62 newyork| march30–april12, 2020
mycousinjacobsolome, orJack,will
onlytellmehowoldheis;forthepurposes
ofthisarticle,hesays,“Putmedowninthe
high90s.”He met hiswife,Eda,now 99 and
sufferingfromdementia,whenthey spent
twoyearshidingfromtheNazisina Polish
farmhouse,crawlingunderfloorboards
whenever they heardanyonecoming.
They’vebeenmarriedfor75 years.A retired
obstetrician-gynecologistandnewsjunkie,
he’s longkepta fullscheduleofteaching,
swimming,anddrivinglikea dragracerto
varioussocialengagements.Pre-pandemic,
wewouldmeetat hisfavoriteall-you-can-
eat Pan-AsianbuffetinSheepsheadBay,
notfarfromtheMidwoodhomewhere he
andEdahavelivedfora half-century. Now,
witheachofusinisolation,I calledhimup
toseehowhewasdoingandtoget his
adviceonwhatit takestosurvivea disaster.
irincarmon
IRIN:What’s beena typicalday lately?
JACK:Wehavea routinewithEda.I
haveaideshelpingme.Atthepresenttime,
weneedtwopeopletoget herup,soI’mthe
secondperson.Takingcare of my wifeis my
primaryjobat thispoint.I’mreallyhappy
thatI’mabletodoit.
IRIN:Areyoubored?
JACK:Somewhat.I cango outfora walk,
butI don’t knowif I shouldgo shopping
becauseI’mafraid.I haveDisney+,Netflix,
andVerizon,soI lookat interestingstuff:
somehistorical,somedetectivestories.
IRIN:Howlongwere youinhidingin
thoseyearsinthewar?
JACK:I thinkabouttwoyears,andthis
waswhenthewarstarted.
IRIN:Howoldwere you?
JACK:Fifteen.
IRIN:Didyougooutsideat all?
JACK:Wedidn’tgo outbecausewe
couldn’t. It wasa farmerwhowashidingus.
Hehadbuiltsomethingunderthefloor,
wherethemomentswefeltthere wassome-
bodycomingfromtheoutsidewewould
hide.There wasalwayssomebodyat the
windowwatching.Attimes,wewere 15
peopleinthesmallholethere;if they would
findus,they wouldshootallofus.We had
situationslike that forthewholetwoyears.
IRIN:Youdidn’t haveNetflixandDis-
ney+inthat Polishfarmhouse,didyou?
JACK:No,wedidnothavethat. Butit
wasnotboringbecausewewerealwayson
watch.
IRIN:Fifteenpeopleinhowbigofa
space?
JACK: It ’slike being ina very tiny
basement.
IRIN:Soyouwouldn’t compare itto
whatwe’redoingnow?
JACK: Whatweare doingnowisa
luxury.
IRIN:That’swhere you
metEda?
JACK:Yeah.Whenthe
GermanscametoLithua-
nia,shestartedwalking
fromLithuaniatoPoland,
totheborder. [Thatwas]
probablyabout 50 kilome-
ters.Shewaswalkingday
andnightandarrivedin
hercousin’s village, which
wascalledOrany. Andthen
allthepeoplehadtorun
again,sosherantoanothercommunity,
andfromthatcommunity,sheran,and
thenshehadtoleaveagain,andshewound
upcomingtotheplacewherewewere hid-
ing.It wasreallyanothermiracle.
IRIN:I don’t actuallyknowhowyouguys
gotoutofthere. What wastheday that it
wasover?
JACK:Forusit wasoverin1943,when
theSoviets came.We heard themcoming,
weheardshooting—notonlylowcaliber
butthebigguns—soweknewthat they
werehere. So wewaiteda few days,andwe
walkedout,andthefarmerstoldusthe
Sovietsare here.Don’t forget,wewere in
theghettofora longtimebeforethat.
IRIN:Dothosememoriescomebackto
you?
JACK: They do come back in a different
form because I lost two brothers before we
went into hiding. At the beginning, when
the Germans came to Vilna, before the
ghetto, the Germans went and they caught
all the Jewish people, including my brother,
and they took him to a place which was
called Ponary and shot them. [As many as
100,000 Jews, Poles, and Russians were
killed in the massacre.] The other brother
we sent to my grandparents in Lubcz. We
thought it was safe because it was so far
east, but the Germans came there and they
killedthemall.Mybrothersandmy grand-
parents;that comestomy mindquiteoften.
IRIN:Wasit hard togo onafterthat?
JACK:That’swhat I toldyou:Youhave
tobea philosopher.Youhavetoputthings
outofyour mind,nottothinkabout
badthingsallthetime.Youalwayslook
ahead...I’mpreachingtoyou.
IRIN:I wantyoutopreachtome.You’re
optimistic,andI wonderif it’s oneofthe
qualitiesthathelpedyouandEdasurvive.
JACK:Absolutely.Thisismy philoso-
phy,andsofarit hashelped.BecauseI
comparemyselfto otherpeople who
worryallthetime,andalwayswhenyou
seethem,theyare tellingyouabouttheir
tsurisandtheirproblems.Somepeople
areoptimistic,butsomepeopleare more
pessimistic.I aminthefirstcategory.
Really, that’sthenatureofa person.I’m
always thinking how
worse it was when we
wereundertheGerman
occupation,where every
minute,ourliveswereat
risk;literally, beinginthe
ghettoandbeinginhid-
ing.Soif I wasabletolive
through that,what the
heckis coronavirus?
IRIN: For me, being
pregnant, I’mthinking
aboutthe future a lot.
You’realsoa gynecologist
andobstetrician,sodoyouhaveany par-
ticularadviceforme?
JACK:Tr y tomove.I havea stationary
bicycleinanextraroom,andI doit a few
timesa day, andyoushoulddothat. You
don’t havetoalways—whenyoufeeltired,
yousitdown.Butyoutakeyourvitamins,
youeatwhat you’resupposedto,andsub-
ject totheunforeseen,you’ll dogreat.
IRIN:Thankyou.Is there anythingthat
wecandoduringthistimeforyou?
JACK:I don’t knowif you’rea believer,
butyoushouldpray. Praythat thecorona-
virusshoulddisappearandthenwe’ll be
thewaywewere. I havenochoice.I have
tostay alive.I havea function.
IRIN:Youmeantake care ofEda?
JACK:Yeah.It’sallbecauseofher.
Call
Someone
Pick a relative.
Preferablyanoldone.
Askforadvice.
Jacob Solome
PHOTOGRAPH:DANIEL SILBERT
3
