Part I, Chapter 47, A Bathhouse! Just an Ordinary Bathhouse! Summary and Analysis

In Part I, Chapter 47, the prisoners are cleaned and told to pair up. Ginzburg meets Olga face-to-face at this point. All of the women happily share what meager possessions they have with one another and then return to their cells for the night.

Despite the fact that Ginzburg and others are being sent to labor camps, they are overjoyed at being sent out of the prison. They happily talk to one another as they all bathe, getting to know who their cell neighbors were. Human kindness and spirit again show themselves through the simple acts of gift-giving and charity. It is a reminder to the women as well that humanity can never be stamped out if human beings are willing to maintain it.