Released by the Gestapo Commander

At first light the Rebbe and his son understood that their end was near. There was a little water in the cell, enough for the Rebbe to wash his hands, and he prayed Shacharis with deep kavana, believing it was the last of his life. He prayed quickly so that Mussaf could follow. As he finished, a knock sounded at the door, just as he had expected. Two soldiers entered and told the Rebbe and his young son to come with them.

They were brought before the chief of the Gestapo. On the way, a deputy gave the Rebbe a hint of what to expect: he had never seen the commander in such a mood. Whether that meant good or bad, they were about to find out. Inside, the commander told the Rebbe that his papers showed him to be a Hungarian citizen, that he must pay a fine for breaking the law and that he must go back to Bochnia. The Rebbe fought to keep his composure. He knew at once that an astonishing miracle had happened.

The commander warned him that this time he had been spared, but that a repetition would bring a very severe punishment. The Rebbe replied that he had not realized travel to Neumark was prohibited, and that it would not happen again. The fine was set at one thousand zlotys, but everything the Rebbe owned came to only about six hundred, and the officer took that. He wrote and signed a paper stating that a Hungarian Jew named Shlomo Halberstam had been caught by the SS in Neumark and was being returned to the SS in Bochnia. Then he drove the Rebbe and his son to the station in his own car, paid for their tickets out of the Rebbe's money and stayed until they had boarded.

No one can imagine what the Rebbe felt as the train pulled out. His son sat beside him, but his wife and his other children did not. He had been spared from apparently certain death, and the way to freedom lay ahead.