Sage was supposed to use his confession as evidence to prosecute him, but instead she goes behind Leo’s back and returns to Josef’s to give him a poisoned roll, then stands by and watches him die. He confesses not only to shooting Darija, but admits he would’ve shot Minka, too, if Franz hadn’t walked in. Sage visits Josef while wearing a wire (as Leo listens in). Shortly after, she passes away in her sleep. Unfortunately, she is unable to identify Josef when Leo presents her with a picture of him. He threatened to shoot Minka as well if Franz didn’t punish her, so Franz was forced to brutally beat up Minka to save her life. When Franz walked in during the incident and confronted him, Josef/Reiner claimed that he had caught the girls stealing and shot Darija to punish her. Then, one day when Minka let Darija accompany her to Franz’ office, they caught Josef/Reiner stealing from Franz’ safe, so Josef/Reiner shot Darija to death. Franz was sympathetic and kind to Minka, while Josef/Reiner was brutal and cruel their differing personalities made them conflict often. Thanks to her knowledge of German, Minka became Franz’ secretary. Sage discovers that Josef’s real name is Reiner Hartmann he was the Schutzhaftlagerführer of the women’s camp in Auschwitz (a role that had him responsible for keeping the camp in order) while his younger brother, Franz, was the Hauptscharführer sergeant, in charge of administrative duties.Īs teenagers, Sage’s paternal grandmother, Minka, and her best friend, Darija, were in the same women’s camp of which the Hartmann brothers were in charge. Instead of granting his request, Sage goes behind Josef’s back and straight to Human Rights and Special Prosecution lawyer Leo Stein. After quickly forming a friendship, Josef asks Sage to help him die: during World War II, he was an SS (Schultz-Staffel) guard and can no longer live with the guilt of all the people he killed. Twenty-five year old Sage Singer meets ninety-five year old Josef Weber in the New Hampshire-based grief-counseling group she’s been attending since her mother’s death three years ago.

The storyteller jodi picoult review