A man told Mariam's mother that he would photograph her and her family for half of the family's daily bread portion. Her mother agreed and told Mariam and her brother that they would bury this picture and whoever comes home first would dig it out. Mariam was separated from her family when they were deported to Auschwitz. The SS men were taking away their jewelry and when they weren't able to take Mariam's gold earrings out they cut off her earlobes. Mariam received soup once a day but when she found a finger in her soup she could barely eat it anymore. She ate enough to survive an would vomit afterwards. One day, Mariam and her friends were so sick that they didn't attend role call knowing that their punishment would be death. They heard the whistle for role call but no one ever came looking for them. It seemed that the Russians were approaching and the Germans did not have time to look for them. A Jewish Russian soldier later finds them and gives them food and clothes and tells them to go. They flee aimlessly only trying to avoid the war. Out of Mariam's eleven family members only her and her younger brother survived.