and origins. A Russian woman is brought in having been beaten and tortured and the Kapo in charge discovers a note which may cost her her life. Marta is selected by Lisa to translate it, but deliberately makes it out to be a love letter from her partner Tadeusz, with whom she had been deported to the camp, but who she has not seen these past two years. Lisa believes the subterfuge. As the scene closes Lisa and Walter are seen on the boat in the present time trying to come to terms with Lisa's uncovered past. Act 2 Scene 1 : Belongings of murdered prisoners are being sorted by the women when an officer arrives to demand a violin so that the Kommandant may have his favourite waltz rendered to him by a prisoner. The prisoner Tadeusz is sent to collect the violin and arrives to discover his fiancée Marta there. Their reunion is overseen by Lisa who decides to try and manipulate their relationship so that she may more easily control Marta for her own purposes so as to extend control over all the women prisoners. Scene 2: Tadeusz is in his prison workshop fashioning jewellery for the officers' private demands. In a pile of his sketches, Lisa recognises the face of Marta. Lisa tries to get Tadeusz to do her bidding also, but seeing that this would leave him indebted to Lisa, he declines, although this will now cost him his life. Scene 3 : It is Marta's birthday and she sings a lengthy aria to Death itself. Lisa tells Marta that Tadeusz refused her offer and that it will cost him dear, but Marta understands Tadeusz's stance. The women prisoners sing about what they will do when they return home after the war, although it is clear that this will not happen. There is a death-house selection, and the women are all led away as their numbers are called. Marta resignedly follows although she has not been selected for death. Lisa stops her from joining the others and taunts her that her time will come shortly so there is no need to hurry.Lisa's final taunt is that she will live to see Tadeusz's final concert before he is too sent to the death-house as a result of her report. Scene 4 : In the present time on the boat, Walter and Lisa are still unsure as