Chapter 8, Part 1 Summary

After Shmuel's visit, Yakov is excited and eager for freedom. The warden crushes his plans by discovering the visit. Zhitnyak is arrested and Yakov is interrogated again, for planned escape and conspiracy. Yakov's cell is reconstructed with heightened security, including a shackled bed. Guards patrolling the outside are doubled to fight off an escape plot by the Jews.

Yakov spends his days chained to the wall. Zhitnyak's replacement is a former soldier who pretends to shoot Yakov periodically for his own amusement. The cavity searches now number six per day. Despite his torture, Yakov still hopes something might happen for him. It is winter again in Kiev.

Yakov is freezing to death in the icy cell. Now he must depend on the cruel guards to light his stove and tend the fire, and they are not eager to do so. Yakov...