Auschwitz wasn’t what Sven, a young German, had in mind when he signed up to do his civil service abroad. For him, Auschwitz is a small town in Poland, a strange language, a concentration camp, all the musty greyness of high-school German history classes. To make matters worse, he’s got to care for an old man, Stanislaw Krzeminski, a former inmate who never left the camp. Besides having to endure Krzeminski’s haughty, gruff manner, Sven also has to put up with the barely concealed contempt of various locals. Luckily, there’s Ania, a young guide who lets Sven stay at her place. Yet within this push and pull of conflicting sensations grow love for Ania, compassion for Krzeminski, and the troubling, challenging realization about his own role in preserving the memory of this place…