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Miklós is deported to Germany
(Pg. 14) "When he did not return soon I made inquiries. Almost as though in a dream I received the news that he was to be deported to Germany immediately." Olga's husband, Dr. Miklós Lengyel is deported to Germany while working as a surgeon in Transylvania. -
Olga requests to be deported with Dr. Lengyel
(Pg. 14) "I asked if the authorities would permit me to accompany him. The S.S. official blandly declared that they had no object. If I chose to go, I was welcome." Olga couldn't stand the thought of her husband being separated from herself and the kids. She was willing to be deported so that they could be together. -
Olga is seperated from her sons
(Pg. 23-24) "This was the first 'selection,' ... Children and old people were told off automatically, 'to the left!' ... Then I committed my second terrible error. 'This boy must be more than twelve,' he remarked to me. 'No,' I protested. 'Very well,' Klein agreed amiably. 'To the left!'" During the first selection, Olga swayed the selection officer to send her son to the left, and then swayed her mother to look after her sons wherever they were to be taken after selection. This was grim. -
Olga knows the truth about the camp
(Pg. 66) "They burned people in this 'bakery.' Yet, after months of internment there were still people in the camp who could not believe that it was possible. Often I was in a dilemma. What attitude should I take towards those who refused to believe that there were gas chambers and crematories? Should I have let them continue to think that the whole story was idle gossip, a cunning instrument... If I did not convince them of the cruel truth, they might offer themselves at the next selection." -
Olga is sentenced to death
(Pg. 66-68) "No sooner had I outlined a plan of escape than several of the 'selectionees' cried, 'Stubendienst! Somebody is trying to get away.' Why did they betray me? ...I changed clothing with another deportee and hid in my koia. The clothing exchange aroused some suspicion. I was sure that Hasse would not recognize me from among the 40,000 other inmates..." Olga was betrayed by her fellow inmates and marked for selection. She ended up escaping her fate by changing attire and sneaking out. -
Olga is drafted into the infirmary
(Pg. 69) "As I was not without experience. I was ordered into infirmary work." Olga worked as a surgical assistant before being deported to Germany and has experience in medical practice. She is ordered to work at the camp's infirmary. -
Olga makes the choice to kill newborns
(Pg. 72) "...speaking of the ones who were dear to us or simply discussing the tormenting problems of the day, such as should we or should we not condemn the newborn to death in order to save the poor mothers." Olga speaks on her relationship with other inmates who hold positions within the infirmary. Often they discuss those that they've lost, and the ethical dilemma of killing newborns to save the mother and the newborn from the gas chambers. -
Greek Jews were brough to Birkenau
(Pg. 82) "In 1943, 47,000 Greek Jews were brought to Birkenau. Thirty-nine thousand were executed immediately. The others were interned, but they died like flies, unable to adapt themselves to the climate." -
Organization
(Pg.109) "'If you do not want to die of hunger, there is only one thing to do: steal.' Suddenly I understood: to 'organize' meant to steal." This describes the moment that Olga learned that the only way to stay alive is to steal food from others. This isn't a reflection of Olga or anyone else who felt that they had to steal, but rather a reflection of the conditions they were surviving. There simply wasn't enough food for everyone. -
Dr. Mengele's presense
(Pg. 116) "'The camp is not a maternity ward,' proclaimed Dr Mengele ... Dr. Mengele never missed the chance to ask the women indiscreet and improper questions" Dr. Josef Mengele a.k.a. Angel of Death was now a practitioner in Auschwitz. Olga recalls him asking inappropriate questions to pregnant women and having no sympathy towards expecting mothers. -
David blows up the ovens
(Pg. 175) "Through members of the Pasche group, they have procured a quantity of explosives, sufficient to carry out their project. But a number of things went wrong, and the explosion destroyed only one of the four buildings." A Jewish prisoner (David) working as a Sonderkommando (slave of the gas chamber) decided to use his remaining months to blow up the crematorium. This was an attempt to slow down the death toll. -
Disposing of records
(Pg. 209) "On the morning of January 17, 1945, S.S. troops appeared at the hospital, assembled all the instruments of any value and loaded them on trucks. At midnight other S.S. arrived and ordered us to bring the case records and the temperature charts to the 'political bureau' immediately. In less than an hour... An S.S. guard promptly set them on fire!" All of the infirmary records were rounded up and burned in an attempt hide the crimes of Auschwitz. -
Patients in the infirmary made a choice
(Pg. 209) "One could not indulge in too many illusions. The Germans undoubtedly planned to exterminate our patients; unless they were overrun by the Russians... would it be wiser to hide somewhere in the camp and wait for liberation? Or would it be better to leave with the rest and try to escape en route?" Patients in the infirmary knew that the S.S. troops would try to kill them. A lot of them returned to their barracks and wrapped themselves in blankets to appear healthy. -
Olga steals bread to prepare for evacuation
(Pg. 211) "'Hold on!' I cried to my companions who were running towards the barrack. 'We cannot leave without bread. Let's smash in the warehouse door!'" Olga realized that if they were to travel for days to be rescues, they could potentially die of starvation en route. -
Olga catches a body
(Pg. 221) "He was drunk, yet rational enough to shoot if he thought I was trying to escape. But it was either his life or mine. I seized one of the bottles lying nearby, and with all my strength I swung it against his skull. The glass splintered, and the German fell forward on his face... I was sick with disgust. Even the thought of killing a hated Nazi gave me a dreadful feeling." Olga escapes her binding and kills her appointed S.S. guard. She then goes into hiding. -
Olga is free.
(Pg. 223) "The consensus... [is] it would be three days still before the Russians would arrive. Yet that same night Russian shock troops broke through and took possession of it... No we heard a new language, a language foreign to us, and saw people we had never seen before, but they had brought us the greatest gift that life can give-- liberty." Olga and the rest of the village are rescued by Russian shock troops. Everyone in the village is saved.