Later recollections occur as Polja is practically dead and Žana is urging Marija to rest as much as possible . These involve an early run-in with antisemitism : fourteen-year-old Marija , who grew up in the Vojvodina , was sent to the country to escape the persecution of Jews only to hear from a girl her age that she and her ancestors are guilty of killing Christ . She hastens home to her parents ; her drunk father explains to her what is happening to the area 's Jewish population , a truth she is not prepared to hear but then accepts . Soon her parents are deported , and Marija witnesses the atrocity of the Novi Sad raid , in which Hungarian troops killed between 3,000 and 4,000 civilians , in January 1942 . She herself is hauled off to a camp soon afterward , where she meets Jakob
Novi Sad raid
Novi Sad raid
Psalm 44 (novel)