As they marched, driven in the familiar violent fashion, the Buchenwalders felt relief out of all proportion with their circumstances. They were alive, and that was everything. Whether Fritz’s intervention had precipitated this move, by planting the idea that Jews could build, nobody knew, but Gustav believed it was so. “Fritzl came with me willingly,” he wrote in his diary. “He is a loyal companion, always at my side, taking care of everything; everyone admires the boy, and he is a true comrade to all of them.” In at least some of their minds, Fritz’s rash action had saved them all from the
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