For a long time while I have been living here I have felt lonely, very lonely. The great unhappiness I have experienced may not be the result of the hunger and difficulties that I have had to suffer here; it may not be simply the consequence of the material situation in which I found myself, but rather because I was so very alone. Sometimes, in the evenings when I had a moment to myself, I sat next to the wall and contemplated things. I have never before thought so intensively and seriously about a whole lot of things. […].

they really lifted my spirits

But I do have friends. There are two colleagues with whom I came here, one a year younger, the other two years older than me. I have found them to be true friends. They are there for me in good times and in bad. We have no secrets from one another; we never have doubts about each other. As you know, I was seriously ill. I have a lot to thank them for, but what I would like to emphasize again is that I don’t so much mean material help, though I certainly needed that, but, as far as they could, they really lifted my spirits. They didn’t allow me to have gloomy thoughts for a second; they stopped me from thinking about death. I was very aware of my vulnerable health; physically I was totally exhausted. The doctors had given me up for dead! But in terms of morale I was healthy, proud and tough.