Boris Akunin’s "Tresorium," a summary Automatic translate

This novel, written in 2019, intertwines three dramatic storylines set during the final months of World War II. Events link the destinies of a young Soviet officer, an innovative German educator, and a half-breed girl. It is part of the "Family Album" series and is the fourth book in the series. Other books in the series include: "Aristonomy," "The Other Way," "Happy Russia," "The Bear Girl," and "A Dog’s Death."

Rem Klobukov and the Philosophy of War

Eighteen-year-old Rem Klobukov, a graduate of an accelerated course at a military infantry school, travels to the front lines in the spring of 1945. On the train, he chats with a cynical captain. The veteran soldier explains the brutal mathematics of the front — a system for calculating survival probabilities. According to him, the life of an infantry lieutenant at the front lasts, on average, a day and a half. Rem, raised on high ideals and dreaming of space travel, is confronted with a frightening reality. The young man ponders pity and comes to the conclusion that in war, one must either completely shut off compassion or pity absolutely everyone without exception.

Later, in the train car, he meets the intelligence officer Zhora Utkin. Utkin wins at cards and gives Rem an unusual war trophy — a suede-bound notebook. The diary is written in a scraggly handwriting in perfect Russian. Rem begins reading these entries with fascination.

Upon arriving in the city of Oppeln, Rem delivers a package to his father’s colleague, Lieutenant Colonel Philipp Blyakhin. From him, the young man learns the truth his father had concealed: his mother, Mirra, was mistakenly arrested and died in a damp cell of pneumonia, rather than being convicted as an enemy of the people. Rem spends the evening with Blyakhin’s son, then meets with Utkin. A drunken Zhora causes a conflict in an underground Polish café and a clash with a commandant’s patrol. Trying to avoid a court martial, Rem fights the patrolmen and escapes.

Then Rem gets into a brutal fight with Utkin himself. The incident is sparked by a German girl whom Zhora forces into cohabitation. The scout is enraged by the young officer’s moralizing. During the brawl, Utkin accidentally kills the girl with a pistol. Rem is arrested. A stern military lawyer sends him to atone for his guilt in the thick of things — to storm besieged Breslau.

Diary of Mr. Director

Entries in a suede notebook take the narrative back to 1940. An unknown author, obsessed with enlightenment ideas, appropriates the documents of a wealthy Jew, Danziger. He voluntarily goes to the Warsaw Ghetto. There, a teacher organizes a unique orphanage — "Tresorium." The name translates as "treasure depository." The goal of the experiment is the early classification of orphans according to their dominant traits: Head, Heart, Body, and Creativity. The author of the theory is convinced that every child is a natural genius; it is only necessary to find the right key. He also believes that childhood is a state of extreme egotism, which the teacher must transform into adult responsibility.

The director hires assistants: mathematician Meyer Brickman, historian Chaim Goldberg, artist Hirsch Leibowsky, and actress Dora Kovner. They recruit eight children and begin round-the-clock surveillance. The institution exists under the patronage of local mafioso Garber and high-ranking Gestapo officer Dr. Teleki. The latter shares fascist views on the forced depopulation of the Earth. Paradoxically, Teleki considers the children of the orphanage to be the seeds of a new human race and ensures their safety.

The experiment yields astonishing results. The children demonstrate unprecedented intellectual development. Teachers learn to identify each child’s subtle inclinations. The diary details various indotypes, such as "positive generators" and "aesthetic actionists." For example, the Roma boy Jacek becomes an unpredictable force, and the enigmatic girl Hasia demonstrates incredible empathy for living beings.

However, in the summer of 1942, the liquidation of the ghetto began. The director refused to save himself. He gave the notebook to his fifteen-year-old assistant, Tanya Lenskaya, and sent her to Teleki. The teacher himself remained with the children, accepting death in the extermination camp.

The Survival of Tanya Lenskaya

Tanya Lenskaya is the daughter of a Russified Pole and a Russian Jewish woman. She endures the hell of losing her family, constant humiliation, and starvation in the ghetto. She is betrayed by her classmates and her beloved Zbigniew Krasowski. During the deportation, Tanya’s mother commits suicide by jumping from a train. Having found herself at rock bottom, Tanya learns to be a ruthless fox. Tanya steals food from the fearsome collectors of the local mafia, the "Twelve." She is caught during one of her thefts, but through a twist of fate, she ends up in the Director’s shelter.

After the liquidation of the ghetto, the girl receives false documents from Dr. Teleki in the name of a pure-blooded German, Hildegard Fuchs. The Gestapo officer expects Tanya to provide written confirmation of his assistance to Jews after the war. The girl leaves Teleki a photograph of herself with a sarcastic quote from Pushkin.

By the spring of 1945, Tanya was working as a nurse in a hospital in besieged Breslau. She fiercely hated the Germans and longed to break through to the advancing Soviet troops. Tanya devised an escape plan. She learned the underground communications network from a young fanatic, Karl Sauer. She descended into the sewers, but was frightened by a swarm of giant rats and was forced to turn back.

During heavy street fighting, Tanya finds herself on the front lines with Lieutenant Michel Schröder’s platoon. The German soldiers are struggling to repel the Red Army’s attacks, suffering heavy losses. Tanya helps the wounded, but sees the futility of this carnage. She decides to defect to her own forces at the first opportunity, hoping to pass on the coordinates of German headquarters to the Soviet artillery.

Assault preparation and finale

Rem Klobukov arrives at the battalion and assumes command of a rifle platoon. His subordinates are a volatile mix of liberated prisoners of war and embittered veterans. The commander’s assistant, Galda, tries to break the new recruits with brutal beatings. In his opinion, a soldier should fear a sergeant more than a bullet. Rem comes into open conflict with Galda. The situation is saved by former Major Sanin. Having survived German concentration camps, he learned to maintain dignity while completely dehumanizing his tormentors. Sanin gives Galda a brutal rebuff and breaks his arm. Rem immediately appoints the intelligent corporal as his assistant.

The platoon undergoes intensive tactical training under the leadership of Senior Lieutenant Valentina Ptushko. This female officer shares with Rem her combat experience in surviving in dense urban areas. She teaches the soldiers close-quarters combat techniques using a standard entrenching tool. Rem develops a deep liking for Valentina, but just before the offensive, she is absurdly killed by a sniper’s bullet. Meanwhile, another tragedy occurs: a young, slow-witted orderly named Pavlyuchenok accidentally blows himself up with a practice grenade.

The battalion receives orders to attack fortified buildings on Medvezhya Street. The tank assault group is accompanied by a penal platoon under the command of the demoted Zhora Utkin. Reuniting with his former comrade brings Rem unexpected relief: the burden of guilt for the supposed execution of the scout is lifted from his shoulders.

A heavy artillery barrage begins. Utkin’s tank is destroyed by a self-propelled gun from a hidden ambush. The infantry attacks under the cover of a thick white smoke screen. Rem rouses his platoon and rushes forward toward the enemy positions.

Meanwhile, Tanya Lenskaya is hiding in the ruins of a basement, awaiting the arrival of Soviet troops. In the morning, she sees a rapid advance of soldiers with red stars on their helmets. The girl joyfully runs out to them, shouting that she is Russian. Exhausted from the heavy fighting, the Red Army soldiers simply wave her off. They silently crowd around the body of a young officer, whose head has been crushed by tank treads. Tanya approaches and notices an elderly soldier removing a suede-bound notebook and a stack of postcards from the dead man’s field bag. The notebook seems to her to be exactly like the lost diary of Mr. Director. The girl quickly turns away from the mutilated corpse and indifferently retreats to the rear. Ahead of her lies the long life she so passionately dreamed of.