The Choice: Embrace the Possible

This section reveals the inmates’ persistent humanity through humor. The girls find ways to express themselves even in the most destitute circumstances. In Auschwitz’s barracks, the female prisoners host a boob competition; it helps them feel strong in their withering, malnourished bodies. (Eger proudly boasts her victory, which may surprise readers after hearing her mother disparage Eger’s appearance.) The banter among girls, both in Auschwitz and throughout the marches, demonstrates their resilience amid atrocity. When Eger’s group transitions from a thread factory to a bullet factory, Magda proclaims, “Ladies, we’ve been handed a promotion” (51). Obviously, these Jewish women will never receive a “promotion” in any sense under Nazi authority, but even construing their next destination in a positive light enacts some power over their oppressors. They are alive to fight another day, and their spirits persevere. After the train bombing a short time later, when Eger rejoins her sister and spies the political prisoners eating abundantly in the covered train cars, she scolds, “Now that there’s a chance to ask for some food, you look like this. […] You’re too cut up to flirt” (51). Magda, the notoriously relentless flirt, probably could get her way with men under normal circumstances, but the severity of their extraordinary situation makes Eger’s implications more comedic. Eger doesn’t portray the girls’ humor and personality as resistance against oppression; instead, she says, “Our talk is our sustenance” (50). Finding the humanity deep within sustains their sense of self, strengthening the will to fight for their lives. By scolding Magda, Eger maintains a desperate sense of normalcy between the sisters and reaffirms Magda’s personality, trying to reorient her to the present reality. That Eger can remember these short quips 75 years later reveals the impact of this survival mechanism on her own journey.

Leading into World War II, Germany became a massive world force, building its military and occupying countries. Eger mentions the individual soldiers’ specific divisions, which implicate their relationship to the Jewish inmates. The SS unit (Schutzstaffel) began as Hitler’s personal security group and expanded to become the most prominent organization in Nazi Germany. Only candidates who officials considered genetically elite could join the organization. SS soldiers formed militant units, managed concentration camps, and held assault powers in Nazi territories. (History.com Editors. “The SS.” History, 7 June 2019, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/ss.) The Auschwitz guards and the soldiers who march Eger around Germany belong to the SS. They regard the prisoners cruelly, betraying no pity or mercy toward the starving, diseased women.

Wehrmacht, the home division of the soldier who spares Eger when she escapes to uproot carrots, was the Third Reich military force. Wehrmacht soldiers worked alongside but separate from the SS and are best characterized as general recruitment soldiers. Because a large percentage of German men served as Wehrmacht, many tried to disassociate the common soldier and SS war criminals through the “clean Wehrmacht” argument. The argument suggests Wehrmacht were nothing more than conscripted soldiers—the equivalent of an Allied soldier—and the Western Allies should not hold them responsible for war crimes. Western countries planned to ask for Germany’s cooperation during the Cold War, so the Allies conceded to the distinction. However, later analyses exposed Wehrmacht offenses against Eastern political and ethnic groups (including the Jewish) and highlight the upper command’s complicity in colossal-scale killings. (Ray, Michael. “Wehrmacht.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 April 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Wehrmacht.) The memoir’s Wehrmacht soldier holds Edie’s life in the balance, and for a moment, he seems to consider shooting her without a moment’s regret: “How dare you? his eyes say. I’ll teach you to obey” (55). However, his humanity trumps duty, and he fabricates an excuse to the SS soldiers on her behalf. He betrays the impression Eger left on him when he returns the following day and feeds the bold girl rye bread. Eger recognizes the humanity in his face, seeing him fulfill an unquenchable need to make amends for nearly committing an irreversible crime: “His eyes are my father’s eyes. Green. And full of relief” (57). Regardless of the soldier’s full history, in that moment, he makes a choice to spare her life. The consequences ripple to the present day and lead to the memoir’s publication, among other positive impacts Eger shares with the world.