For about ten years we've had Gordonia, Hitahdut, and Freiheit in K. My girlfriends from school had become members of these organizations when they were about eleven or twelve years old. I didn't join any of them, because I knew my parents would be against it.
As I grew older and learned more about various Jewish ideologies, I began to lean toward the Revisionists. The Gordonists knew that I didn't agree with them, but that didn't prevent me from being the best of friends with my schoolmates who were in Gordonia [...]
I Hope to Be Able to Continue My Education
Eter finishes elementary school and is accepted into a commercial gymnasium 
(the equivalent of a vocational high school).
Now that it was actually about to happen, my parents told me that I could go to school only if I could be excused on Saturdays. I would give private lessons to deal with the problem of money, and I would also receive some food from home.
On the first day of classes I submitted a request to be excused from attending school on Saturdays. Three days later, during one of the recesses, a teacher informed me that the director would not grant my request, because "the regulations of the school required all students to attend on Saturdays." Despite this, I went to the director, but he told me the same thing in person. When I went to the office to collect my old report cards, the secretary tried to talk me into staying at the school, because once I left I would never be allowed to return. But I didn't hesitate even for a moment. By evening I was back home [...]
Despite this setback, Eter continues to hope that she will be able to attend secondary school. She studies for the entrance exams on her own.
A few weeks ago, my sister opened a small clothing shop, and now she'll be able to help me. I promised myself that however much I manage to learn for the examination during this vacation, I will go and take it. And if I pass, I'll stay in Stanislawów and attend school. I'll stay even if I have to support myself by giving lessons. After all, it's high time, at the age of seventeen, for me to be in the third year of gymnasium . If I ever do graduate, I'll be able to make the bold proclamation that I made it to the North Pole at a snail's pace.
I've never had a vacation as horrible as the one this year, because it seems to me that uncertainty is the worst possible misery. All day long the same thought pounds inside my head: Will I pass? Many times a day I recite to myself Julian Tuwim's poem, "If only..." I call it "Hope." It goes like this:
And if nothing? And if no?
I was poisoned by delusion
O you brightness, O you wonder,
And poisoned now dream on:
And if not?
Then...too bad.
But if something? But if yes?
Dawn on doves' wings
Sets the world ablaze
Poppy-red,
For if yes,
Then...my God?
#7: What Became of Eter?
It is not known if Eter survived World War II and the Holocaust. Her overseas relatives never heard from her again after 1939.
