Cibi Meller

Cibi Meller is the eldest of the three Meller sisters. At the outset of the novel, she is twenty years old and training with the Hachshara, a Zionist youth movement, to establish the new state of Israel. When the Hlinka Guard select her youngest sister, Livi, for transportation to work for the Germans, she abandons the Hachshara to join her sister. Cibi’s personal identity is hinged on her role as the older sister, she believes that it is her responsibility to ensure that the three girls uphold the promise they made to their father, to always stay together. She is terrified when she, and hundreds of other girls, are forced onto cattle cars but she hides her fear in order to act as a support for Livi, who is only fifteen.

During her imprisonment at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Cibi continues to fight for survival in order to protect...