How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #7
"Between eighty and one hundred dead each time means they have killed over eighteen hundred to almost two thousand men and women and children today alone. It is worse than Sachenhausen." (29.54)
The extermination camp that Gemma survived killed thousands of people a day. As the only woman that escaped, she beat some serious odds.
Quote #8
They came to the side of the pit in the deepening dark. It was enormous, full of shadows: shadows of arms, of legs, of heads thrown back, mouths open in silenced screams. (29.61)
No getting around it: this is a horrifying image. Remember that Gemma was found among these corpses. No wonder she went ahead and repressed that incident.
Quote #9
She screamed out Aron's name and tried to scramble up to him, but Josef grabbed on to her and held her down, partially to keep her from her death but also because at the moment all thoughts escaped him and he was simply too terrified to let go. (30.44)
Gemma's husband died almost immediately after they were married. Presumably, she had lost her family prior to that. And then there were all those corpses in the pile where they found her. That's a lot of death for one woman to deal with.