Cilka's Journey

The next day, Cilka returns to the hospital after Josie and the rest of the women go to work. Cilka still thinks about turning down a job at the hospital. When she arrives, she works with a doctor named Yury, and they examine a male patient. Yury tells Cilka to check the patient every 15 minutes and to mark the time of his death. Cilka updates his record when he dies and says a prayer over him.

Flashback to Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1943. Cilka, Gita, and Cilka’s sister Magda sit on the grass talking about Lale, the tattooist they met when arriving at Auschwitz II. Lale and Gita have fallen in love, and Gita tells the girls of her conversation with him that morning.

Back in present-day Vorkuta, Cilka talks to Yelena before leaving for the day, and Yelena offers to train Cilka as a nurse. Cilka accepts but asks if Josie can take over her clerical job; Yelena says it is not yet possible.

The days and nights are dark and colder than anything Cilka has ever experienced. She continues training as a nurse and smuggles food to her hut-mates to ease her guilt about her better working conditions, giving Antonina the largest portions. Cilka excels in her work at the hospital, and patients request her because she is kind and gentle. The men visit the hut frequently, and Josie becomes jealous when Vadim doesn’t show up, believing that he must prefer another woman to her.

Cilka and her hut-mates learn to smuggle furniture and other supplies into the hut, making it more comfortable. Antonina overlooks these additions because of the food she receives from Cilka. Those who can sew decorate the hut and their clothing with embroidery made from the sheet thread and discarded bandages that Cilka brings from the hospital. Spring and summer arrive, bringing 24-hour daylight. The women struggle to sleep during what the other prisoners call the white nights, causing tempers to flare. At Yelena’s suggestion, Cilka devises blindfolds for the women and takes them back to the hut on a Sunday, when the women only have a half day of work. The women hear a commotion in the yard and see the other prisoners walking around, enjoying time outside. The women join the other prisoners and explore the camp, feeling a sense of freedom. Josie wants Cilka to help her find Boris and Vadim so they can walk around as couples, but Cilka refuses to go with her. Instead, Cilka goes back to the hut. When all the women have returned, she puts her blindfold on and sleeps.

The sun doesn’t set for eight weeks, and Cilka slowly relaxes and enjoys the Sunday evening strolls. One evening, Hannah pulls Cilka away from Josie and threatens her, telling her she knows that Cilka slept with Nazis to survive Auschwitz and uses this information to extort Cilka, threatening to tell their hut-mates if Cilka does not do as she says. At the close of the chapter, one year has passed since Cilka first came to Vorkuta. Hannah continues to remind Cilka of her threat, though she has yet to ask for anything specific. Autumn turns to winter, and the darkness returns.

On January 1, 1947, Cilka works in the hospital alongside one of the doctors. She convinces him to allow a male patient to stay two more days, and the patient is grateful to her. Yelena tells that Cilka she’s now qualified to be called a nurse, but Cilka feels guilt and shame. Yelena also gives her a note notifying Antonina that Josie will begin work at the hospital tomorrow as a clerical assistant. When the other women return to the hut that night, Natalya, who is only five or six weeks pregnant, goes into labor. Josie, Elena, and a woman named Margarethe stay to assist Cilka, who delivers a stillborn baby boy and leaves Natalya to sleep with him in her arms. The next morning, Elena and Margarethe stay with Natalya while Cilka and Josie take the baby to the hospital.

Josie is slow to learn her work duties, but Cilka helps her while excelling as a nurse. Working at the hospital helps improve Josie’s attitude and behavior toward Cilka. They return to the hut after work one day to find that Natalya has disappeared. Cilka comforts Josie, knowing how close the two women are. Another summer arrives, and the occupants of Hut 29 shift and change. One evening, Hannah corners Cilka outside the hut and demands pain medication in exchange for her silence. Cilka agrees out of fear of losing her friends. As Cilka tries to enter the hut, Boris appears and asks her to walk with him. He takes her to the men’s section of camp to meet his friends and show her off. Another man tells Boris to prove his manhood and have sex with Cilka in front of everyone, causing Cilka to run. Boris catches up to her and promises he’d never do that, showing that he cares for her. Cilka begs him to let her return to her hut, and he does. She can’t sleep, and images of people she has lost haunt her, making her despondent about the future.

Flashback to Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1944. At Block 25, Cilka orders four women to bring out the bodies of two women who died overnight. She helps them with the task, gently moving the bodies and treating them with dignity. Cilka then prepares for Schwarzhuber’s visit, as she plans to ask him to move Lale to a different block.

Four-year-old Katya, the daughter of Commandant Alexei Demyanovich Kukhitkov, enters the hospital screaming from the pain of a broken arm and a gash on her head. Yelena and Cilka bring her and her mother, Maria, into the ward, and Maria explains that Katya followed her brother onto a roof and fell. Cilka and Yelena examine Katya’s injuries, and Cilka speaks to the girl gently and calms her down while Yelena treats her various injuries. The commandant suddenly storms into the room, demanding to know what happened, and Yelena assures him that Katya will recover. Another doctor tries to take charge of the girl’s care, but Maria insists that Yelena and Cilka continue working with her. The commandant leaves, asking for a report when they’ve finished.

Yelena and Cilka take Katya to the operating room and set her arm. Katya wakes soon after, and Yelena tells Maria her daughter is doing well. Katya recognizes Cilka’s voice and smiles. When the girl is ready to go home, Maria tells Cilka to let her know if she ever needs anything. Cilka studies the woman, who reminds her of her mother. At the end of her shift, Cilka steals some pain medication from the dispensary for Hannah. She steps outside to go home, and upon seeing Alexandr, she watches him smoke a cigarette and feels something shift inside her emotionally.