"Bruno, trying to change the subject, asks Shmuel if he has any sisters. ... There is an tragic irony in Shmuel's statement that he wants to work with animals in a zoo, because he and the other prisoners are currently being treated like animals—lower than animals, even, as they are killed with impunity."
It would be "<span>I was present at the sessions of the great Congress in the month of December." He is using that sentence to give credibility to what follows.</span>
