Herschel was burned alive in the synagogue, and Grandfather never spoke of it again until that moment. When the Nazis asked the villagers to point to the Jews, Grandfather pointed to Herschel in order to save himself and his family. It turns out that Herschel is a Jew who was killed in a Nazi raid on their village of Kolki.

One of the photos, coincidentally, is of Alex's Grandfather and his friend Herschel. She gives Jonathan a box full of mementos from Trachimbrod: rings, necklaces, scraps of paper, and photos, among other things. However, she is the last surviving person from Trachimbrod. They journey from Lvov, Ukraine into the countryside, where they find a woman who claims to be Augustine.

They're accompanied by Alex's grandfather and his 'Seeing Eye b****' (1.10) Sammy Davis Junior, Junior, a dog who loves to chew her own tail. In one corner, we have a relatively modern story (late 90s, we're thinking, as the story ends in 1998) featuring a translator and tour guide named Alex Perchov who is guiding a man named Jonathan Safran Foer (yes, same name as the guy whose name is on the cover of the book) on a quest to find both Trachimbrod, the village where his grandfather grew up, and Augustine, a woman who saved Jonathan's grandfather during the war. Everything is Illuminated is basically two-two-two books in one!

Safran foer everything is illuminated