Chapter first

The action takes place in Germany in several villages around the Westhofen Concentration Camp. The story is narrated by one of the prisoners, but it is not clear who, because he always says “we”. Near the hut number three unusual trees were cut down under human growth - seven plane trees. Boards were nailed to them, they seemed from afar to be seven crosses. The barracks are very dirty and damp. It started to rain.

Franz Marnet is a chemical worker. factory rides to work on a bicycle. He is in a good mood. Passes by the shepherd Ernst.

Franz liked to drive alone to work and was a little annoyed that he had to go with Anton Greiner, whom he met on the way. Anton spoke to Franz. It seemed to Greiner that something had happened in the morning - he cited the strange behavior of the military as evidence. At first, Franz did not understand and thought it was nonsense. But then he suddenly felt himself in the air that something had happened.

In the dining room from Anton, that several people fled from the camp, they say most of them have already been seized.

Georg Geisler lay in a quagmire. Escape detected. Everywhere the military are running, a siren is howling. Very dense fog. One fugitive was caught - Beitler.

Fahrenberg, the camp commandant, thinks in his office that this is a dream. All events corresponding to such an event (escape) have already been made, orders have been given. It only remained to wait until the fugitives were caught. When they dragged the battered Beitler, investigators Overkamp and Fisher entered the camp gate. Overcamp ordered to immediately call a doctor and was angry that it would be impossible even to interrogate the fugitive, he was beaten so badly.

Georg kept crawling. An image of Wallau always loomed in his head, which seemed to mentally give him advice on what to do and that he would not give up and resist panic and fear.

When he went out on the road, he met an old man nicknamed Fungus, a grandmother, "nicknamed Korzinochka" and her granddaughter. With them he reached the village. Suddenly, a motorcycle suddenly appeared. Georg jumped over a wall studded with broken glass. He was not noticed, but his hand was covered in blood and was terribly sick. It was a wall of an agricultural school. Nearby was a barn in which Georg dressed in a brown corduroy jacket with zipper, shoes and trousers. He took the engine part that was lying at the door, and went with it to the street "because such a burden indicates the certainty of the path and legitimizes the carrier." When the patrol stopped him, he showed the company tag with the details from the car, and he was released. He reached the village of Buchenau. Suddenly the village was cordoned off. Georg hid in the nearest yard for firewood.

Fritz Helvig - a student at an agricultural school, a gardener - discovered a jacket in his barn, which he saved for a long time and reported to the police.

In the courtyard of the woman they removed their clothes from the ropes. Georg was still hiding behind the wood. They came to search the courtyard, but found another fugitive in a neighboring house. It was Pelzer. Georg found out about this, because they said that he was wearing glasses. But only Pelzer wore glasses. Everyone in the village decided that there was no more danger and no more fugitives. Peltser was taken to the camp and began to interrogate. He was told that Georg Geisler had already been caught and testified.

Georg lay in the field and thought that he certainly needed to get to Lenny. This is a girl whom he met 21 days before his arrest. He again thinks that he would advise Wallau. One chauffeur tossed him. They rode, and they were stopped at the post. The military officer looked at George for a long time because he came up to the description that was sent to all posts (brown jacket, velvet jacket), but let go of the car. After some time, the driver silently dropped George in the middle of the road and drove off. Georg went down to the nearest town and went into the cathedral.

Franz and Georg met for a very long time and at first did not love each other, and then they became friends and lived together for a long time, until Georg took away the girl Ellie from Franz. He even married her, and they had a child, but she left him.

Chapter two

The cathedral was closed, and Georg spent the night there.

Alfons Mettenheimer - Ally's father - was summoned to the Gestapo for interrogation. He was asked about Georg Geisler (the husband of his daughter), but Alfons said that he did not want to know this bastard and they released him.

Georg accidentally went to private doctor Herbert Levenshtein (a Jew who works as a doctor) and he, guessing who George was, was very scared and bandaged his hand for free.

At the Savoy Hotel, a thief was caught. The crowd thought it was a thief. And this was one of the fugitives. Belloni in ordinary life - Anton Meyer. He was shot at the feet when he was not on the roof. He fell in the middle of the hotel yard. Belloni died in the hospital. Doctors talk: “What do you care about his feet? He didn’t die of them. ”

Georg walked along the Rhine, he exchanged a jacket at the boatman for a sweater, then went on, but Schyurenok, one of the fishermen, became attached to him. He brought Georg to the scythe and admitted that he had misled George so that the fisherman was not bored of walking. Georg was already gathered back. Suddenly, a policeman came out of the bushes, when he asked Georg for documents, he ran. He managed to escape. He was back in town. I went to a cafe. From the loader, he learned the name of a woman who was about to go somewhere on a truck - Frau Binder. He got into her car and began to tell something about distant relatives, the hospital, etc. After a couple of chapters, he was dropped off.

Alfons Mettenheimer was spotted and he noticed her. Behind the house of his daughter - his wife George - too. When a fan of Heinrich Kübler came to visit her, the military confused him with Georg, seized him and took him away for interrogation, there he was severely beaten.

This is approximately 128 pages. There are 390 pages in total. There is no point in telling further. So. Georg keeps walking. He came to Lenny, but she pretended not to recognize him, and he left. Wallau caught. His wife was preparing an escape and left him clothes and money in a barn at his friends' summer house. So a friend handed him over and then hanged himself. During the interrogation, Wallau was silent, as he considered himself already dead. Now only 3 fugitives remained at large: Georg, Fulgrabe and Aldinger. Their photos were placed in the newspaper. Georg accidentally met Fulgrabe at the bus stop, who informed Georg that he was about to give up. The story of old Aldinger is simple - he was reported to the Gestapo to get a position. When he escaped, he simply walked straight, guided by some kind of inner sense of reference. He reached his village, lay down under a bush to rest and died. He was found and buried. There was only one fugitive - Georg. He came to an old school friend, Paul Raeder. He decided to help George, went to his old comrades, but one was already imprisoned, and the second Sauer pretended not to know George. Under the guise of a cousin, Paul arranged for George to visit his aunt Katarina Graber for a day. And he went for help to Fidler - a work colleague. He settled Georg with the Kress family. Paul was taken for interrogation.

Meanwhile, Franz told Herman what Paul looked like. And one of George's comrades, Sauer, also said that Paul was coming. Herman decided to hand over his passport to Georg.

While Georg was with Kressov, Fidler remembered another friend who could also help - Reinhardt. I came to that to tell everything, but he already knows everything and he has ready-made documents in the name of George and money. It so happened that George was simultaneously helped from both sides.

With the documents of George was taken to the marina, in a cafe he met the waitress Maria. And he was waiting for the ship "Wilhelmina." There was a man by whom it was immediately clear that he was "ready for any risk."

Ends with a continuation of the first page where someone tells. It becomes clear that this is said by the prisoner after the escape, when they had already appointed a new commandant to the camp.