After

Only a few minutes into Felix’s journey with the Russian soldiers, he grows anxious. He is riding in an ambulance full of medical personnel. Along the way, they see many wounded people who need care, but the ambulance never stops. Felix reproaches himself because he does not want the ambulance to stop either. He wants to find the camp where his parents might be. Felix becomes lost in his fantasies about helping his parents rebuild their bookstore. Occasionally he wonders if the store might still be standing but quickly pushes that thought out of his mind.

At one point, the ambulance leaves the column of other vehicles and pulls onto a farm, where all the men take guns from under their seats. They order Felix to stay in the ambulance while they go into the farmhouse. He wonders, “What type of medical treatment involves shootings?” (182). Confused as to why there are screams and gunshots coming from the farmhouse, Felix goes in and immediately wishes that he had not. He cannot open his eyes once he gets back in the ambulance because he witnessed the Russians committing atrocities against German women. Then, the Russians begin to celebrate wildly. News comes over the radio in six languages that the war is over, and the Germans have surrendered.

On the day the war ends, the Russians drop Felix off at the concentration camp to which he assumes his parents were relocated. He is surprised at the appearance of the camp, since it almost seems deserted and stands with the gates wide open. He sees Russian soldiers running bulldozers and working with what seem to be piles of rubbish; soon, however, he realizes that the piles consist of endless bodies. Systematically, Felix walks through shed after shed, first calling out his parents’ names and then calling out the name of his hometown. A fragile man lying on a bed grabs his arm as he walks by. Felix recognizes him as Mr. Rosenfeld, a man from his hometown whom he has not seen in seven years. Mr. Rosenfeld tells him that Felix’s father has died. He believes, however, that Felix’s mother may still be alive. He gets out of his bunk and laboriously walks Felix to where his mother is. Mr. Rosenfeld takes him into a shed and points out a bunk where the “old lady” lies. Felix states, “I start to cry. It’s not an old lady, it’s Mum” (190).

Despite her condition, Felix’s mother recognizes him immediately. They lie together on the bunk holding one another. Felix spills out his story, telling her everything that has happened since they were separated. He notices how very difficult it is for her to breathe and recognizes that she is in great pain. Felix finds a Russian doctor who speaks Polish and begs her to examine his mother. The doctor takes him outside and explains that his mother will not survive because the extent of the damage caused by her starvation and disease is far too great.

After wrestling with the doctor’s news, Felix goes back to his mother and lies down with her. Though she is sleeping, she wakes with a start and promises Felix that she will not leave him again: “‘Dad didn’t want to leave you,’ she says. ‘When he died, the last thing he said was your name’” (196). As they lie together, Felix tells his mother a fanciful story about how well he has been taken care of through all their time apart. When he finishes, he finds that she is asleep.

Lying with his mother in his arms, Felix dreams that he says goodbye to his mother, who responds, “Goodbye, dear Felix […] Thank you for coming into our lives” (198).

Felix states, “After I woke up, and saw my dream had come true, I stayed with mum’s body for a long time” (199). It gives Felix some peace of mind to see that his mother has been released from all the pain and misery she experienced. The Russian doctor tells Felix that he can take his mother to the grave for the morning funeral service. Because bulldozers dig the grave and transport the bodies, Felix decides that he will carry his mother himself. He places her gently in the grave and covers her with dirt using his own hands. The doctor finds him again and hands him the compass, which he had left lying on his mother’s bunk.

Felix seeks permission from the doctors to become a nurse and assists those who are gravely ill in the concentration camp, “helping them have a wash if they want one. Helping them eat some food if there is any. Talking to them if they feel like it. Holding their hand” (202). He also sits with Mr. Rosenfeld as the man dies. Afterward, Felix goes outside and cries, which the Russian doctor explains is necessary so that he can let go of each person that he ministers to. After sitting with a 19-year-old man named Misha and giving him his compass, Felix sits despondently on the man’s bed. When a hand touches him on his shoulder, he thinks it is one of the doctors but turns to see that it is Gabriek.

Once reunited, Felix and Gabriek return to the partisans’ forest camp. They check the hollow tree where each left keepsakes and find that their treasures are still there. Suddenly, they hear Szulk, who points his gun at Gabriek and Felix. Felix protests that Gabriek is not a Jew. Szulk says, “Jew-lovers are just as bad […] Poland doesn’t need any of you” (207). Gabriek leaps at Szulk, who clubs him with his gun. Felix reaches inside his jacket as the men scuffle and produces a razor-sharp scalpel, with which he slashes Szulk across the chest, leaving him helpless. Felix stands above him deciding whether he should take the life of this man who has wanted to kill him from the first moment they met. Ultimately, Felix chooses to be a mender rather than a killer. With Gabriek’s help, he stitches up the slash across Szulk’s chest, smashes his gun, and the two of them walk away.