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She looked up, allowing her gaze to focus on the darkness outside her eird buzzing sensation coursed through her veins as she tried to take in the words she just read, to fully understand what she held in her hands

Leaning back, she took a deep breath Frustration bubbled up inside of her as her thoughts soared, piecing together what little information she had

GG had said the old ave her the journal had been a Holocaust survivor, randfather Her eyes zeroed in on the date 1943 The Ger of the entries all added up

This ritten by a prisoner

But why did GG have it? If this journal had anything to do with the secret, and the secret pertained to her heritage, then

The hair on Abigail’s arms stood up

She had been told of their faht little of it, not appreciating what it hadnor knowledge of what the Holocaust was She only knew her grandfather’s past held memories too painful to speak of

Throughout the years, GG had taught her about the forties, WWII, and her grandfather’s place in it—rew older and learned about Germany in the 1940s and the Holocaust at school, she had ached for her grandfather Having learned about such unspeakable evil and loss, she couldn’t ih But their fa the line, she had learned it was a topic never to be addressed and one she was forced to learn about from a distance

To this day, her grandfather would take no part in any conversation of his family prior to the war or his past He was beyond closed-off For the most part, everyone respected his wishes Abby only remembered a couple occasions where, out of frustration, GG had urged hiether his story through spurts of conversation and bits of information revealed over the years

Her mother said his dark memories were his past, and he wanted to keep the up, other than what GG had taught her about history, they ignored their heritage like they had none They kept their fa of those they had lost This was norrown used to it, and only now did she question the rationale behind such passive resistance

Her gaze skimmed over the entry oncefor clues sheto tell her why she had it and what her grandmother wanted her to find Words popped out at her more so than the first tirandfather’s past she knew

On the next page, the word Krakow stood out She ree in Gerer when he entered the camps with his family?

The most obvious explanation for why GG had possession of this journal was because soave it to her, perhaps the author Could the author be her grandfather? And if it was, then why did she keep this tucked away? Why didn’t he have it?

Frowning, Abby turned the book over, then opened the back cover There, etched onto the paper in ink was a name

Abby gasped Yoel Gutman stared back at her from the inside flap