With memories of Treblinka fresh in your mind – particularly those memories of new inmates brought to the camp after the uprising in Warsaw – you head south on your improbable trip. You do not take the most direct route but decide to circle around the areas of heaviest German concentration. You head first for Yugoslavia, then for northern Italy, where you recall hearing that there are partisan groups to help you.
Indeed they do, with a lot of assistance, hard work, and patience, you are able to reach the southern shore of Lac Leman, just east of Geneva, Switzerland. Grateful that your father taught you how to swim, you slip into the cold water and paddle the last few miles into the safety of Swiss neutrality.
When you reach Geneva, you seek out Gerhart Riegner to tell him your story. He tries to communicate the facts to the Allies, but no one believes him. You feel that your efforts have been in vain and pledge that you will not rest until you make the world understand what the Nazis are doing to the Jewish people. You owe a debt to those who are being murdered, and you swear you will not rest until that debt is paid.
Many years later, having survived the war, you attend the opening of Yad Vashem outside of Jerusalem. Tears run down your face as you walk through the building and stand in front of the eternal flame. Although the recollection of what happened in Europe is still bitter in your soul, a heavy weight has been lifted from your heart. Now that Yad Vashem exists, you are satisfied that your story will be told, and the world will know. You have fulfilled your oath, and you are free.
END