The Cage

The waking hours, at Auschwitz, are full of questions surrounding the mystery of the chimneys. As torturous as those waking hours are, Riva is afraid to sleep, because she “may not wake up,” despite her “need” for rest (130). For the hope of a life after the camp, when she might reunite with her mother and brothers, she tells herself that she “must live” (130). One day, as she drifts off dreaming about this future, a loud noise awakens her and the other women.

Though at first they believe the camp is bombed, a former doctor, Doctor Ginzburg, runs through the barrack to tell them that Auschwitz is not the target of bombs, but rather that “they’re playing music to ease [the prisoners’] pain” (131). It is the sound of “freedom calling,” some Chopin music to keep them alive (131). She encourages everyone to join her in singing.

Suddenly, a kapo “rips” the door open and asks Doctor Ginzburg if she wants everyone to die. She hits Doctor Ginzburg with a club and then leaves the again-quiet room, cursing. Doctor Ginzburg only responds by telling those who comfort her that she feels “sorry for the kapo,” who “is one of us”;she makes sense of this disloyalty with the repeated phrase “We must live” (132).