“Men to the left, Women to the right! Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight simple, short words.” (29)
”I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever. I kept walking, my father holding my hand.” (29)
In chapter three, the author characterizes the concentration camp as an otherworldly environment through diction and imagery related to Hell.
“I thought: This is what the antechamber of hell must look like. Crazed men, so much shouting, so much brutality.” (34)
“ ‘Over there. Do you see the chimney over there? Do you see it? And the flames, do you see them?’ […] ‘Over there, that’s where they will take you. Over there will be your grave. You still don’t understand? You sons of bitches. Don't you understand anything? You will be burned! Burned to a cinder! Turned into ashes’ !” (31)
“We stood stunned, petrified. Could this be just a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?” (31)
“Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey, raba”
“Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.” (34)