City of Thieves

Lev and Kolya soon make peace with the girls. The girls haven't spoken to anyone but Germans in months, and they have no radio. They pepper Lev and Kolya with questions about if certain landmarks in Leningrad still stand. Lev and Kolya don't ask much about the girls, since the story is obvious: when Germans invade, men are slaughtered, women are sent to work as slaves, others flee, and the prettiest girls are kept for the Nazis' pleasure.

The girls give Lev and Kolya tea, bread, and baked potatoes with butter. Kolya asks if the soldiers ever bring eggs, and Galina says they did once. One girl, Lara, explains that the officers are in a house near the lake, and Kolya again asks about eggs. The girls laugh at what seems a joke.

Lara asks if Lev and Kolya are organizing partisans, and Kolya offers a swaggering non-answer that doesn't impress the girls. Kolya suggests to Lev that the house on the lake might be a good target to pick off Wehrmacht officers, but Nina, another girl, says the officers aren't Wehrmacht, they're Einsatzgruppen.

Lev explains to the reader that Russians had gotten a crash course in German since the invasion, and at first Einsatzgruppen didn't sound as sinister as some of the other German words. However, the Einsatzgruppen are Nazi death squads, made up of handpicked killers from other branches of the military. They follow behind combat divisions and hunt Communists, intellectuals, Jews, and other targets.

Nina explains that the Einsatzgruppen don't generally bother with bombing cities, but the soldiers who visit them make bets on who can hit different buildings in Leningrad for fun. Lev thinks of the Kirov again and wonders if Vera, Oleg, and Grisha are dead because an officer gave the wrong coordinates and hit the Kirov instead of the Winter Palace.

Kolya asks how many officers come. Olesya, a girl who doesn't speak, takes plates out of the room, and Nina finally answers that it's usually between two and four, and that they drive, and nearly always come at night. Kolya asks why the girls don't walk away, citing the fact that he and Lev left Piter at dawn and made it to the farmhouse. Nina, offended, asks if he thinks the Germans are stupid and would just let them walk away. Lara says to tell them about Zoya. Galina, another girl, leaves the room.

Lara says that the Germans loved Zoya, and that six men came for Zoya for every one that came for her (Lara). Zoya was only 14, had seen the Germans murder her parents, and was very afraid. She was brought to the house at the end of November with the rest of them, but panicked. Lara says that every night after the soldiers left, Zoya would cry for hours, and there was nothing they could do to help her. After a week, the other girls started to ignore her, and Zoya suddenly stopped crying. She was silent for three days, and the next day, the other girls didn't even notice that Zoya had left.

When the officers came that night calling for Zoya, they didn't believe Lara or Nina when they said that they didn't know where she was. The officers went out looking for her. Lara says that Abendroth, the man who gives orders, led the hunt. He always got Zoya first when he came, and then would drink plum schnapps and sometimes plays chess with Lara. Nina says that Abendroth is the worst of them.

After a few hours the Nazis returned with Zoya, who was dirty, bruised, and naked. Zoya had taken Lara's coat and boots, and Abendroth told Lara to get the saw. Nina begins crying as Lara continues the story. The officers held Zoya down. Abendroth made Lara give him the saw and then made her, Nina, Galina, and Olesya stay in the room and watch as he sawed Zoya's feet off, one at a time, while Zoya screamed. When he was done, Abendroth stood, bowed, and said that this is what happens to girls who walk away. The girls tried to wrap Zoya's legs, but there was too much blood.

After a few minutes of silence, Kolya confirms with the girls that the German soldiers come at midnight. Lev thinks he won't be able to sleep after hearing about Zoya. Kolya tells Lara and Nina that tomorrow they need to head for the city, and the farmhouse won't be safe for them after tonight.