“They say every man goes blind in his heart
They say everybody steals somebody’s heart away…”
~ Mazzy Star.
October, November & December 1941.
Kurt’s unit crosses the Mius River and captures Taganrog, but rains soon make roads impassable and their offensive grinds into a slow slog through endless mud. In Berlin, Moshe is rounded up with other German Jews and is sent to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. An unknowing Elisabeth stops by Moshe’s apartment for her weekly check-in, and to her horror finds it occupied by another family. Distraught, she turns to Gertrud and learns the sickening truth. Turning to Adele, she decides not to share any news with Kurt until he returns home.
Pouring rains give way to snow, and the mud soon freezes allowing Kurt’s unit to once again advance. Having lost contact with Russian forces, they arrive on the outskirts of Rostov. They capture the city but are forced to retreat from a Russian counterattack. On a bluff overlooking the burned out city at night, Kurt nearly freezes to death while on watch. As he’s about to doze off, Anna’s voice calls out to him just before a Russian attack. He rouses his men and they fight off the Russians, but Kurt is wounded and gets sent back to Poland.
Elisabeth receives the first letter in months from Kurt, but it’s heavily redacted. As Kurt recuperates in the hospital, Zandra pays him a visit two weeks before Christmas. While he’s on the mend and before returning to his unit on the front lines, they enjoy a brief affair.
