Summary

Treblinka, the Nazi death camp in Poland, is in full swing when the story begins. A brutish Ukrainian named Ivan directs the sadistic abuse and eventual murder of hundreds of Jews In August, 1943, which was approximately the midpoint of World War II. The soldiers routinely pack as many as 500 Jews into the gas chamber at a time, closing the doors tightly as the Zyklon-B is released. Despite the forced performance of a band of Jewish musicians and the horrific roar of the engines powering the human death factory, screams still pierce and penetrate the nearby woods as the prisoners die like cattle crammed into a freight car. They are packed so tightly that their corpses remain standing even after the doors are opened. Then, their lifeless forms begin collapsing one by one.

Jubas Meyer, one of the prisoners forced at gunpoint to carry...