Olga Lengyel

The author of "Five Chimneys." Olga is the wife of a successful doctor who owns and operates a sanatorium in the Transylvanian village of Cluj. When her husband is arrested, Olga quickly decides that she will volunteer for deportation because she believes that her family can survive anything as long as they remain together. After a horrible trip, they arrive at Auschwitz and Olga insists that her oldest son is not yet twelve, thinking that she is sparing him from hard labor. She also insists that her mother wants to remain with the two children. She later learns that she's hastened their deaths and that fact is the opening of her book. The placement of that seems to indicate that she is horrified at her role though she doesn't dwell on that point - or any other.

Olga says that she is ready to give up her...