Sarah’s Key

Julia waits for Bertrand at a special table in a special restaurant for them. Many of their most important moments were shared there, even sad ones, like discussing Bertrand’s affair with Amélie, Bertrand’s lifelong friend.

Bertrand runs late, but Julia does not mind. She’s excited to tell him. When she finally has the chance to tell him, he is not excited at all: “A baby would not fit into our life” (105). She realizes that he is trying to tell her to have an abortion. 

The children awake. It is night. They wander down the road and duck out of the way of some passing trucks. They knock on doorsbut get no help: “There were more farmhouses. Each time, the same things happened. They were sent away” (108).

Eventually they find an old man and his dog. The old man is kindand invites them to come inside. His wife then hurries them inside, before someone spots them. 

Julia is heading to her officewhen the phone rings. First, Guillaume asks her to meet him, so he can give her some out-of-print books on the Vel’ d’Hiv’. Next, her father-in-law, Edouard, calls. He asks Julia to stop inquiring about the apartment and its history: “Julia, I prefer that you don’t ask Mamé anything about the Rue de Saintonge” (113). She wonders why they’re trying so hard to keep it a secret.

She dials Frank Lévy, a French holocaust specialist, for a meeting to discuss the events. He discusses the awful details about the deportations and movements of the Jews sent to the camps at Loiret and Drancy: “When those children arrived in Auschwitz […] they were sent directly to the gas chambers” (116). 

The young girl gobbles up the food and relishes in all of the comforts that she missed. Rachel, however, eats little and seems sickly. After a bath, the girl explains that she needs to free her brother, Michel, from the cupboard. She realizes, along with Geneviéve, the old woman, that her brother is likely dead: “The girl crumpled to the floor, a broken being” (119).

The girl reveals her name to be Sirka. She insists, still, on checking on her brother. The old couple, however, is concerned for Rachel, who they believe has dysentery. They call the doctor.

The doctor inquires as to where they found the girl. He’s likely to turn Rachel in. The old couple feel remorse for calling him. 

Julia asks Lévy if he can find the family’s name with the address of the apartment. He says that he can, but that she must not print it in the newspapers. He prints out the record for her, which shows the Starzynski family lived there, particularly a young girl named Sarah.

Sarah has no record of deportation, however, and Julia wonders if maybe Sarah escaped. “She may have been saved by a neighboring family” Lévy says, which was not uncommon (125).

Later, she meets Guillaume, who gives her the books. She tells him the story. Like Lévy, Guillaume tells her that “sometimes, it’s better not to know” certain things (127). 

Jules and Geneviéve, the older couple, run around, scared for Rachel. They hide Sitka under some potatoes in the basement. They hear German voices approach, and a soldier barges in, demanding to see the child. He takes her away.

He starts searching the basement but is tempted back upstairs by some wine and paté. The couple is not arrested because they did not hide Rachel. They return down to the basement, to fetch Sitka, who reveals that her name “is Sarah Starzynski” (132).

Julia wonders about Sarah and where she was taken. She and Bamber are on their way to visit Beaune-la-Rolande. She recalls her visit with Guillaume to Darcy. People have taken up residency in the camps. “How could anyone live within these walls?” she had asked Guillaume (134). The people there don’t seem to really know the history of the place. Guillaume was emotional about the place because his grandparents were sent to Auschwitz from there.

Julia wonders if she should reveal her troubling conversation with Bertrand to Bamber. Bertrand said that if Julia had the baby, “that would be the end” of their relationship (135). She admits to Bamber that she’s had trouble with her husband. She wishes she could call Charla, her younger, who’s an attorney, but it’s too early.

They arrive and meet a woman with a stroller. The woman claims to know nothing about the dark history of the place. They point to the plaque, but she just shrugs. This is the station that “carried Sarah Starzynski’s parents straight to their deaths” (138). 

Sarah recalls the way her father loved answering her questions but refused to talk about the stars on their clothing. She thinks that maybe Michel is simply waiting for her to return.

She has breakfast with the older couple but still insists on going to find her brother. They encourage her to stay. She runs out of the door, on her own. They grab their things and run out to her. “We’re not stopping you,” they say, “we’re coming with you” (142). 

Julia and Bamber visit a graveyard nearby that notes “Hitlerian barbarity” as a reason for the deaths (143). Julia knows that she must find out what happened to Sarah. They spot an old man, who is surprised they want to know about the camp. He gives them directions.

They see some students at the campsitewho don’t know about the history of it. They do mention a plaque with a list of names of people sent away. She notices Sarah’s parent’s names. She wonders if this is the place that Sarah died in.

Her phone rings. It’s Charla, her sister.

Sarah and the old couple, Jules and Geneviéve, arrive at the train station. Sarah pretends to be their granddaughter. Their ploy works, even amidst the many German soldiers around them. Sarah believes it’s her “blond hair and blue eyes” that save her (149).

They arrive at Austerlitz station via train. The policeman is checking everyone’s papers on arrival. The couple slips a banknote in with their IDs as a bribe, and “the man gave a curt nod” and lets them go (151).