While I stared at my pawn and combatted the tightness in my throat, Fritzsch returned to his companions. I didn’t hear what they said, but a few guards scattered in various directions. When they returned, one carried a small table, another two chairs, and another a box. They brought the items before me, shooed the prisoners aside, and ordered me to sit. I took a quick look at the bewildered faces surrounding me while Fritzsch pointed to one inmate a few meters away.

“Do you know how to play chess?”

The man’s eyes widened, but, after he understood the question, he let out a visible breath and nodded. “I’m a decent player, Herr Lagerführer.”

Fritzsch instructed him to sit across from me. Once he was settled, the guard holding the box placed it in front of us. A chess set.

Following a nod from Fritzsch, I swallowed hard to settle my pounding heart and glanced at Father Kolbe, then opened the box and removed the pieces from the two interior compartments. According to the stamp inside, the set was a Deutsche Bundesform. How fitting that we were being forced to play with a set manufactured by the Nazis.

The sturdy pieces were nowhere near as delicate and ornate as my Staunton set at home. Once I’d set up the white pieces, I made my opening play, queen’s pawn two spaces forward. I decided to concentrate my attack on black’s weak square, defended only by its king. Black moved his queen’s pawn to meet mine, so I positioned my light-squared bishop along the left diagonal, testing my plan. If my opponent failed to defend his king, I’d develop my queen early—a risky and often foolish move, but one I was willing to utilize if my opponent proved careless.

The man scrutinized the center of the board and seemed focused on establishing control there, not defending his king. Excellent. He developed the black knight to my left, which didn’t hinder my strategy at all. I developed my queen so she and my bishop both had a direct line of attack to black’s weak square, an attack devastating for the black king. Black continued concentrating on the center with his second knight, losing his opportunity to defend himself.

White queen took black pawn on the weak square, white bishop was in place for attack, and the black king couldn’t move without fear of capture. Queen’s pawn to D4, light-squared bishop to C4, queen to H5, queen to F7.

Four simple moves, one opponent’s carelessness.

I set the captured black pawn on the table and looked up from the board. “Checkmate.”

The häftling opened his mouth, as if preparing to dispute me, then closed it while the guards erupted into laughter and shouts. I offered him the black pawn I’d captured, so he extended his hand to accept it.