Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary

After the preliminary stages of the trial conclude, the five defendants are formally indicted. There are three indictments. First, they are indicted for their personal conduct at Auschwitz. This indictment seems, to Michael, to be routine and insignificant compared to the other charges. Second, they are charged with making selections wherein approximately sixty women were selected, each month, to be murdered in the camp exterminations. Finally, the defendants are indicted with specific charges relating to one night near the end of the war.

A large group of women prisoners had been evacuated from the work camp and were being force-marched westward. Hanna and the other defendants were among the guard contingent escorting the prisoners. One night, the column stopped in a small town. The prisoners were herded into a church and locked inside, while the German guards settled in a nearby...