Who is Martha?

Martha is Eliezer's family's maid.  She offers to help the
family when they are rounded up and placed in the ghetto.  She understands, or at least
has a good idea, about what is in store for them.  In bringing out one of the
fundamental themes in the book, the family declines her help.  The significance of this
reflects the futility or failure of human freedom in the Holocaust.  We see this several
times in the narrative.  The decision to evacuate the camp, when it would have been
liberated in only a couple of days.  The need to try to get along in the brutal
conditions, only to find that it would have made no difference with whatever decision is
made.  The rejection of Martha's offer of help is part of this schematic whereby
individuals have freedom and try to use it, only to be undercut by the conditions of
life that make the use of such freedom futile or fruitless.  The situation with Martha
is one such example.