Summary

“Finding Rebecca” starts in the year 1943 at Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the concentration camps on the Auschwitz complex. Main character Christopher is introduced as an SS officer; it is his first day as leader of the Sonderkommandos, a portion of the Jewish workforce. Christopher walks around the camp with Rapportfuhrer Friedrich, who becomes a major character later in the novel.

Christopher learns that his duty is to oversee the workers as they sort through prisoners’ belongings. He is then to come up with an efficient system for sorting and distributing those goods back to the Reich.

On his first night, Christopher is invited by his roommate Lahm to go drinking with the other SS officers he will be working with on a daily basis. He declines, stating that it’s only his first day and he’ll start to get to know everyone the...