Plot synopsis
Teenage Hannah was named after her Aunt Eva’s cousin, and her parents think she looks more like her every day. At a Jewish ceremony, when she opens a door, there is a flash of bright light and then she finds herself in a house in Poland during the German occupation in 1941.
She is with her aunt, Nina and her cousin, Rivka, who are caring for her. She had been very sick with a burning fever for two weeks. This is her first day out of bed, and they are not surprised that she remembers nothing.
Soon after, they are at a wedding when Germans soldiers arrive and transport them all to a camp. Hannah cannot decide if it better to know, or not to know what is about to happen.
She wishes she had paid more attention to her school classes about this period and to her Aunt Eva, who often told her about how she had survived one of these camps during the war.
At the camp, she swaps places with Rivka when the Germans are about to take her to the gas chambers. As Hannah dies, it fades to black and she wakes up back in present day New York in her sick bed surrounded by her relatives, who are glad that she has regained consciousness.
Hannah realises that her Aunt Eva changed her name and that she was actually called Rivka as a girl. She is only alive today because Hannah gave her life to save her, thus creating a causal loop.
She is very happy to be back with her family. Now Hannah has a completely different attitude and understanding of what it means to be a Jew.
My comments
If Hannah had not gone back to save Eva (aka Aunt Rivka), would someone else have saved her? I feel this is unlikely, as she was about to go off to the gas chambers. Therefore, Hannah had to go back in time to save her aunt’s life, so the timeline could remain self-consistent.
Summary of time travel
The predestination paradox means that Hannah had to go back. There is no free will or choice here, so both the past and future must be closed. The timeline is therefore fixed with a causal loop.
Category of time travel
Fantasy: finding portals.
Model of time
Closed past, closed future with a fixed timeline and a causal loop.
