The Things We Cannot Say

With the Nazis occupying Trzebinia, Alina is restricted to the farm. She and her parents work to keep the farm productive, fearful it will be confiscated and remanded to Germans coming into Poland. Production quotas are increased, and the Dziak family begins to feel the pinch of rationing. The Nazis order everyone to carry identity papers, under threat of arrest.

The work on the farm is backbreaking. Alina only permits herself to think about Tomasz at night as she tries to sleep. She feels helpless: “I had no power to change my lot. All I had was the breath in my lungs and a tiny fragment of hope that if I kept moving forward, I could survive until someone changed my world” (92).

One beautiful autumn afternoon, her farm work done, Alina chooses a pretty sundress and heads out to enjoy the afternoon. A Nazi truck pulls up on the road, and a young officer eyes Alina but says nothing. Alina pretends she is gathering berries—she has left her identification papers back at the house. Her father appears, and the soldier asks for directions. As it turns out, the soldiers are lost. They drive off. Alina knows she was lucky. That night, her mother cautions her that should a Nazi soldier ever accost her again, she is not to resist.