Study Guide

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story Chapter 20

By Diane Ackerman

Chapter 20

In Autumn 1942, Antonina is stricken with a sickness that leaves her legs inflamed. She must stay in bed.
The author speculates that this may have been the result of Antonina's pregnancy.
Then we jump back to June 1942, when the Polish Underground receives a letter warning them of a mass execution of Jews.
Before the Ghetto is liquidated, which Antonina feared would happen at the zoo, we jump back again to 1940.
A pediatrician names Henryk Goldszmit starts an orphanage.
Then, in August 1942, Goldszmit and all the orphans are put on a train to Treblinka.
Next, we fast-forward to 1971, when Russians name an asteroid after Goldszmit.
We feel like we've been to that asteroid and back.