briefly ventured outside to retrieve their cat and returned with a bullet hole in his trousers, reporting gunfire from rooftops. By dawn, they heard tanks rolling through as defeated Polish forces retreated toward Krakow.

Two days earlier, on September 1, German aircraft filled the skies, and radio broadcasts announced the invasion. Gerda’s hometown of Bielitz, a prosperous textile center nestled in the Beskide mountains near the Czechoslovakian border, had always seemed secure. Often called “Little Vienna” for its Austrian character, the bilingual town still reflected its pre-1919 status as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now, residents fled eastward in panic.

The Weissmann family had spent the summer preoccupied with Julius’s health. Gerda and her mother returned in mid-August from the resort town of Krynica after Julius’s telegram urged them home due to worsening international tensions. Julius, looking unwell, soon experienced what a doctor diagnosed as a mild heart attack. The following day, Helene received a cable message from her brother Leo in Turkey warning that Poland’s end was near and urging them to collect visas waiting in Warsaw. Helene hid this message to protect the ailing Julius from worry.

On the evening of September 1, the family watched refugees stream eastward under skies red with rocket fire. Julius asked Gerda to call relatives, but no one answered the ringing phones. Confronting the danger, Julius suggested that Arthur and Gerda flee with the Ebersohn family, but Arthur refused, insisting that they remain together. Julius, both relieved and exhausted, expressed hope that God would keep them safe; he then collapsed.

Saturday, September 2, seemed deceptively peaceful. Julius was out of bed, though his arm remained in a sling. With electricity cut, the family was isolated from news. That night, renewed shooting forced them back to the cellar. Sunday morning brought festive crowds outside. As a motorcycle approached, Arthur dropped his watch at 9:10 am. Gerda saw a swastika flying from a neighbor’s house and realized that their neighbors had anticipated the German arrival. Residents served wine and cakes to soldiers, celebrating their “liberation” with shouts of “Heil Hitler.”

A burning coal fell from the stove onto the carpet. Julius and Helene watched it smolder without reacting. Outside, Trude, a girl who lived rent-free in their basement apartment with her mother, picked white roses from the Weissmann garden to give a soldier. When Gerda began crying uncontrollably, Arthur dragged her upstairs and silenced her to protect the family. That afternoon, Gerda understood that they had become outsiders in their own home, dependent on those who had been neighbors.

In the evening, Mrs. Bergmann arrived with news that Jews had been locked in the Temple, which was then set ablaze. She warned that men should hide and reported that England and France had declared war on Germany. The next morning, Mrs. Rösche and another neighbor requested the family’s Polish flag to convert into a Nazi banner. When they asked Arthur to hang the completed flag, he furiously refused. The women hung it themselves.

Germany conquered Poland in 18 days. Some Jews who had fled began returning, often discovering their homes occupied or emptied of possessions. The Weissmanns remained in their century-old house with its large garden. Julius owned part of a fur-processing factory but knew that visiting it was dangerous. German authorities requisitioned Bielitz’s textile warehouses. After mandatory registration, Jews received orders to surrender gold, vehicles, radios, and other items. Julius and Arthur began hiding in a closet whenever German soldiers approached the house.

In early October, Julius’s sister Anna arrived with her 15-year-old daughter, Miriam. Anna recounted their attempted escape to Warsaw by train. During a bombing attack, her husband went to fetch water and never returned; Anna was told that he had been killed. After the locomotive was destroyed, they continued on foot until German paratroopers captured them near Kielce. The men were separated, and Anna’s 19-year-old son, David, was taken away. Every 10th man was shot; the rest were marched into the forest. Anna searched for David among the dead but found only bodies silenced by machine-gun fire. She and Miriam returned to Bielitz to find their home occupied by strangers.

The next morning, David appeared at the Weissmanns’ door. He had survived by climbing a tree during a skirmish between German troops and hiding Polish soldiers and then made his way home traveling mostly at night. Arthur grew increasingly withdrawn in the following days. One morning, he went into town seeking his girlfriend, Gisa, and her family, who had fled when the invasion began. He returned silent and went to his room. When Gerda followed, she found him gazing at Gisa’s photograph. He told her only that Gisa’s dog, Rolf, lay dead in front of her house.

In mid-October, a notice ordered Jewish men aged 16 to 50 to register for labor. Arthur and David revealed that they had already known and planned to leave in two days. On October 18, Gerda accompanied them to register. A classmate claimed that in other towns, registered men were taken to camps and killed, but Arthur dismissed this as rumor. On the way home, they stopped at the Temple’s ruins, where a single pillar stood intact among the debris. Arthur gave Gerda a piece of glass and told her to maintain faith like that pillar.

Anna, David, and Miriam left to spend the night with friends at their former apartment building, hoping to retrieve some of David’s belongings; Anna promised to return in the morning. That evening, the Weissmanns shared their final meal with Arthur. Gerda fell asleep at the foot of Arthur’s bed, unwilling to be far from him. Early on October 19, Helene sent Gerda to buy rolls from Zeloski, their former gardener. When Zeloski learned that Arthur was leaving, he sadly predicted that Gerda would never see her brother again. Enraged, Gerda screamed at him and ran home.

During breakfast, Julius became overwhelmed with emotion and left the room. Gerda found him upstairs crying soundlessly—the first time she had ever heard her father weep. At six o’clock, Arthur prepared to depart. He embraced Julius, who, with tremendous effort, lifted his partially paralyzed right arm to hold his son. He bid farewell to Helene, who smiled bravely as Arthur called her by her childhood name, Maminka. He kissed Gerda and whispered that she must be strong for their parents. Outside, he asked his family not to accompany him to the station. He walked away rapidly. He hesitated once as if to look back but then continued without turning around.

After Arthur left, Julius withdrew into reading the Bible. Anna returned and isolated herself in her room. Helene went to the cemetery, where Gerda followed. At the grave of her mother, Julie Mückenbrunn, Helene wept for Arthur and lamented her uncertainty about her children’s future. At home, Gerda escaped into memories of the previous summer in Krynica, where a young man had disrupted an outdoor concert to warn of the approaching war before being arrested.

Weeks passed with no news. Gerda checked the Kultusgemeinde daily. Julius’s business partner, Mr. Pipersberg, a widower with grown children, visited frequently. He and Julius agreed that it was too dangerous to go to their factory. When Mr. Pipersberg left, Gerda accompanied him partway. Despite their earlier decision, he walked toward the factory, and Gerda insisted on joining him. They witnessed trucks being loaded with stolen furs and saw a sign declaring, “DOGS AND JEWS NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER” (26). Mr. Pipersberg, overcome, sent Gerda home.

Later, Mr. Pipersberg appeared in Gerda’s room without the knowledge of her parents, his clothes torn and bloodied. Unable to restrain himself, he had entered the factory and identified himself as the owner. The Germans beat him severely while workers turned away in fear. Gerda dressed his wounds, and he spent the night. By morning, he was gone, leaving only bloodied cotton as evidence.

By early November, rumors of deportations spread. Bielitz had been incorporated into the German Reich, while the unannexed portion of Poland was called the Gouvernement. Anna and Miriam decided to leave for the Gouvernement, hoping to reach Russian-occupied Czortkow, where Anna owned property. Julius refused to leave, preferring to remain where they had roots. The family later lost contact with Anna and Miriam and never learned their fate.

Days later, a woman warned that the Gestapo sought Mr. Pipersberg. Gerda hurried to his hiding place at his former secretary’s house to warn him. He fled before the Gestapo arrived in a black car. Terrified that the secretary, while under duress, would reveal her involvement and endanger her parents, Gerda ran home to find them safe but distraught. News had arrived that Arthur’s transport had been locked in cattle cars for eight days before being released in a forest. SS troops beat and shot at the men, killing 36. There was no specific information about Arthur. That night, Helene experienced a mental-health crisis, repeatedly calling Arthur’s name. Gerda, haunted by visions of her brother’s death, contemplated suicide, but Julius sensed her despair and made her promise never to take her own life.

Two weeks later, in late November, a notice ordered all Jews to report on December 2 for deportation. Each person could take 20 pounds of clothing; valuables and tagged house keys had to be left on front-hall tables under penalty of death. Word of the order spread, and neighbors came to buy the family’s possessions for a pittance, dismantling their home before their eyes. One man deliberately broke a glass in front of them and then demanded a lower price since the set wasn’t complete. The next morning, they learned that the transport had been postponed and that they could remain there.

Two days before Christmas, a German policeman ordered the Weissmanns into their own flooded, two-room basement apartment. Trude and her mother, their former tenants, moved into the main house, expressing pleasure at having a nice place for the holiday. Gerda notes that the two women expressed no hostility, only happiness at their own good fortune. Helene retrieved an old kerosene lamp from the attic to provide light. On Christmas Eve, Gerda visited Sophie “Niania” Brenza, her elderly former nanny, who continued bringing them food despite warnings from the Germans. Niania, who had cared for Gerda since birth, had moved into her own nearby home after her granddaughter, Irma, married but continued her care of Gerda’s whole family.

After Christmas, Jewish rations were reduced and stamped with “JEW.” An order required Jews to wear identifying armbands, first white with a blue star and later yellow with black lettering. After New Year, a letter arrived for Arthur from his girlfriend, Gisa. Gerda replied, informing Gisa of Arthur’s absence. Days later, Gisa wrote again with news that Arthur was reportedly safe in Russia.

In early February, Peter, Arthur’s friend, visited from Krakow. He explained that censorship prevented Arthur from writing directly and that news came via someone returning from Soviet territory. Privately, Peter confessed to Gerda that Gisa had invented the story to comfort her parents, though unconfirmed rumors spoke of Arthur’s survival. Seeing her parents’ happiness, Gerda kept this secret, even from Niania. In March, a cablegram from Leo in Turkey stated that he had received a letter confirming that Arthur was well. Gerda suspected that her uncle might have fabricated this message.

When Julius noticed her distress, Gerda claimed that she envied Arthur’s freedom and missed school. Julius began teaching her, and her friend Ilse Kleinzähler sometimes joined them. During lessons, Julius shared stories about his youth, including his unfulfilled dream of becoming a doctor, interrupted by World War I. Toward the end of March, their neighbor Mrs. Prozna delivered a letter that Arthur had addressed to her, hoping that she could forward it if his family had been displaced. The letter confirmed that he and David were safe in Russia. On their first night in Lwow, they had miraculously encountered David’s father, Aaron, who was presumed dead. Aaron was attempting to bring Anna and Miriam to Russia. The letter included a personal note acknowledging Gerda’s bravery. The family was overjoyed, and Gerda chose not to reveal Peter’s earlier confession, fearing that her parents would lose trust in her for having kept the secret.