Was her name really Esther, the grandmother of the father, who in 1941 remained alone in the apartment of the fleeing family in occupied Kiev? The Yiddish words she trustingly directed at the German soldiers on the street - who heard them? And when the soldiers shot the Babushka "with careless routine" - who stood at the window and watched? In Kiev and Mauthausen, Warsaw and Vienna, Katja Petrowskaja uncovers fragments of a shattered family mosaic - material for an epic novel, told in concise stories. The author writes about her journeys to the locations, reflects on a fragmented, traumatized century, and brings to light figures whose faces are no longer recognizable. Disbelief, scruples, and a sense of humor resonate in every sentence of this poignant book.