How It All Goes Down
- The Germans shut down the pig farm at the zoo.
- Antonina is baffled, because that means less meat for everyone, even the Nazis.
- Jan is angry, because the pig farm was his big excuse for sneaking into the Ghetto for supplies. Now he has to find a new way into the Ghetto.
- Meanwhile, not content to destroy only the zoo's animals, the Nazis also cut down many of the plants and trees and replace them with German ones.
- Jan soon meets with Warsaw's Polish vice-president, who hooks Jan up with a Ghetto pass. It's a job linked to Warsaw's Parks and Gardens Department, giving Jan access to the Ghetto under the guise of inspecting its flora.
- This job introduces Jan and Antonina to famous entomologist (two words we never thought would go together), Dr. Szymon Tenenbaum.
- Tenenbaum leaves his insect collection to Jan for safekeeping.
- Later, Tenenbaum allegedly authorizes a German named Ziegler to inspect his collection.
- Ziegler is simply Ziegler, like Madonna. No need for more than one name.
- Jan worries that Tenenbaum has turned him and Antonina in to the Nazis.
- But no, Ziegler just really loves beetles.
- Ziegler wants Jan to be a liaison between him and Tenenbaum, an arrangement that would grant Jan unprecedented access to the Ghetto.
- Entering the Ghetto under the guise of being a beetle expert gives Jan the ability to sneak many people out.
- In the winter, Tenenbaum dies, and Ziegler leaves his dog, Zarka, in Antonina's care.
- Jan begins to plot an escape for Tenenbaum's widow.