City of Thieves: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Kolya and Lev march through the woods outside of Leningrad. It's German-controlled territory, but there's no sign of the war at all. Lev finds himself happy, and thinks that Piter is a graveyard now. Kolya seems to feel the same way.

Kolya sees a scrap of paper and picks it up. It looks like a bank note, but it's obviously counterfeit. Kolya explains that the Germans drop counterfeit notes because it lowers the value of real money. Kolya flips the note over and reads the text on the other side, which is written by someone who obviously doesn't speak Russian. It guarantees safe return to "a free Russian" after the war. Kolya, smiling, says that the Russians invented propaganda and the Germans are just irritating the people they want to convert. He spears the note to a tree and lights it on fire, and he and Lev continue their march.

After an hour, Kolya asks Lev if Jews believe in the afterlife. Lev explains that it depends on the Jew; his father was an atheist and his mother's not actually Jewish. Kolya says he thinks he has “Gypsy” blood, which Lev declares entirely untrue. Kolya returns to the subject of the afterlife and says that the New Testament is very clear. Lev says that the underworld is called Sheol, and mentions one of his father's poems called "The Bars of Sheol."

Lev thinks that it seems odd to speak about his father, and that the words seem unsafe, even though he's in the middle of nowhere, but feels like he's happy to talk about his father and his work. Kolya asks what happens in Sheol, and Lev says that everyone goes there, good or bad, and it's dark and cold.

Kolya says that last week he saw a soldier who had lost his eyelids to frostbite, as well as his fingers, toes, and some of his nose. He says he saw the man sleeping with no way to shut his eyes. Kolya says that he'd rather be blind.

Both Lev and Kolya hear a howl. Kolya begins to follow the sound, and Lev follows Kolya through the snow. Lev spots tank tread marks that he knows aren't Russian as they reach the edge of a clearing, and gray and brown heaps are scattered across the snow. Lev thinks they're coats, but realizes they're dead dogs. Hearing another howl, Lev and Kolya spot a sheepdog dragging itself across the field by its front legs.

Kolya instructs Lev to follow him to the still-living dog, telling him to not get too close to any of the dead dogs. As they approach the sheepdog, Lev sees boxes strapped to the dogs' backs. Kolya explains that the boxes are mines, and says that the dogs are trained to find food under tanks, starved, and then turned loose on German tanks. The Germans, however, clearly knew all about this plan, as the dogs have all been shot and there's no evidence that anything in the clearing has exploded.

Kolya asks Lev for his knife and approaches the sheepdog, who has finally given up on reaching the woods. Kolya kneels besides the dog, tells the dog he's a good boy, and slits the dog's throat. After a minute of silence, Kolya cleans the blade on the snow and says that they need to walk fast to make up for the lost time.