The months that follow are particularly harsh. Prisoners die in all manner of ways. Many are taken by disease, malnutrition and exposure to the cold. A few make it to an electrified fence, killing themselves. Others are shot by a tower guard before they can. The gas chambers and crematoria are also working overtime, and Lale and Leonโs tattooing stations teem with people as tens of thousands are transported to Auschwitz and Birkenau.
Lale and Gita see each other on Sundays when possible. On those days they mingle among other bodies, sneaking touches. Occasionally they can steal time together alone in Gitaโs block. This keeps them committed to staying alive and, in Laleโs case, planning a shared future. Gitaโs kapo is getting fat from the food Lale brings her. On occasion, when Lale is prevented from seeing Gita for an extended period, she asks outright, โWhenโs your boyfriend coming next?โ
On one Sunday, Gita finally, after repeated requests, tells Lale what is going on with Cilka. โCilka is the plaything of Schwarzhuber.โ
โOh God. For how long has it been going on?โ โI donโt know exactly. A year, maybe more.โ
โHeโs nothing more than a drunken, sadistic bastard,โ Lale says, clenching his fists. โI can only imagine how he treats her.โ
โDonโt say that! I donโt want to think about it.โ โWhat does she tell you about their time together?โ
โNothing. We donโt ask. I donโt know how to help her.โ
โHeโll kill her himself if she rejects him in any way. I suspect Cilkaโs already worked that out, otherwise she would have been dead long ago. Getting pregnant is the biggest worry.โ
โItโs all right, no one is going to get pregnant. You have to be, you know, having your monthly cycle for that to happen. Didnโt you know that?โ
An embarrassed Lale says, โWell, yes, I knew that. Itโs just that, itโs not something weโve talked about. I guess I didnโt think.โ
โNeither you nor that sadistic bastard need to worry about Cilka or me having a baby. OK?โ
โDonโt compare me to him. Tell her I think sheโs a hero and Iโm proud to say I know her.โ
โWhat do you mean, hero? Sheโs not a hero,โ Gita says, with some annoyance. โShe just wants to live.โ
โAnd that makes her a hero. Youโre a hero too, my darling. That the two of you have chosen to survive is a type of resistance to these Nazi bastards.
Choosing to live is an act of defiance, a form of heroism.โ โIn that case, what does it make you?โ
โI have been given the choice of participating in the destruction of our people, and I have chosen to do so in order to survive. I can only hope I am not one day judged as a perpetrator or a collaborator.โ
Gita leans over and kisses him. โYou are a hero to me.โ
Time has run on and they are startled when other girls start returning to the block. They are fully clothed and so Laleโs exit is not as embarrassing as it might otherwise have been.
โHello. Hi. Dana, lovely to see you. Girls. Ladies,โ he says as he leaves.
The kapo, in her normal position at the entrance to the building, shakes her head at Lale.
โYou need to be out of here when the others return. OK, Tรคtowierer?โ โSorry, wonโt happen again.โ
Lale moves around the compound with half a spring in his step. He is surprised when he hears his name and looks around to see who is calling him. It is Victor. He and the other Polish workers are heading out of the camp. Victor summons him over.
โHi Victor. Yuri. How are you doing?โ
โNot as good as you by the look of it. Whatโs going on?โ Lale waves his hand. โNothing, nothing.โ
โWe have supplies for you and thought we wouldnโt be able to hand them over. Have you got room in your bag?โ
โAbsolutely. Sorry, I shouldโve come and seen you sooner, but I, er, was busy.โ
Lale opens his bag and both Victor and Yuri fill it. There is too much to fit
in.
โDo you want me to bring the rest back tomorrow?โ Victor asks. โNo, Iโll take it, thanks. Iโll see you tomorrow with payment.โ
There is one girl, besides Cilka, among the tens of thousands in Birkenau,
whom the SS have let keep her hair long. She is about Gitaโs age. Lale has never spoken to her but he has seen her from time to time. She stands out, with her flowing blonde mane. Everybody else tries as best they can to hide their cropped heads beneath a scarf, often torn from their shirt. Lale had asked Baretski one day what the deal was with her. How is she permitted to keep her hair long?
โOn the day she came into the camp,โ Baretski answered, โCommandant Hoess was at the selections. He saw her, thought her quite beautiful and said her hair was not to be touched.โ
Lale has often been astounded by the things he sees in both camps, but for Hoess to think only one girl is beautiful, out of the hundreds of thousands who have come through, truly confounds him.
As Lale hurries back to his room with a sausage shoved down his pants, he turns a corner and there she is, the only โbeautifulโ girl in the camp, staring at him. He makes it back to his room in record time.