The Midwife of Auschwitz

Two months later, Ester cares for her sickly mother, Ruth. A Jewish police officer arrives to arrest Ruth. Ester confronts him, asking, “Why do you do this? Why do you sell your own people to the enemy” (115). An SS officer appears. Ester argues with them, but Ruth comes down the stairs, ready to go with them. When Ester fights back, the Nazis arrest her and take her to the train station. She sees a crowd of Jewish people of all ages pushed into train cars. Dressed as a nurse, Ester nearly escapes before she sees Ana. Pulled onto the train, Ester finds herself in Ana’s arms on the way to Auschwitz.

During the ride to Auschwitz, Ruth dies in Ester’s arms. Before her death, Ruth tells Ana that Ester is now her daughter. Ana believes that “[s]taying alive was the only weapon they had right now” (124). Once inside the combined camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ana and Ester march with other women before a Nazi doctor who will decide whether they will receive jobs or death. Ana proves that she is a nurse and midwife and says Ester is her assistant. He sends them to Block 17, a maternity dorm.