The Midwife of Auschwitz

After the birth of Filipa, whom Ester calls Pippa, many women whose children Ester helped deliver bring Ester tiny scraps of food. In preparation for the SS officers stealing her blonde infant, Ester tattoos her number in the baby’s armpit. Klara taunts Ester about giving Pippa up to the Nazis. Ester accuses Klara of having no compassion, which Klara admits may be true but says she is better off without. The Lebensborn programme officers take Pippa.

By June 1944, Ana delivers 2,000 babies in Birkenau without losing a mother or a child in birth. The residents hear rumors of the Allies progress against the Nazis. Several prisoners escape, fueling hope that they will tell the allies about their conditions, prompting rescue. Mala and her boyfriend, Edek, plan to escape the camp in daylight by pretending to be an SS officer and prisoner. Ana watches them escape, but three days later, they are brought back “in chains” (221). Distraught, Ana smashes herself into a wall until knocked unconscious.

Ester tries to clean the windows of Block 24, though she does not have the soap and water needed to remove the grime. She recognizes that her senses, including her mental acuity and her emotions, have dulled in Birkenau.