Chapter 10 Summary

During her brief stay at the Höss household, Sophie slept in the basement along with the other imprisoned servants. There, she was allowed a modicum of cleanliness, because Höss' wife was terribly afraid of contagious diseases in the camp and made sure the household servants' clothes were cleaned with germicide. Sleep was another perk of the Höss home. The basement offered a certain amount of privacy denied the prisoners in the outside camp. She shared quarters with several other prisoners, some of whom were confirmed anti-Semites. One man, Bronek, worked with the resistance group imprisoned inside Auschwitz. Most of the prisoners were kind to Sophie, but she was warned about the housekeeper, Wilhelmine, a German woman serving prison time for forgery.

Bronek brings her food each day, leftover table scraps - a better and much more bountiful...