Alexander Kossecki

Alexander Kossecki, the timid, seventeen-year-old younger brother of Andrew. He is involved in his own war. He is a member of a teenage gang that has vague goals of fighting Poland’s enemies, whoever they might be. Alexander’s diffidence and lack of resolution, typical of others in his generation, eventually are offset by a determination to start his own troop of fighters, all presumably possessing the same predilection and attraction toward violence.

Julius Szretter

Julius Szretter (SHREHT-tuhr), the leader of the teenage gang of which Alexander is a member. He is tall, slender, and cruel, a great bully. He kills one of the boys in his gang because he believes that the boy would betray them and is later proud that such an act helped to steel his resolve and demonstrate his worth as a leader.

Michael Chelmicki

Michael Chelmicki, a friend of Andrew and a conspirator in the plot to assassinate Szczuka. The first failed attempt resulting in the death of two strangers makes him brood about the lack of justification for such violence. When he falls in love with a young woman named Christina, he wants to quit altogether because continued participation in a right-wing death squad seems obscene next to an ordinary relationship of life without violence. His fear at letting down Andrew, however, overcomes his reservations and prompts him to carry out the murder by himself.

While it is true that both Szczuka and Chelmicki are portrayed sympathetically throughout the novel, there can be no doubt that Andrzejewski draws a vital distinction between them on the basis of the political realities of postwar Poland. Despite his age, Szczuka represents the future of his nation in its role as a political and military ally of the Soviet Union. Since neither Szczuka nor his deputy are ever depicted in the act of enforcing any of the decrees issued by the Soviet-controlled regime in Warsaw, it is relatively easy for the author to present them in an entirely positive light.

In contrast to Szczuka, Chelmicki embodies the patriotic and conspiratorial tradition developed during Poland’s tragic historical experience as an enslaved nation. The destructive aspect of this mentality is underscored by an incident that occurs with a band of youths who attempt to imitate their elders by establishing a conspiratorial organization of its own. While Mr. Kossecki’s younger son, Alek, is one of its members, the moving force behind the organization is a charismatic youth named Juliusz Szretter. To instill a rigid sense of discipline among his subordinates, Szretter actually kills one of them for failing to comply with one of his demands. This deed is even more senseless than Chelmicki’s assassination of Szczuka.

The moral problem involving Mr. Kossecki is of an entirely different order. Like many other men, he proved to be incapable of withstanding the pressures of cruelty and degradation to which the inmates of concentration camps were routinely exposed. For the sake of personal survival, he allowed the Germans to make him a block warden, and he frequently inflicted severe corporal punishment on his fellow prisoners as part of his duties. In addition, many of his former victims charge that he carried out these shameful acts with great zeal. The former judge declares to Podgorski that the traditional moral principles of everyday life do not apply to the abnormal circumstances which prevailed during the German Occupation. As Podgorski takes leave of Mr. Kossecki, the assistant administrator is pleased to recall that Szczuka is the one who is obliged to make the decision as to whether this case is to be prosecuted. Ironically, because of Szczuka’s subsequent assassination, Podgorski himself will be forced to pass judgment on Mr. Kossecki.