Like Moshe the Beadle, Madame Schächter attempts to warn the Jews of Sighet about the horrors to come. Moshe described the atrocities he witnessed in the forest of Galicia. Madame Schächter is a prophetess, describing the flames of the furnaces at the death camps. While on the train to Auschwitz she becomes hysterical, calling out that she sees fire. Three times she warns them of the flames, but when they look outside there is nothing but darkness. To keep her quiet the men beat her, tie her up and put a gag in her mouth. Even this brutality does not dissuade her, and the fourth time she cries out the flames of the crematoria actually come into view as the train pulls into the station at Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz. Her spirit is not broken until they arrive and her warnings prove to be true. After her last outburst Wiesel says, "she had become dumb, indifferent, absent, and had gone back to her corner." He sees her for the last time as they depart from the train.
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