chamber, a similar trap was added to the exit. Weiss, Kuba, Weinberg, Berestycki and Margulies all worked on improving the shaft. Margulies recalled. ‘This is when I got to know Socha. Some of us were working from above, others were working from below, getting rid of the rubble.’
Margulies never saw anyone but Weiss, Berestycki and Socha during this period. So far as he was aware, there were no more than four or five people involved in the work. According to the Berestycki account, they took extraordinary precautions:
From the beginning, we all wore masks. They decided that they should only meet wearing masks; balaclavas, in fact. It was so that they would never be able to identify each other if forced. Socha was frightened and did not want to endanger his friends – and they also didn’t know whether to trust each other.
As they laboured under Socha’s direction, the team made long journeys through the sewers looking for a suitable hiding place. After about a week’s search Socha found somewhere down the main chamber that might be suitable. Chiger and his colleagues had to take a look.
With Socha leading the way, his carbide lamp chasing back the darkness, they moved in single file down the pathway beside the Peltwa, one hand feeling the wall beside them. Every so often their progress was halted when the wall beside them abruptly disappeared into the entrance of a six-foot-high tunnel. At regularintervals, these great elliptical vomitories appeared, issuing a foot or so of water into the river. Here the ledge seemed to be cut away by the water rushing to the Peltwa, forcing the explorers to step down into the current, wade through it and climb back up on to the continuing ledge. Any slip as they crossed the gap, and they would be swept into the Peltwa.
Socha led them down-river, to a small stone bridge that arched across to the other side. From there they were led back up-river again to what appeared to be another elliptical tunnel. That was it. It looked, in every way, just like any of the other of the tunnels, except that no water flowed from it. Instead the waters from the Peltwa eddied in and out of the opening, soaking the soil at the bottom. It seemed as though the engineers had bored some fifteen or twenty metres into the earth, then changed their minds and bricked up the face. Halfway up the face was a narrow pipe emitting a gentle smear of water down the wall. The bottom was silted up with material that had been deposited during high tides, and it was alive with rats. Here was their sanctuary.
Very soon, Margulies, Weinberg and others had been introduced to Socha and were all pressed into whatever work was deemed necessary to prepare the tunnel for habitation. They took it in turns to come each day to clear away the soil and debris; the usual material that chokes an urban river. They brought down boards and constructed narrow benches that could be sat or slept upon. They also began storing provisions. Here, Margulies excelled himself. From his connections with shopkeepers and Ukrainian farmers, he collected quantities of cereals, barley, oats and flour, which he sealed in large glass jars. He got tins of pickled cucumbers, sugar and kerosine. Margulies ensured they had plenty of fuel for the small stove which they planned to bring down. He also managed to get hold of large quantities of carbide, to fuel the lamps the sewer workers carried with them everywhere. Everything was squirrelled away in a dozen different places.
During these trips back and forth from the sewer, Margulies had begun to notice a young girl who lived next door to the Weisses. ‘I remember seeing Klara on the street one day. Ithought she was very pretty,’ he later reminisced. He began to take an interest, bringing her and Manya food and medicine.
Klara recalled: ‘Suddenly, one day he’s sitting in my room and talking. I suppose he came to see Mr Weiss. I didn’t know anything at that time. I didn’t know about any plan, or
Margulies never saw anyone but Weiss, Berestycki and Socha during this period. So far as he was aware, there were no more than four or five people involved in the work. According to the Berestycki account, they took extraordinary precautions:
From the beginning, we all wore masks. They decided that they should only meet wearing masks; balaclavas, in fact. It was so that they would never be able to identify each other if forced. Socha was frightened and did not want to endanger his friends – and they also didn’t know whether to trust each other.
As they laboured under Socha’s direction, the team made long journeys through the sewers looking for a suitable hiding place. After about a week’s search Socha found somewhere down the main chamber that might be suitable. Chiger and his colleagues had to take a look.
With Socha leading the way, his carbide lamp chasing back the darkness, they moved in single file down the pathway beside the Peltwa, one hand feeling the wall beside them. Every so often their progress was halted when the wall beside them abruptly disappeared into the entrance of a six-foot-high tunnel. At regularintervals, these great elliptical vomitories appeared, issuing a foot or so of water into the river. Here the ledge seemed to be cut away by the water rushing to the Peltwa, forcing the explorers to step down into the current, wade through it and climb back up on to the continuing ledge. Any slip as they crossed the gap, and they would be swept into the Peltwa.
Socha led them down-river, to a small stone bridge that arched across to the other side. From there they were led back up-river again to what appeared to be another elliptical tunnel. That was it. It looked, in every way, just like any of the other of the tunnels, except that no water flowed from it. Instead the waters from the Peltwa eddied in and out of the opening, soaking the soil at the bottom. It seemed as though the engineers had bored some fifteen or twenty metres into the earth, then changed their minds and bricked up the face. Halfway up the face was a narrow pipe emitting a gentle smear of water down the wall. The bottom was silted up with material that had been deposited during high tides, and it was alive with rats. Here was their sanctuary.
Very soon, Margulies, Weinberg and others had been introduced to Socha and were all pressed into whatever work was deemed necessary to prepare the tunnel for habitation. They took it in turns to come each day to clear away the soil and debris; the usual material that chokes an urban river. They brought down boards and constructed narrow benches that could be sat or slept upon. They also began storing provisions. Here, Margulies excelled himself. From his connections with shopkeepers and Ukrainian farmers, he collected quantities of cereals, barley, oats and flour, which he sealed in large glass jars. He got tins of pickled cucumbers, sugar and kerosine. Margulies ensured they had plenty of fuel for the small stove which they planned to bring down. He also managed to get hold of large quantities of carbide, to fuel the lamps the sewer workers carried with them everywhere. Everything was squirrelled away in a dozen different places.
During these trips back and forth from the sewer, Margulies had begun to notice a young girl who lived next door to the Weisses. ‘I remember seeing Klara on the street one day. Ithought she was very pretty,’ he later reminisced. He began to take an interest, bringing her and Manya food and medicine.
Klara recalled: ‘Suddenly, one day he’s sitting in my room and talking. I suppose he came to see Mr Weiss. I didn’t know anything at that time. I didn’t know about any plan, or
Similar Books
