Chapter 20, He Lies in Saspe Summary

Oskar escapes by befriending two avuncular German soldiers, and, with gestures, accuses Jan Bronski of dragging a toddler into a war zone. Sometimes he looks back on this with shame, but consoles himself with the thought that Jan Bronski was too dazed by events to understand the betrayal. Oskar learns from Leo Schugger, the cemetery greeter, that the men were held in prison. In early October, they were marched to Saspe, shot in front of the wall in an abandoned cemetery, and buried in a mass grave. Leo Schugger finds a leftover cartridge case in the sandy cemetery soil and gives it to Oskar.

After the Post Office is captured, Oskar is hospitalized. Each day until the executions, his grandmother and his great-uncle Vincent come to convince him to sign a statement clearing Jan Bronski...