Lvov, where Halberstam then lived, fell under Nazi control in July, 1941. For about a month Halberstam hid in a room whose door was secretly blocked by a large bookcase. But a friend convinced him to come out of hiding, on the theory that the Germans were harsher to people who were found hiding. The friend also argued that the Germans would honor Halberstam’s official papers that declared he was a foreign resident. On Friday, July 25, he left his place of hiding and established himself openly in a separate room in the apartment.