3, 4, and 5 Summary and Analysis

In late 1944 the Nazi war effort begins a final collapse and the Russian armies rapidly advance westward; Auschwitz is evacuated and partially dismantled. Kovály and hundreds of other Jews are force-marched westward through winter and without adequate clothing or food. Stragglers are shot. Kovály recounts how one of the Nazi guards, Franz, frequently acted as executioner while simultaneously protecting a particularly young and frail inmate named Eva with fatherly concern. Although the exact route is not described, it is likely that the inmates were force-marched about 350 miles. Kovály and some of her friends discuss escape and decide to seize any opportunity; they reason that it is better to run and be executed as free people than to remain and be executed as slaves. One night the prisoners are sheltered in a barn. Several gather their meager belongings and...