12, 13, and 14 Summary and Analysis

By the time of Margolius' arrest, some 50,000 citizens had been arrested for political reasons, a disproportionately high number of them being Jews. The families of arrested persons were subjected to official hazing and, worse, spontaneous exclusion by neighborhoods and associations. Kovály struggles to support herself and Ivan, her child, securing a job working a machine in a small factory and taking on every odd job she can locate. For months, she exchanges a single monthly letter with Margolius. She is informed that he has been expelled from the Communist Party—a bad sign—but hears no other official information. She continues to write many letters and make many telephone calls regarding Margolius' arrest, but they are all to no avail.

Eventually, the Communist Party sends a team to her apartment to survey and catalogue her belongings so that...