Summary

In the chapter, “On German Soil,” it was Irena’s friends who arranged for her to go to one of the repatriation camps for displaced people that were set up by the Allies. In order to pass her off as a Jew, for safe passage, they dyed her hair black and gave her the fake name of Sonia Sofiertein. As Irena rode the train to Hessich-Lichtenau, Germany, she realized she was not just running from the Russians, but also from the memory of the baby thrown into the air and shot. She saw from their faces that the other people in the train car were haunted by their own terrible memories as well. At this point in the book, seven years had passed since the beginning of the war.

Once she had arrived at the camp and had...