The young boy named David remembers his grandmother taking him to hide with the Bukhman family. Behind a false wall, the Bukhmans’ daughter Svetlanochka cried. When Germans searched the roof, Svetlanochka’s cries broke off. David saw Rebekka Bukhman’s frenzied eyes and the little girl’s head thrown back like that of a doll.

David remembers the terror of a picture book about a wolf, nightmares about The Jungle Book, and his compassion for a stray cat. He remembers visiting his grandmother and meeting Rebekka Bukhman. An important memory is that of a market trip, when his grandmother bought a hen that was ritually slaughtered. He was horrified by the posthumous movement of the headless chicken, fearing that death would one day claim him and his mother.

David recalls his fascination with nature and how he realized his family’s unhappiness when his father left his mother. He remembers watching livestock loaded into cattle-wagons. His memories include a neighbor who gave birth after a storm, a librarian, and the despised informer, Solomon Slepoy.

The narrative switches to a short essay on mass extermination. To slaughter a population, the narrative suggests, a state spreads propaganda to stir hatred, as used by Nazis against Jews and Stalin during purges. In such states, obedience derives from hypnotic ideologies, state terror, and the inability to believe in one’s own destruction. Yet the human spirit is indomitable. The essay cites the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Treblinka and Sobibor revolts, as well as post-Stalin uprisings in Berlin and Hungary as proof that totalitarianism is doomed.

The narrative questions whether a machine can perfectly replicate a human. To reproduce one soul, the narrative suggests, such a machine would need to be larger than the Earth. The chapter ends with the narrative noting that Fascism annihilated tens of millions.

In a Urals village, tank corps commander Novikov and commissar Getmanov prepare to leave. Over drinks, Getmanov first praises chief of staff General Nyeudobnov as a ruthless executor of the 1937 purges, then blames those purges for army weaknesses. Discussion arises about a new chief of staff. Novikov suggests a Kalmyk officer; Getmanov objects with a nationalist tirade. Defeated, Novikov appoints a Russian. Getmanov teases Novikov about seeing a woman in Kuibyshev; Novikov thinks of Zhenya.

Novikov reflects on unaccustomed comforts. He regrets that he did not visit his nearby relatives. While Getmanov and Nyeudobnov play cards, Novikov watches his brigades move out. He thinks of Zhenya (Yevgenia Shaposhnikova), recalling his despair when she married another man years earlier. He feels confident that collective strength will bring victory and Zhenya will be his.

In Stalingrad, Krymov senses a raw intensity to life that is reminiscent of the early Revolution. Pre-war falseness has vanished, he believes, replaced by dignity and equality among front-line soldiers. Still privately humiliated by reassignment from combat, he no longer feels outcast.

Krymov visits Batyuk’s bunker on Mamayev Kurgan. Batyuk recounts how, at the start of the war, his superiors nearly executed him for a mistaken advance. Krymov attends a snipers’ meeting, where reports are professional and detached. One sniper tells a cruel story; others speak of revenge. A sniper named Zaitsev describes a multi-day duel with a German sniper won through patience. After the meeting, Krymov tries expressing complex thoughts to Batyuk, who has fallen asleep.

Krymov visits General Guryev’s command post inside a furnace. Thinking of Yevgenia, he feels hopelessness. Guryev complains about troop shortages, recounts how Chuykov knocked out Colonel Shuba’s teeth, laments war reporting while praising Tolstoy as having fought against Napoleon. When Krymov corrects him, Guryev refuses to believe him, leading to a furious argument.

Army command reinforces House 6/1, a building which is strategically essential but nearly surrounded by German soldiers. Katya Vengrova, a young female radio operator, is sent in to aid a small group. The political instructor reports that Commander Grekov is alarmingly informal, the unit operating like “some kind of Paris Commune” (241). Katya feels an unspoken tension among them. She retreats into memories of impoverished pre-war life with her mother, recalling that her father was arrested in 1937.

The next day, an observer sees Germans preparing to burn a Roma woman and son. He calls in artillery on the square, killing everyone. A scout finds only a kitten left alive. Men use the kitten as a pretext to approach Katya. That night, the telephone line is severed. Grekov is ordered by radio to submit daily reports. Annoyed, he knocks Katya’s hand from the switch and falsely reports the set is out of action. He takes Katya’s hand.

After soldiers dig a tunnel connecting House 6/1 to the Tractor Factory, Army HQ learns of this. Krylov orders one man from 6/1 to be questioned. The youngster Seryozha Shaposhnikov is chosen. En route, Seryozha describes life in the house, surviving on potatoes and heating-system water. Told to wait, he falls asleep at the bunker entrance.

Stranded at Army HQ for two days, Seryozha reflects on his comrades in House 6/1. He sees them as his real family, and he idolizes Grekov. Among them are Kolomeitsev, an ex-sailor; Klimov, a scout; Batrakov, a math teacher; and Zubarev, who sings opera near German lines. Seryozha is awed by their frank discussions of forbidden topics. Thinking jealously of Katya, he walks out just as an order arrives to send him to the Political Section.

At the Stalingrad power station, old guard Pavel Andreyevich Andreyev learns his wife is dead. He visits the Spiridonovs, where station director Stepan Fyodorovich argues with his pregnant daughter, Vera. He desperately wants her evacuated, but she refuses, convinced pilot Viktorov will return for her. Stepan is near breaking point due to the shelling.

In Kazan, Viktor’s research reaches a dead end. His data contradicts his theory. Meanwhile, Lyudmila is consumed by grief for Tolya and indifferent to Viktor’s work, which reminds him of past unkindnesses. Viktor spends his evenings at the apartment of Sokolov, his collaborator.

At the Sokolovs’ apartment with new friend Karimov (a Tartar scholar), Madyarov (a historian), and the landlord Artelev, Madyarov speaks unrestrainedly of his admiration for the military commanders executed in 1937. He imagines a free press while Artelev complains about factory bureaucracy. Sokolov grows fearful, tries to shut the conversation down; Madyarov presses on. Viktor argues against both critics and defenders of the Party.

Madyarov argues the state tolerates Tolstoy but cannot accommodate Dostoyevsky. He praises Chekhov as a bearer of Russian democracy. Karimov, however, cannot forgive Dostoyevsky’s racism. Debating nationalism, Sokolov defends Russian pride while Karimov recounts the Soviet destruction of Tartar culture. Sokolov forbids Madyarov from such conversations. Marya Ivanovna reveals that her husband was brutally interrogated in 1937. Madyarov retorts that Sokolov abandoned him and his sister at that time. Walking home, Karimov warns Viktor that Madyarov may be an informer. Viktor dismisses this. In this moment of liberation, a brilliant new scientific idea flashes into his mind.

Lieutenant-Colonel Darensky crosses the Kalmyk steppe. When his vehicle needs repair, he approaches an old Kalmyk on a pony. They share a warm exchange with the man speaking of sons at the front. He gallops away with startling grace. Darensky is overcome with longing for freedom.

Darensky’s mission takes him to a gloomy remote HQ. In the commander’s quarters, two female lieutenants play cards. They are Alla Sergeyevna, the commander’s wife, and Claudia, mistress of another officer. Darensky flirts with Alla all night. The next morning, he feels empty.

In the German camp, Mostovskoy is approached by Chernetsov, an old political enemy, and a fierce debate erupts. Chernetsov condemns the Bolsheviks for destroying Russian freedom. Ikonnikov interrupts him, noting that the foundations they are digging are for gas ovens. Refusing to build instruments of murder, he announces his refusal to work despite certain death. Since they are being forced to work, Gardi believes that God will forgive them, but Ikonnikov insists he is free and must take responsibility. Gardi kisses his hand.

Russian soldier Pavlyukov tells Chernetsov he plans to join Vlasov’s army. Chernetsov, a lifelong anti-Bolshevik, vehemently argues against Pavlyukov’s plans. When he calls the soldier “comrade,” he releases memories of his youth and Natasha Zadonskaya, whom he loved before his exile.

At roll-call, Hamburg burglar Keyze, now an executioner under Sturmführer Drottenhahr, is in a good mood. Keyze has taken a strange liking to Yershov, who refused to make the prisoners sing and punched Keyze. Instead of killing him, Keyze gave Yershov a favored bunk and food. Mostovskoy christens Keyze “Master of Men’s Minds” (321). A colorless prisoner, Kotikov, voices his dislike of Yershov. Kapos (collaborating prisoners) led by König, a former SS officer, search the barracks. Yershov whispers to Mostovskoy that their block will be split. He proposes that they form an underground resistance among the many nationalities to fight for “a united free Europe” (312). Mostovskoy agrees.

Yershov contemplates his plan. Before the war, his career stalled after he refused to disown his father, who was dispossessed as a kulak. He visited his family in a Northern Urals labor camp, where his mother and sisters had perished. His father attributed their misery to “the will of Stalin” (315). Yershov loathes the Vlasovites for using truth about Soviet oppression to spread lies. He assesses his allies: Gudz has authority but is cowardly; Osipov seems duplicitous; Zlatokrylets is coarse but reliable; Kirillov is weak; Mostovskoy has iron will, but Yershov is wary of Mostovskoy’s association with Ikonnikov. Mostovskoy decides to begin with Mostovskoy.

General Gudz warns Mostovskoy not to trust Yershov, calling him “politically dubious.” Mostovskoy realizes Ikonnikov’s political writings disappeared during the search. Osipov reveals a secret military organization already exists, and they kept Mostovskoy out for his own safety. Yershov, as a kulak’s son, cannot be trusted, but he will be useful for his popularity. Kotikov was sent by Moscow, he reveals, and his directives come from the Party. Mostovskoy feels a renewed clarity. That night, the SS take six prisoners, including Mostovskoy.