b'BC_5782_2021final_cmyk_Layout 18/8/219:47 AMPage 30Renia Kukielkas words and actions form a central theme of Judy Batalions TheLight of Days. She turned out to be a principal author of the book Batalionrediscovered, Freuen in di Ghettos, and was among the very first to publish amemoir of the Holocaust, which she did in 1945. An English translation, Escapefrom the Pit, was published in 1947. Though well regarded, with the passage oftime it was largely forgotten. Among the things that make the book so valuableare that she interacted with so many members of the resistance and that sherecorded her experiences and impressions so vividly.She was born in Jedrzejow in 1924, but when the Jews there were forced into aghetto in 1942, she escaped at age 17, jumping off a moving train when she waslikely about to be discovered and ending up as a maid, pretending to be Catholic.Renia Kukielka inBudapest in 1944. As is the case with all the other women mentioned in this calendar, herundertakings and narrow escapes are far too numerous to list here. As JudyBatalion wrote in the New York Times: Renia ran missions between Bedzin and Warsaw. She movedgrenades, false passports and cash strapped to her body and hidden in her undergarments and shoes. Shetransported Jews from ghettos to hiding spots. [She] befriended one border guard to whom she confessedabout smuggling food to distract him from the real contraband that was fastened to her torso with belts.Imprisoned in Myslowice, she escaped to Slovakia after an arduous mountain journey on foot, then wassmuggled by train into Hungary. From there she was able to emigrate to Palestine, arriving in Haifa inMarch 1944. She remained in Israel the rest of her life, marrying and having two childrenan outgoingpersonality who enjoyed life. She died in 2014.'