“How old are you?” He asked in German. “Wie alt bist du?” At the Czech school, we had learned German, so I understood... I straightened up, trying to look taller than my age. “Sixteen,” I replied. He raised his hand and his thumb tilted to the right. I was selected to live. I walked in the direction he indicated. I did not know then that the stranger, who risked his life by approaching me, had saved my life for the first time. At this point, we still did not know anything about the place we had come to.
