Summer slipped away much too quickly, and winter arrived. The weather turned cold and before Johann knew it, the first snow fell. Life in Vorkuta was brutal and inhumane, but he’d gotten used to it. It was what it was. There was no use in moping around over things he couldn’t change.
The men who incessantly crabbed usually got punished or lost their will to survive. One could literally watch the flame of life snuff itself out in a man. From the moment the soul gave up, the body lasted a week at most.
Johann often thought about Helmut, hoping his friend had made it home safely. Helmut had been his anchor, his beacon in a thunderous sea. He smiled at the memory. Despite having been conscripted by force, Helmut had rarely complained. He’d held such an unshakable faith in his God that even t
