The Light in Hidden Places

Stefania now has a job at the Minerway factory, which used to make toys but now makes screws. Stefania has to operate six machines and produce 30,000 screws per shift. If she’s under the quota, it comes out of her paycheck. Her boss is Herr Braun. A young man around Berdecki’s age, Lubek, smiles at her, and a girl, Januka, gives her a bite of her sandwich.

In Emilika’s apartment, Emilika lampoons the SS men who come to get their picture made. She’s from Kraków but came to Przemyśl to stay with her grandma’s sister, who married a Jew. The grandma’s sister is gone. Emilika and Stefania agree that the Nazis are horrible, and Stefania tells her she planned to marry a Jewish boy, Izio. She then informs Emilika she’s considering hiding his brothers. Emilika criticizes the idea, reminding Stefania about the omnipresent secret police. Stefania wonders if Emilika thinks she’s a spy. Emilika says hiding Jews is pointless; there’s a one-in-a-million chance it’ll work. Stefania says her idea is silly, and Emilika promises to forget the conversation.

Stefania has a violent nightmare about Max, Henek, Danuta, and Izio. At the factory, she makes under 30,000 screws, but the Polish inspector says she’s made over 30,000. Stefania can’t sleep, but a person lets her nap at work. She has another violent nightmare. In the church, she realizes she has to help Max and the other Jews and finds a bigger apartment on Tatarska Street.

The apartments on Tatarska Street are like cottages. They share walls and have two stories. The toilets are outside, and the apartment on Tatarska 3 has a small hallway with a dirt floor and an attic. Stefania gets along with the overseer, Mrs. Krajewska, and applies for the place. She brings Max back to it to check it out. First, they pretend to be a couple; then, they tell Mrs. Krajewska they’re brother and sister. Max worries about the neighbors and thin walls. Stefania jokes about finding a hiding place in a desert, and Max seriously suggests digging a bunker under the dirt.

Lubek helps Stefania at the factory, so she can leave early and make it to the housing department before it closes. Stefania gets the apartment and excitedly kisses the secretary. At home, Helena thinks of a safer way to communicate with Max in the ghetto. She finds a red ball. She can put letters in the ball and kick it over the fence. The guards won’t care. The plan works, and they send Max a note about getting the apartment. Max gives them a note: Someone has typhus, and they need food and medicine.

After cleaning Tatarska 3, Stefania picks up aspirin and food. She meets Max at the fence. Henek and Dr. Schillinger are sick. Berdecki appears but doesn’t do anything. Stefania returns home. The sisters pack everything in three hours and move into Tatarska 3. Looking at the dirty rooms, Stefania thinks about how Mrs. Diamant would want her to save her sons and not worry about cleanliness.

The sisters return to the ghetto gate to tell Max they’ve moved: No one is at the old apartment. Mrs. Wojcik appears and assumes she’s waiting for Berdecki. She makes some suggestive comments about men, and Stefania tells her to go to the devil in Yiddish. Mrs. Wojcik huffs away, and Stefania realizes she’s lost sight of Helena. When she finds Helena, she’s crying and bleeding. Some boys saw Max give her a note and attacked her for assisting a Jewish person. She ate the note and bit a soldier’s leg.

Stefania doesn’t want to endanger Helena further, so she sneaks into the ghetto. Henek and Dr. Schillinger are fine, and Max has a plan for them to leave and make it to the new apartment. Siunek and Max will come first. They’ll meet at the train station. Max tells her to buy him a shovel and to be careful. In the ghetto, someone is always watching.

As Stefania leaves the ghetto, the Jewish police detain her. They know she wants to hide Jews, and they tell her they’ve seen her coming and going. Stefania denies the charges, and the Jewish police threaten to take her to the Gestapo. Stefania berates them for working with the Nazis. After an intense debate about the deadly balance between resistance and cooperation, they let her go. They tell her if she plans to do something, do it soon.

The encounter with the Jewish policeman makes Stefania aware that someone has exposed their plan, but she has no way to warn Max. Stefania sees Max and Siunek at the train station—they dress as workers. Berdecki spots Stefania. He knows Stefania’s new address. He also knows a secret about her and invites her to his home to discuss the secret.

Stefania returns to Tatarska 3. Max and Siunek are there, and Stefania tells Max about the encounter with the Jewish police. Max can’t believe someone told them. Then he wonders if someone didn’t tell; maybe someone overheard the group speaking to each other. Stefania tells him about Berdecki, and Max says Berdecki likely doesn’t know anything—he’s just flirting with her. To be sure, Stefania thinks she should see him on Sunday.

While working at the factory, she wonders about Max, Helena, and Siunek—maybe she’ll come home and find them dead. She returns home; Max is in her bedroom. He’s dug a bunker and turned the second empty bedroom into a toilet. He’s moved the dirt to the dirt-floor hallway and asks Stefania to collect garbage to hide the noticeable increase in dirt. Stefania thinks about all the things she has to do. She remembers it’s Sunday. She washes and puts on a nice outfit and goes to see Berdecki.

Berdecki has a nice home. He made a lot of good food, but Stefania wants to cut to the point: What does he know? However, Berdecki wants to eat first. They have wine; Berdecki is sweet, and Stefania feels happy. They move to the couch. Berdecki promises to tell her what he knows after a kiss. Stefania thinks Berdecki is beautiful, and the kiss makes her feel beautiful. Now, Berdecki divulges the secret: She needs kisses. Enraged, Stefania pushes him off and calls him names. She throws the wine bottle and leaves. Yet she has mixed feelings: She likes that a handsome policeman pursued her.

Stefania has to work back-to-back 12-hour shifts. Dziusia, Dr. Schillinger’s youngest daughter, is sneaking out at 5:00. Januka and Lubek cover her shift so she can meet her. SS men with dogs are at the meeting place, a bridge. Dziusia meanders before gathering the courage to cross the bridge. She stops in front of the church. Stefania reaches her and tells her to follow. Stefania returns to the ghetto to notify Dr. Schillinger his daughter is fine. Berdecki is there, but he leaves Stefania alone.