Gerta’s Tattoo

At Auschwitz, Gerta was given a unique identification number that was tattooed into her arm. When the British liberate the camp, and Gerta is asked for her name, she shows her arm. This symbolizes how the Nazis took away the prisoners’ identity and rendered each person into just another number.

The Donated Clothing

After the camp is liberated, volunteers deliver crates full of clothes and shoes for the survivors. The survivors who process the donations obsessively line the shoes by size and fold each piece of clothing neatly. This impulse to impose order on the clothing symbolizes how the survivors were stripped of their control over their fate and now that they are free, they are eager to regain control.

Papa’s Viola

Gerta’s father plays the viola in an orchestra during her childhood and brings his instrument with him to the concentration...