To fight boredom they started to play chess. The competition heated up and the best chess players became the new aristocracy. Quarrels and fights provided the much needed distraction. As in any organized community a natural leader emerged, the leadership of Sevastopol was taken over by Mr. Bloch. Realizing that the news from the outside undermined, the morale of the community, he decreed that the news should be shared only with a few men.
Lets save the nerves of the women.
He also established an arbitration board to solve the chess quarrels. Like the religious Jews waiting for the birth of the moon, so the bunker people waited at the ventilation shaft for the sign of daylight, to start their daily activities. Most, started the day with prayers, some just said the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. With the prevailing destruction the Kaddish stirred them up emotionally, made them feel alive. Looking at this strange underground congregation, reciting the praise for the Creator, Willy felt that it was the Kaddish that kept us together for generations.