Council Runners

The Council Runners were a corps of seven orphaned Jewish boys in the Kovno Ghetto who served as the messengers of the ghetto's Jewish Council, the body charged with managing daily life under Nazi occupation. Their job was to carry news and instructions from the council to families in their houses, to relay messages from one council member to another, and to stand watch by the square at the entrance to the bridge, alerting residents when the open car arrived with the half-track filled with soldiers just behind it—a signal that the next bad thing was about to occur. They ran like the wind through back alleys and side streets to give warning, and in doing so they carried responsibilities far beyond their age. There were seven of them, seven boys, all orphans, and they wore special caps like police caps with a military brim, with stars sewn on their jackets. The uniform was a perversion of military pride, and one runner, the boy who would later be known as Yehoshua, admitted that he felt privileged that his star was not like all the other stars but some indication of rank, and that the military-style hat and knowing what was going on almost before anyone else made him feel special. He was only ten years old, and even while living in this illusion and sometimes secretly admiring the uniforms of the enemies, he knew full well what was happening. How could he not?