Read the following sentence from the speech. And our only miserable comfort was that we believed that Auschwitz and Treblinka were closely guarded secrets; that the leaders of western countries did not know what was going on behind those black gates and barbed wire.

How does the phrase "miserable comfort" affect the tone of the sentence?

Read the passage. when mother’s fever persisted for a week, father summoned our family doctor. dr. blakemore applied leeches to mother’s skin in hopes of reducing the amount of blood in her body. despite the doctor’s efforts, she languished in bed for three more days before her appetite returned and she requested a thin broth. our dear cook, mrs. davis, prepared the broth and delivered it to my mother directly, eager to ease her discomfort. what can readers infer about the time period of the passage?