Between Shades of Grey

Historical fiction timeline

Day 1-1941

• Lina and her family are taken by force from their home in Lithuania by Russian soldiers. Her mother, brother, and herself are barely given any time to pack (taking only what they feel that they will need for a journey of which they are unaware of). Her mother sews some valuables into her clothing, knowing that if they need to start somewhere else, this will fund their beginning.

Day 5-1941

• Lina and her family are held captive by the Russians and are not given any food or water. They cannot figure out where they are headed because of the different languages being spoken. Their mother is well educated and can understand, but chooses not to tell the children, knowing that Lina and her brother are not even teenagers!

Day 10

• There is confusion among the cart of prisoners as to what their captors and some newly present men are discussing. Through their mother’s first attempts to communicate between their captors and the prisoners, they find out that they are being sold to a work camp.

Day 15

• Lina and her family have finally arrived at their work camp. They are stripped of their clothing and asked to shower together. They are happy to have a shower, but worry because of what they have heard is going on in Germany with regards to Hitler’s rule. Lina’s life changes with her understanding that this is the first time that a man will see her nude and it is here in this place.

Day 30

• All the prisoners are forced to work day in and day out. Their work leads to how much ration of food they will receive at the end of the day. Lina’s mother is asked to arrive early this morning. As she meets with the soldiers, they advisor her to help translate for them in order to keep her family alive.

Day 50

• Lina and her family have now been working daily still unaware of what they are prisoners for. Lina creates a plan to communicate with her father, in an effort to have him save them by finding where they are. She begins writing notes to him and leaving them in special hidden places. This could cause her a life.

Day 75

• Today is Lina’s birthday. She works all day thinking that no one remembers anything but working and being hungry. At the end of the day, her brother and mother have a small present for her….a new notebook.

Day 92

• Lina’s mother is again invited to the soldiers’ station early before work. She is told to be able to keep her family safe, they must sign a document stating that they are criminals of the state. Lina’s parents had been helping a family friend hide from the Nazi’s and are now being brought up on such charges. Lina now understands what was happening when her friend and their parents changed their life so much.

Day 125

• Lina’s brother has come down with a disease. With the lack of nutrition and rest, he is tiring everyday. The prisoners begin to share their food with him in an effort to keep him alive.

day 150

• The prisoners have just found out that they will be going on a long journey. They have no idea where or why, just that it will be long and they are expected to keep up.

Day 145

• Every day on their journey becomes more and more important for Lina to leave notes for her father to find them.

Day 200

• The prisoners are draining. More and more have passed on because of the elements and lack of basic nutrition.

Day 225

• Lina and her family have gotten news that her father may not be alive. Lina continues to write letters to him and hold hope, but her brother and mother do not believe her hopes.

Day 245

• Lina and her brother discover that her mother has been giving them her rations to help their chances of survival. She has begin to talk of their life without her and how Lina should come to marry on of the other prisoners.

Day 300

• Lina’s mother passes away and their journey is not complete. They find many treasure that she has been carrying in her jacket for their future that they will have without her.