The Sunflower_ On the Possibilities and - Wiesenthal, Simon copy

Bolek was a strong character and nothing could shake him. Little disturbed him, and he
retained his sangfroid in the worst situations. In some ways he reminded me of Josek,
although physically he hadn't the slightest resemblance to him. At first I took him to be an
intelligent country lad.
At Mauthausen nobody asked a fellow prisoner where he came from or what his
profession had been. We accepted whatever he chose to tell us about himself. The past was
no longer important. There were no class differences, we were all equals—except for one
thing: the times of our appointments with death.
Bolek told us about the men who perished on the transportation from Auschwitz to
Mauthausen. They died of starvation during the endless days of railway traveling, or they
collapsed from fatigue during the all-day marches. Those who could no longer walk were
shot.
One morning I heard Bolek murmuring his prayers in Polish, which was a very unusual
occurrence. Very few of us still prayed. He who is incessantly tortured in spite of his
innocence soon loses his faith…
Gradually I learned that Bolek, who had studied theology, had been arrested outside the
seminary in Warsaw. In Auschwitz he endured the most inhuman treatment, for the SS knew
that he was a priest in training and never tired of inventing new humiliations for him. But his
faith was unbroken.
One night as he lay awake beside me in the bunk, I told him about my experience in the
Lemberg hospital.
“After all, they are not all exactly alike,” he said when I had finished. Then he sat up and
stared straight in front of him in silence.