Resistance

After breakfast the next morning, Rubin takes Chaya and Esther to Warsaw. The partisans pack the girls’ bags with extra ammunition that will come in handy in Warsaw. As they enter the city, Chaya reflects on how Warsaw has been erased from the map many times in history but has fought its way back each time; once again, it looks to be on the brink of erasure, the atmosphere tense and debris from the blitzkrieg still littering the streets.

Chaya buys food and medical supplies to distribute inside the ghetto while Esther hides with their bags in the bathroom of a restaurant. Chaya returns to Esther once she is done, but as they exit the restaurant together, they run into a woman who seems to know Esther. The woman, another Jew pretending to be Christian, angrily asks Esther how she dares return to Warsaw, asserting that Esther’s parents got what they deserved, and so will Esther. Once the woman leaves, an angry Chaya demands to know Esther’s story, as she never told Chaya she was from Warsaw.

Esther narrates how her family lost their home in the blitzkrieg the same day her brother was killed. Following this, her father was offered a position on the Judenrat, which he took for the sake of their survival.