Lilac Girls

The chapter follows Kasia through 1942 and 1943. She screams when she sees her leg, black sutures straining to hold the skin of her leg together. The nurses inject her and put her to sleep. Zuzanna inspects the wound and says that they must have removed bone and muscle. Kasia is operated on three more times, each time bringing higher fevers and more pain. Kasia continues to wait for her mother to come; she does not. Regina teaches them all English while Janina becomes their French teacher. One day, they begin talking about writing secret letters to their families, coded in their own acidic urine. They are thrown out of the hospital one day after Janina makes a comment about how tired she is of being there. Zuzanna, who has been released earlier, hurries towards them and begins to help them all towards Block 31, an international block. Prisoners can now receive food packages from home.

Kasia discovers that Luiza and Alfreda are both dead. The camp has rallied itself around the Rabbits, with more than 50 Polish girls having been operated upon, and have formed a group called the Mury—The Walls. No one has seen Halina since the girls were first operated upon.