In her novel The Seventh Cross, Anna Seghers describes seven prisoners escaping from a concentration camp. The Gestapo erects seven wooden crosses to nail the fugitives to, aiming to terrorize the public into submission. They recapture six. But the seventh cross remains empty because ordinary people risk their own lives to shelter the last survivor. That empty cross symbolizes an unshakeable truth: no authoritarian system is ever all-powerful. Total control breaks the moment individuals find the courage to support one another and choose humanity over fear.
