A Night Divided Summary and Analysis Overview An ILA-CBC Children’s Choices Reading List Selection, A Night Divided, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, dramatizes the experiences of the division of Germany after WWII and tells a tale of family separation from a child’s perspective. The novel explores the effects of repressive government on intimate relationships as the main character, Gerta, watches friendships and partnerships dissolve as a result of the Cold War. It is a story of individual heroism and family devotion. At the start of the novel, Gerta is fairly unaware of the political challenges she and her family face. Her father has a history of government critique but has been careful to hide this from his children. Still traumatized by WWII, Gerta’s mother wants nothing to do with dissidents or protesting and desires only to keep her family clothed, fed, and safe. All this changes, however, when the Berlin Wall is erected overnight, while Greta, her family, and the rest of Germany sleeps. Because he has been seeking employment in West Berlin, Gerta’s father is permanently separated from them, now a denizen of another world. Her brother, Dominic, who had accompanied her father over to West Germany, is also lost to them. Gerta, her mother, and her older brother, Fritz, are now barracked into their communist half of the nation. They cannot communicate with Gerta’s father or Dominic, and cannot receive monetary support or unadulterated letters. They have to begin living their lives with the new menacing partition of the wall splitting their family in half. Neither Fritz nor Gerta are followers by nature. Fritz craves the amenities available in West Berlin—the Beatles albums, the Coca Cola, the right to dress as he pleases. Gerta does poorly at disguising her irritation during the indoctrination rituals at school and mandated Pioneer Club. But what sparks their rebellion is a sighting of other members of their family. First, Gerta spies a glimpse of her brother, Dominic, on the other side of the wall. Though she is told by watch tower guards to stop looking over there, to West Germany, a few days later, she sees her father, who begins doing a dance and mouthing the lyrics to a song she used to sing her. She realizes this is a message and that the word he leaves off on is pivotal. That word is “dig.” Following a map delivered to her by her friend, Anna, Gerta locates a building under which she 4 and Fritz can tunnel to get to West Berlin. The process, however, is fraught with diﬃculty. Snooping neighbors and roaming guards are always nearby, forcing the siblings to pretend to innocently be working a garden while really working hard to tunnel to freedom. When Anna’s older brother, Peter, dies while trying to get across to the West, the government forces Anna to become a spy and she, too, tries to interrupt their progress. After countless obstacles, a military conscription for Fritz, a work demotion for Gerta’s mother, and connections with some unlikely allies, Gerta and her family are ﬁnally reunited. By the novel’s end, Gerta has gained a newfound appreciation for freedom of speech and expression and a tangible sense of what heroism looks like in the real world. 5 Chapter Summaries & Analyses Chapters 1-10 Chapter 1 Summary Gerta, a resident of East Germany, wakes up on Sunday, August 13, 1961 to a sudden, shocking surprise: sirens are screaming overheard and the grenzers, the guards in the city, are out patrolling. To the horror of Gerta and her family, “a prison had been built around them as they slept” (1). Gerta wonders how she managed to sleep through the construction of the new massive wall that separates the East from the West in their city and nation. She recalls the warning her teacher shared with their class, that “we might salute the ﬂag of East Germany but it was really Russia we bowed to” (2). With a pang of horror, Gerta recalls that her father and her brother Dominic are in West Berlin, and that they were supposed to be returning in two days. Now, however, with this new wall erected, Gerta doesn’t know how they will get home. Gerta ﬁnds her mother sobbing in her older brother Fritz’s arms. It is clear to Gerta that “nothing [will] ever be the same again” (3). Chapter 2 Summary Even as Gerta is trying to process what has happened to her home and to her family, she is temporarily lost in memories. She recalls a night recently when a neighbor came to their door. Herr Krause is a “bit odd” and according to Gerta’s mother “deﬁnitely should’ve been arrested” after the war (5). Herr Krause and Gerta’s father get along well though, as both are treated with extreme suspicion by the Stasi, the secret police. Both are labeled as dissidents, as dangerous question askers. Though Gerta’s mother only lets this neighbor in with great reluctance, he carries a warning and important information. Herr Krause strongly suspects that soon no one will be allowed to leave East for the West. Herr Krause says that Gerta and her family have to try get to West Germany while it’s still possible to do so. Gerta’s mother pushes back against this warning. She reminds Herr Krause and her husband, whose interest is piqued, that she has an invalid mother she cares for. Their children attend school in East Germany. More than anything, Gerta’s mother refuses to live in poverty, in a refugee camp. As she exclaims to her husband and neighbor: “I won’t bring my children into a camp. We’re not beggars!” (9). 6 Yet despite this clear fear of returning to the reduced living conditions that she endured during the war, Gerta’s mother agrees to let Gerta’s father travel to the West for a few days. While he is there, he will look for an apartment for his family and try and go on some job interviews. Gerta’s mother suggests that her husband “bring one of the children […] so employers know [he has] a family to support” (9). Gerta’s father chooses Dominic, the younger son, much to the chagrin of Fritz, the eldest, and Gerta, who would also both like to go with their father. When it’s time for Dominic and Gerta’s father to leave, he is merry, singing and kissing his family. He promises Gerta that he will see her again soon. But with the construction of the wall, Gerta wonders when she will see Dominic and her father again. Chapter 3 Summary Residents become desperate to get out of East Germany and Fritz and Gerta hope that their mother will be among those protesting or attempting an escape. The attempted escapes they witness, though, are traumatic and terrible. Those dwelling in an apartment nearest to the wall attempt to jump over the wall to get to the West. The government quickly begins bricking up all the exits of this particular apartment building so those inside cannot get out of the East. Despite this, some still try to escape. One woman “threw down a mattress and all her bedding from the third ﬂoor” as the police banged on her door to drag her out. But when she leapt out, “the cushions weren’t enough for the hard concrete below” (15). After this disturbing event, Fritz warns Gerta to expect more horrors and more deaths, including those of children, as people try to get out of East Germany. Gerta hopes for resistance but instead, at school, her teacher teaches the class “a new song that thanked our leaders for building a wall” (15). Thinking of her father and brother on the other side, Gerta can only mouth the words, being unable to voice them. At home, too, she fails to encounter the resistance she hopes for. Over dinner one night, Gerta’s mother tells her and Fritz: “We will never be able to leave […] the sooner you both accept that, the happier you will be” (16). To Gerta though, this is unacceptable. Chapter 4 Summary Four years pass and normalcy returns to East Germany, a terrible, sickening kind of normalcy, to Gerta’s mind. It upsets her, the way people have learned to live with the wall, the way people in East Germany have “learned to do as they were told without asking questions” (17). 7 At age 12, Gerta is intrepid and ready to pick up on the dissident work her father had explored in the past, when still with his family. The Stasi still come to visit her house, to ask questions supposedly. But, as Gerta thinks to herself but doesn’t dare speak aloud: “if they only come to ask questions, why did they bring their guns?” (20). Gerta goes about doing the things that are expected of her as a good citizen of East Germany. With her shy, compliant friend, Anna, she participates in Pioneer Club, designed to dissuade East German youth from any interest in Western culture or values. At her mother’s urging, “we waved our ﬂags at the parades and smiled at the leaders of the GDR, German Democratic Republic, our Communist government” (21). But a desire to rebel foments inside Gerta. This desire becomes all the more intensiﬁed when one day, while walking beside the wall with Anna, Gerta looks across and is able to get a glimpse of someone she thinks she knows. Though four years have passed, she realizes the boy she is staring at, squinting to get a good glimpse of, is her brother, Dominic. He recognizes her as well and begins to wave. When Gerta waves back, her actions attract the attention of the wall sentry, an oﬃcer named Muller, who tells her to step back and stop waving. He makes sure Gerta sees his gun. As the girls walk away, Anna makes Gerta promise she will never do that again. Chapter 5 Summary Gerta is often in charge of grocery shopping though in her estimate it is a simple job because there are so few options to pick from. Often, Gerta notes, “the choice was between red cabbage and white cabbage” (27). More than anything, she longs for a banana, which are impossible to come by, and which she can only enjoy if Fritz is able to get one smuggled in from West Germany. Fritz also offers to get his sister some real cola but when he tells her that “after that […] you’ll never want our cola again,” Gerta declines, ﬁguring she already has enough to pine for and miss (30). Her mother works to make dinnertime sedate and normal. She asks both of her children to talk about their day but Fritz is taciturn, making Gerta suspicious. She wonders if perhaps her elder brother is planning something. Gerta also does not feel like talking, though her mother prompts her to discuss the events of Pioneer Club. Instead, she astonishes Fritz and her mother but telling them that she saw Dominic in the barbed wire Death Strip between the wall. She expects her mother to ask questions about her son—how he looked, what he was doing. But Gerta’s mother simply tells Gerta to stay away from the wall or she could get into 8 trouble. Gerta is angry and confused, wondering if her mother forgot about the family members lost on the other side of the wall, or if her mother has just ceased caring. Chapter 6 Summary After Gerta’s upsetting moment with her mother, Fritz and Gerta hole up in his room, listening to contraband Beatles records. Though Gerta can’t understand the words well and mostly enjoys the catchy rhyme, the music means a great deal to Fritz. He explains to Gerta: “For me, it’s the lyrics […] the things they write could not be played here” (35). It is clear to Gerta that the desire for freedom and rebellion is pulling at her brother, more and more. He refuses to stop playing censored music like The Beatles, even though their mother badgers them about it being dangerous and someone potentially hearing it from the window. Fritz sees that Gerta is angry with their mother and tells her not to be, that she is just doing what she needs to do in order to survive. To Gerta, though, anger is a productive and reasonable emotion. Inwardly, she thinks: “our family was like a house of cards in a stiff wind. And when it became too much to feel the pain of our collapse, all I could do was become angry” (36). Because Fritz notices the intensity of Gerta’s feelings, he asks his sister how much she would be willing to risk to get to the West. He tells her that the attempt could work, or it could of cost Gerta her life. When Gerta replies that she’d like to know how the odds are stacked, Fritz tells her: “That’s not how bravery works […] courage isn’t knowing you can do something; it’s only being willing to try” (37). He then tells Gerta information that shocks her: that her friend Anna’s older brother is attempting to cross over to the West that very night. The idea deﬁnitely holds appeal for Fritz, and Gerta worries that maybe she is about to lose a second brother to the West very soon. Chapter 7 Summary Out walking with Anna, Gerta feels pangs of guilt. Gerta knows about Anna’s brother’s plan to escape to freedom, but Anna does not. Gerta wonders how Anna’s family will feel when they realize he’s gone, “proud of his courage or ashamed that he’d abandoned them” (41). Gerta feels that it is bravery but listening to Anna complain about mundane things like the weather and the boy behind her in class, who pulls her hair, she realizes that Anna will never understand Peter’s need for freedom. 9 Gerta again hopes for a glimpse of her brother and though Anna warns her to look away from the wall, Gerta instead strains for the sight of Dominic. Soon enough, she spots him in the same place he was the day before. This time, Dominic waves not to her but to someone on the same Western side of the wall. Gerta’s heart leaps when she realizes it is her father who “wore glasses now and his light brown hair seemed thinner” (43). Though his outward appearance has changed, his behavior has not. Rather than waving, he begins to dance, doing the gestures of the song he often sang Gerta before bed, “The Farmer in March.” However, to Gerta’s confusion, he doesn’t do the song gestures all the way through. Instead, he stops at the part of the song about digging and he pantomimes digging again and again. Clearly, Gerta thinks that it’s a message. “Papa wanted me to dig,” she thinks to herself during her school day, “But why?” (45). Chapter 8 Summary Gerta spends a lot of time thinking about what her father meant about digging. She goes and ﬁnds the family’s old garden shovel, hidden away in the basement. Is it possible that he wanted her to plant a vegetable garden? No, she decides, he must’ve wanted something more. While Gerta is working on resolving that mystery, her mother delivers some tragic news. Peter, Anna’s brother, was shot in the back while trying to cross the wall. As Gerta’s mother tells her: “It’s a reminder to us all of what happens to those who try to escape” (49). While still struggling with the pain of this knowledge, it occurs to Gerta that Fritz is late getting home from work. Gerta has no choice but to admit to her mother that Fritz knew about Peter’s planned escape. Mother and daughter rush to Fritz’s work site only to learn from the foreman on the construction job that “the Stasi came to get him today” (52). When Gerta and her mother return home, Fritz’s room is in disarray. The Beatles record is smashed on the ground, and a poster of Ann Margaret is crumpled on the ﬂoor. Gerta is told to go to bed while her mother goes next door, to seek the help of Herr Krause. Chapter 9 Summary To Gerta’s surprise and relief, Fritz is back at home when she awakes the next morning, although “he looked exhausted and had a dark bruise on his cheek” (55). Her mother and Fritz sit in silence at ﬁrst and then begin to exchange awkward conversation. Gerta is confused 10 and wants answers as to where Fritz was and what happened to him. On a piece of paper, Fritz writes down that the apartment is bugged, that someone is listening in on them, so they have to be careful about each word they speak and be careful too not to be silent for too long. In order to talk candidly, Fritz volunteers to walk Gerta to school. He refuses to tell her exactly what happened to him when he was in the custody of the Stasi but he does tell her to Anna’s family will be made to pay for Peter’s “transgression.” According to Fritz, now “they’ll have to work extra hard to prove their loyalty to the state” (59). As for Gerta’s family, there can be no pretense of loyalty, Fritz has learned. While in custody, Fritz was ﬁrst shown the ﬁle the government has compiled on his father. Now, Fritz says, they are compiling a ﬁle on him. When Gerta tries to protest that such a thing is ridiculous, and that Fritz never did anything worse than smuggling in Beatles records or bananas, Fritz stops her, saying, “They have a ﬁle on you too” (62). Chapter 10 Summary Gerta feels bad for Anna when she sees her at school, red-eyed and grieving. She tries to speak to Anna but Anna blames her, saying that Gerta is a bad inﬂuence, that her family is a bad inﬂuence. Gerta tries to defend herself and her family, saying, “the state can’t take away our friendship,” but Anna shakes her head no (66). It is too dangerous for Anna to know Gerta at this point. Gerta thinks of the ﬁle the government is compiling on her and decides inwardly, “my father had infected me,” that she was no longer innocent or safe simply because she was his daughter (67). Walking home past the wall, she catches a glimpse of her father. Again, he begins his dance, encouraging her to dig. This time she doesn’t stand and watch. Instead, she takes the long way home, away from her father, “away from the disease” (67). Chapters 1-10 Analysis At the start of the novel, Gerta is a normal girl who ﬁghts with her siblings, has a best friend and worries about typical childhood concerns. She is vaguely attentive to the political environment in which she lives. Her father is critical of the government and her mother would like him to desist from critique in the hopes that they could live simply and painlessly that way. She dislikes the neighbor next door for being a troublemaker and a dissident, and would like her husband to disassociate himself with those types of people. When the wall is erected overnight, Gerta’s life changes completely. Her father and her 11 brother, Dominic, who were travelling in West Berlin, are now residents of a different world. She learns to live without hope of seeing them again—almost. There is a piece of Gerta that asks questions and keeps hope alive, even against reason, from the start of the book. This part of her is invigorated when she sees Dominic from across the wall. When she sees her father, it is at ﬁrst a thrill. She is willing to risk being reprimanded by watch tower guards. She is willing to risk the rebukes of her best friend, Anna. She is willing to risk anything to see her father. Seeing her father’s dance, it’s clear that he wants to convey a message and Gerta takes up the job of playing detective. She needs to understand the idea he is trying to convey. But she ﬁnds her loyalties are tested when Anna rescinds her friendship. Gerta begins to see that her father was up to more than just talking with their neighbor all those years. He has a reputation and that reputation of troublemaker and dissident is now her reputation, too. Is it worth it, she wonders, trying to ﬁgure out what her father wanted? Or should she just try and live as best she can in East Germany, as her mother would have her do? Chapters 11-17 Chapter 11 Summary Gerta notices a change in Fritz. He is no longer as hard working, is more moody and distracted, and spends more time with whatever simple pleasures he can ﬁnd. Now that Gerta is considered dangerous to associate with, she begins reading more, in order to ﬁll the hours alone. She is reading in her quiet, bugged house one day when she hears noise next door. She can tell that Herr Krause is in pain, crying out for help. When she runs next door, she sees Herr Krause on the ﬂoor, bleeding. Gerta shouts that she will call the police but a gruff voice that identiﬁes itself as law enforcement tells her to go back inside. Papers go ﬂying out of the open doorway. Gerta grabs one. Straightaway, she sees why Herr Krause is being arrested: he has been operating a free press from his home. Gerta grabs a paper that says, “If I cannot speak what I think then it’s a crime to be me” (72). An oﬃcer attempts to grab the page from Gerta and when looking at the Stasi oﬃcer in the face, Gerta sees that she knows him. Fritz comes running over to his sister’s side and it becomes clear who the oﬃcer is: a former friend of Fritz’s, Viktor. He was, according to Fritz, a “good guy… once” (74). Chapter 12 Summary 12 Gerta and Fritz decide to keep their neighbor’s arrest a secret from their mother, as she seems to be happier, telling them, “we have again […] that is good” (75). But the routine is little consolation to Gerta, who keeps the stamped words of Herr Krause in mind. What does it mean to her sense of self that she must pretend to be someone else and think other thoughts? She is wondering this when one day she walks along the side of the wall and again spots her father. He begins to do the same dance he did the ﬁrst time Gerta saw him. This time, Gerta bends down and draws something in the dirt, before the guards can spot it—“X marks the spot” (77). Her father nods back and she realizes that he has understood and that she is right, that she needs to uncover something. The question is what, and where. A bit of an answer arrives via a note passed at school the next day. Though Anna continues to avoid her, Anna passes Gerta a message in class. It surprises Gerta to get this missive from Anna, who still insists they can no longer be friends. The drawing is cryptic, “just a pencil drawing of an old building” (78), yet it’s clear to Gerta that this is a building she needs to ﬁnd, a space where she needs to dig up whatever her father left behind to help them to freedom. Chapter 13 Summary On a Saturday morning, Gerta is sent by her mother to bring a loaf of bread over to Anna’s family. It’s not much, but it’s all Gerta’s family can spare to show their silent support of Anna’s family. Gerta is not optimistic that the visit will go well and she is right, as the two former friends argue at Anna’s doorstep. Anna is still angry at her deceased brother and at all those who think like him. She asks Gerta, “We have a good life here […] Why wasn’t that enough for him?” (83). Anna is unable to see things the way Peter did, but for Gerta, it makes perfect sense. She tries to explain it to Anna, saying, “You’ve seen the sun, Anna. Now that you have, could you ever be content with just the stars for light?” (83). This description does not move Anna, though. Instead, she slams the door on Gerta. Gerta feels that she “became a disease again,” in the eyes of her former friend (84). Gerta heads home, chagrined, and that’s when she spots it—the building that she’s been looking for. It is adjacent to the Wall, on a “small patch of forgotten farmland […] infested with weeds” (85). Gerta knows this is the space where she needs to dig and heads home to ﬁnd the shovel. Chapter 14 Summary 13 While her mother is at church and Fritz is off meeting up with friends and a girl, Claudia, whom Gerta suspects is her brother’s new girlfriend, Gerta hauls her mother’s garden shovel across town, to the building where she believes she is meant to dig. En route, she encounters a nosy neighbor, Frau Eberhart, who asks if Gerta’s mother knows where she is and what’s she’s doing. Gerta has to make up a quick lie, saying that she is planting a garden in an abandoned yard as a surprise for her mother. She realizes that “in the west,” Frau Eberhart might be “dismissed as a simple busybody,” but “behind the wall, we all knew the neighborhood tattler was as dangerous as ﬁre. Stasi informants were paid well” (88). Gerta breathes a sigh of relief when Frau Eberhart swallows this lie and she is able to hurry on. The inside of the building is rotten and moldy. Once inside, Gerta realizes that its location is right on the dividing line between East and West, that she could be considered in the Death Strip just for being inside the building. She wants to run but forces herself to stay, in part bolstered by the faded “Welcome” sign she notices on the wall. Gerta begins to dig and strikes metal under the ground too soon for anything good to be hidden, she decides. She continues to dig in spite of this and soon she uncovers not the treasure she was hoping for but a door. It is the door of a fallout shelter, the kind found throughout Berlin. Gerta believes that this couldn’t have been what her father meant. She leaves not just without hope but feeling “that it was wrong […] to ever have had hope in the ﬁrst place” (94). Chapter 15 Summary When Gerta’s grandmother, Oma Gertrude, falls and breaks her leg, Gerta’s mother decides to temporarily relocate to the countryside to stay with her and care for her as she recovers. She hopes the State will give her work near Oma’s home and suggests that Fritz and Gerta go with her. Gerta is uninterested, as Oma’s “house smelled like ﬁsh and there was nothing to do” (96). Fritz suggests that he and Gerta stay behind in the city, until their mother’s return. School is almost out for summer, and he can work fulltime during the break. Reluctantly, their mother agrees. Before their mother’s departure for the countryside, a letter arrives in the mail for Fritz. It is “from the military, reminding him that he would turn eighteen” and would be expected to serve or face “serious consequences” (96). The wording of the letter does not surprise Gerta, as everything seems to have serious consequences. Because the house is still bugged, Fritz 14 must feign excitement about the letter but outside of the house, he can be more honest with Gerta. He tells her that because of the ﬁle the State has on him, Claudia’s parents will no longer let them date. Gerta tries to be supportive, saying she is sure he can get Claudia back, but Fritz warns her that the same complications will affect Gerta’s life soon enough—relationships, job prospects, university applications. It is just a matter of time. Chapter 16 Summary While their mother is away and Fritz is increasingly out of his own, Gerta decides to return to the digging spot her father indicated in his drawing. She thinks maybe she abandoned hope in ﬁnding something there much too quickly. She heads back over with her shovel and has to dash inside quickly as the city guards are out patrolling just in front of the building. In need of a safe hiding spot, she digs to gain access to the fallout shelter door and hurries through it. As soon as she is inside, Gerta notices pipes “that seemed to carry in fresh air from somewhere outside” (103). Still, for the moment, she is more concerned with the guards outside and the ankle deep water she is submerged in while hiding in the space of the bomb shelter. The realization dawns on her slowly: “If I went too far, I’d end up in the West” (105). Gerta realizes what her father wanted her to see now: that passage underground to the West is possible. There was no treasure; “the shelter itself was the treasure” (105). Chapter 17 Summary Gerta explores the shelter a bit more and begins to think about how she will go about constructing a tunnel. She asks herself, “What would it take to build a tunnel? […] Was I capable of all that on my own?” (109). The work will be intense but she doesn’t feel she has anyone else she can trust, as it looks to her like Fritz is “trying to be a model citizen, probably to get Claudia back” (110). She realizes she needs more time to think and prepare. She cleans herself up before heading home, careful not to attract the attention of the guards. Back at home, Fritz is sullen and distant. Gerta isn’t sure why, and since their conversations are being listened to, they have to exchange notes to truly communicate. While making mundane small talk aloud, Fritz passes Gerta notes about having been ﬁred from his bricklayer job. It is because of his ﬁle, they both know. Fritz then informs his sister via secret note that he is leaving for the West that night. He plans to swim across the river; Gerta fears 15 he will die. With tears in her eyes, she passes Fritz a note of her own, one with the same drawing she got from her father sketched on it. She writes down only one word: “tunnel” (114). Fritz understands and the two plan to meet there the next day. Chapters 11-17 Analysis The change in Fritz inspires a change in Gerta. He is clearly on the cusp of rebellion. It is not just about Beatles music and dating whomever he wants. Fritz longs for the freedom to plan his own future, just as Anna’s brother, Peter, did. Fritz is punished for not telling the police about Peter’s plans to escape. This punishment only makes Fritz all the more determined to get out. There is a dichotomy between over and under established in these chapters, in that the Stasi, the East German secret police, have bugged the family’s apartment, and are ﬁguratively always there, overhead, listening and waiting to arrest anyone who speaks dissident thoughts. This is contrasted by Gerta’s father revealing to Gerta that the way out of East Germany is underground, by way of the fallout shelter. While the East German police have a metaphorical eye in the sky, Gerta’s father has found, at least perhaps, a way for Gerta and her family to escape the oppressiveness of East Germany and get to the West. Gerta also experiences a great deal of fall-out from Peter’s leaving. Anna is no longer speaking to her. Her family’s apartment is bugged, so Gerta can no longer speak her thoughts aloud. Gerta sees her neighbor, a strong, smart man, harassed and arrested by the secret police. Following her brother’s lead, she begins to dream of a different life and hopes maybe her father’s message delivered by dance can lead them there. She cannot tunnel to freedom on her own, she realizes, but with Fritz’s help, it might be possible. Chapters 18-28 Chapter 18 Summary The siblings meet at the abandoned building and Gerta leads Fritz down into the bomb shelter space. Straightaway, Fritz is suspicious. He tells Gerta that this couldn’t possibly be what their father meant. Gerta tries to make a case for their tunneling. She tells Fritz, “A couple weeks of digging and then we’re out on the other side” (117). But Fritz points out numerous complications. For one, they don’t know the exact length of the Death Strip, the space in between East and West. If they got stuck in between, they’d be caught and killed. Their digging would also churn up plenty of dirt. What would they do with it all, Fritz asks? 16 Gerta has an idea in mind: “We could garden in the day while people are watching and then tunnel when they aren’t” (119). But Fritz isn’t sold on the plan. He climbs out of the basement, telling his sister, “It’s over, Gerta” (120).Gerta leaves with him, thinking that it must indeed be over. Chapter 19 Summary Back at home, Gerta is awakened by the sound of crying through the walls. It is their neighbor, Herr Krause, returned home after being interrogated by the Stasi. The sound of his sobs rattles Gerta deeply and have the same effect on Fritz. Together, the siblings put their ears to the walls of their apartment, wishing there was some consolation they could offer their elderly neighbor, who had survived both world wars, the threat of starvation, and his wife’s death only to be emotionally decimated by his own government. His suffering makes Fritz see that tunneling is the only recourse. As soon as school is out for summer, the siblings decide they will begin. Chapter 20 Summary When Gerta arrives at the bomb shelter the next day, Fritz is already hard at work. The siblings decide that Fritz, as the older and stronger one, will do the digging. Gerta’s job will be to haul the dirt away and place it in a space that will not attract undue attention. It’s hard work and Fritz has to use the scant money their mother has sent them for groceries in order to buy them overalls to work in. They can’t go home through the city covered in dirt or people might become suspicious. As grueling as the job is, they leave the shelter on the ﬁrst day feeling hopeful. Gerta thinks that “if the rest of our digging went as well as today had gone, we could be to the other side in no time” (130). The siblings even joke about not stopping in West Berlin but instead tunneling all the way to France, and that they’ll “come up right beneath the Eiffel Tower” (131). Chapter 21 Summary After the ﬁrst day, the work goes more slowly. Gerta is content for it to take as long as it has to but not Fritz, who reminds her, “I don’t have months […] It’s just weeks until they’ll expect me for military duty” (133). The siblings continue to tunnel industriously and walk home, feeling they’ve made progress. They try to hide their dirty hands but come upon Frau Eberhart on their walk home. She is full of questions, asking why they are out on their own and where 17 their mother is. They explain that their mother is helping their grandmother recover from an injury and that they’ve been gardening. Frau Eberhart asks to be taken to see the garden and they agree that they will let her see it one day soon. Fritz is panicked, reminding his sister that they haven’t planted anything or pulled a single weed. Worried, they head home for dinner together. Chapter 22 Summary When Gerta wakes up the next morning and ﬁnds her brother gone, she is ﬁlled with anxiety. She ﬁnds a note he left behind, telling her to stay where she is, that he will be back soon. She begins pacing, wondering what his note could mean and where he has disappeared to. Eventually she stops pacing, fearing that the repetitive noise of her footfalls will attract the attention of whomever listens in to her family’s daily life. She peeks inside a cookie jar on the counter and there she ﬁnds an old letter from her father. They are useless, she thinks at ﬁrst glance, as they have already been totally blacked out by the Stasi. The only detail that remains is the return address. Figuring maybe it is still good, she writes a brief note to her father, asking him for money to help them plant a garden. She heads out to mail her note when she runs into Fritz, who has been off applying for a license for a garden. They are able to use the plot by the Welcome building, the site of their tunnel in the bomb shelter, so they are legitimate for the moment at least. Chapter 23 Summary In order to keep their cover, Fritz and Gerta have to use some of their tunneling time outdoors, working on a garden. At ﬁrst, Gerta almost enjoys the work, noting that “the weeds didn’t require me to think so much” (145). While Fritz digs several meters deep in the tunnel, Gerta keeps up the gardening, working hard to manage the dirt her brother unearths. She is taking a brief break to drink some water when she notices a pulley being used by the sausage shop across the street. A pulley, she decides, would be helpful for her and Fritz and make the work go more quickly. She is thinking this to herself when Anna happens to walk by. She asks Gerta what she’s doing and Gerta points out the gardening. To her surprise, Anna leaves then reappears with more water. Gerta is puzzled: could it be that they are friends again? 18 Chapter 24 Summary The idea of a pulley captivates Gerta. It will make the job less onerous, she realizes, and she will be able to work more quickly. She decides to steal the pulley from the shop across the street one night when Fritz is out. She has to be quick about it because if she is out after curfew she will arouse extra suspicion, even more than the suspicions that already surround her and her brother. Once she is out on the street by the Welcome building, she spots guards patrolling. She is unsure whether or not to duck into the tunnel. It seems safer than hiding around a corner, hoping to not be spotted, but she doesn’t want to tip the guards off to the existence of the tunnel. She decides to hide in a small alcove and quickly realizes she is not alone there. Another woman is in the same spot, also hiding from guards. She asks Gerta if she is Aldous Lowe’s daughter and expresses her respect for Gerta’s father. She gives Gerta some money, saying, “Shall we agree not to have seen each other then?” (154). Gerta takes the money and the pulley home to Fritz, who is furious with the risk Gerta has taken and also relieved that the pulley will speed up their work. Chapter 25 Summary The siblings are hard at work on their tunnel when they encounter a new complication. After many attempts to repair her relationship with Anna, Gerta is caught off guard when Anna decides to suddenly forgive her. The timing and location are both troubling. Anna shows up suddenly, outside the Welcome building, carrying a basket of food. It is clear to Gerta that Anna is sincerely trying to reinstate their friendship. Scrutinizing Anna’s face, Gerta notes that “tears ﬁlled her eyes but she blinked them away” (162). Anna then tells Gerta and Fritz, “If you’d like, I could come by sometime and help here in the garden” (163). This, of course, is the last thing that the siblings want. Worse yet, Anna notes that Gerta is just covering up weeds with dirt—the dirt they are digging up for the tunnel. This means that Fritz and Gerta will now have to ﬁnd another spot to stow the extra dirt. Chapter 26 Summary Fritz and Gerta are both becoming noticeably stronger from the physical exertion of digging the tunnel. Because they have both trimmed down due to the extra exercise, Gerta realizes that “people had begun staring at us and stares invited questions” (165). They eat the food that Anna offers them in the hopes that they will keep on weight and keep questions away. 19 At home, they “dedicate the day to pleasing […] hidden microphones” (165). They talk for those eavesdropping about their enthusiasm for Fritz’s impending military service and another year of Pioneers Club for Gerta in the fall. In reality, though, the siblings are trying to ﬁgure out what to do with all the extra dirt they can no longer dump and pretend to be gardening. Gerta is washing ﬁlthy sheets on a homemade laundry line when the answer occurs to her and Fritz in the same moment. With the laundered sheets hanging up as a screen, they will use buckets on pulleys to dump the extra dirt into the pond beside their house. This plan works well and the tunneling continues with real progress. Still, Fritz would like them to have a back-up plan. Chapter 27 Summary The siblings experience multiple surprises in this chapter, of both pleasant and unpleasant varieties. First, to Gerta’s astonishment, she receives a message in the mail with the return address she has already learned is her father’s. Inside the envelope, which has already been opened by the Stasi, are seeds, lots and lots of squash seeds, more than they could ever plant. At ﬁrst, she thinks her father really just sent her seeds to grow his favorite vegetable, but then she shakes the envelope some more and detects a low rattling. In addition to the seeds, their father has sent them money, enough to buy a wheelbarrow. It is a sound, practical purchase but Gerta wishes they could splurge on a little extra food. She has begun to carry her “hunger with [her] everywhere, even in [her] dreams” (173), and now understands her mother’s intense fear of not having enough food for the family. Another surprise arrives when they are outside gardening by the Welcome building. Oﬃcer Muller, who has reprimanded Gerta before, sees her and comes over to inspect what she and Fritz are working on. “I know you,” Muller says to her, “You’re the girl who watches the wall on her way to school” (175). During their brief tense conversation, Muller manages to tease out of Gerta the name of her father and then tells Gerta what she already now knows: that her father was politically active and critical of the government. Muller repeatedly asks if Fritz and Gerta go inside the Welcome building, and if there is a way inside, but Gerta tells him no, that they think it’s unsafe structurally and that the doors are stuck closed. For the moment at least, Muller seems to buy this answer and is called away to other work. Chapter 28 Summary Anna begins popping by to help with gardening at unexpected moments and this becomes a real issue for Gerta and Fritz. While Fritz stays inside the Welcome building, trying to continue 20 with progress on the tunnel, Gerta has to stay outside and talk with Anna. When Anna begins asking where Fritz is, pointing out that he is leaving all the gardening to Gerta, Gerta can scarcely hide her feelings of irritation. Anna then compounds the issue by pointing out that the sheets that Gerta has to repeatedly launder to get free of transported dirt are hardly shiny white. Anna offers to help with the laundry, suggesting that maybe life is extra diﬃcult for Gerta without her mother around. Gerta doesn’t want the help and says so. She feels guilty doing so but tells Anna it’s too late to try and revive their friendship. Gerta notes that “even if I’d punched her, I couldn’t have hurt her worse,” and feels terrible for this (186). Chapters 18-28 Analysis The siblings’ experience of tunneling is fraught with trouble. They have visitors and spies to contend with. Their mother being away is a help in that they don’t have to explain why they’ve returned home ﬁlthy and exhausted, but they are also hungry and have little money to buy food with. When they write to their father, using a return address they ﬁnd on an envelope containing an entirely redacted letter, they get seeds and some money but this, Fritz decides, must be put towards tunneling supplies. In their work together, Fritz and Gerta’s relationship deepens. They become more than brother and sister; in addition, they become freedom ﬁghters together. They also need to each work out their sense of right and wrong. Fritz has to decide if he will alter his worldviews for the girl he loves. Gerta has to decide when lying and stealing are unethical and when committing such acts is pardonable because of the end goal in mind. Chapters 29-47 Chapter 29 Summary As the pair continues digging, it becomes more and more imperative for them to make sure they know their exact location underground. They will surface at some point, they realize, and they can’t get caught in the Death Strip or it could cost them their lives. Fritz tells Gerta she needs to get inside Anna’s apartment to get a better sense of their location but this is clearly complicated by her recent rebuff of Anna’s attempt at renewed friendship. Fritz and Gerta are also running out of money. The pair argue over how to spend the very last of the funds their father has sent them. Fritz thinks they need another shovel but Gerta wants to steal a shovel from somewhere and spend the money on food. Fritz disagrees with this, telling his younger sister, “some of what the state teaches is important […] we do have a 21 responsibility to be good citizens” (190). While the two are disagreeing, they hear footsteps of someone down in the space of the tunnel with them. Oﬃcer Muller turns the corner and faces them. Pointing a ﬂashlight into their faces, he says, “the Lowe children are doing something far more than gardening” (192). Chapter 30 Summary Oﬃcer Muller takes his time, looking around the space of the tunnel while Gerta and Fritz wait, wondering if they will be killed. Up on level ground, he laughs at their project, reminding them that plenty have tried this same idea before and none have made it. While Muller is informed the siblings that he can kill them on the spot, no questions asked, since clearly they were trying to escape their country, Gerta sizes Muller. She notes milk stains on his shirt, possibly from burping a baby. Not sure what else to do, Fritz and Gerta offer Muller a chance to join them in their escape via the tunnel. To their surprise, Muller volunteers that his wife wants to leave the county. He may join them, he says, so Fritz agrees to leave a shovel in the dirt outside as a signal when the tunnel is complete. Muller tells them he may change his mind and arrest them at any time. Chapter 31 Summary The two decide that their run-in with Oﬃcer Muller went as well as it could and even celebrate by enjoying some bread they purchase with the very lean funds they have been reduced to. After that, it’s right back to work. A complication ensues that nearly ruins all their progress. The tunnel ﬂoods when Fritz nicks a pipeline with the edge of his shovel. He tells Gerta she has to keep the crack plugged with her own body until he returns with some kind of solution. Gerta is forced to stand in soaking wet clothes in the dark of the tunnel until her brother reappears. He has with him a clamp and an empty bike tire tube, both of them gleaned from their neighbor. It will not hold for long, Fritz tells Gerta, but maybe, just maybe, it will hold for long enough. Chapter 32 Summary Deciding the tunnel is too wet and muddy to get much work done, the siblings head home. They are surprised to ﬁnd their mother waiting for them there. She is appalled at their outwards appearance, as they are dirty, thin, and look exhausted. She sends Gerta up to take a bath and begins to make a meal for the three of them. After they eat, Fritz and Gerta lead 22 their mother outside, where no hidden microphones are listening, and tell her about the tunnel. She is upset, saying, “What have you done? […] Oh, my children, why would you do this?” (213). Gerta is upset by her mother’s reaction and blames her mother for abandoning her father’s goals and convictions. Gerta’s mother admits she was not brave enough to criticize the government and that she feels the life they have at present is good enough. She calls the tunnel nonsense and tells Fritz to ﬁnd a respectable job until it’s time to join the military. While they are disagreeing, they hear screams next door and their neighbor, Herr Krause, is wheeled out of his apartment on a gurney. A woman, the same one Gerta met while hiding from the guards, is being dragged out alongside him. Chapter 33 Summary As the siblings still need to ﬁnd out the exact location of the Death Strip in relation to their tunnel, Gerta has to get a closer view, which can only be attained from inside Anna’s apartment. Though it’s awkward and nerve-wracking, she has no choice but to knock on Anna’s door, pretending to be paying a friendly visit. Things are awkward from the start. Anna tells Gerta that she’s changed, that she seems unhappy all the time. She asks Gerta if there is anything that she wants to conﬁde, anything that might explain how she behaves. Really, Gerta wants to get Anna out of the room so she can get a better look at the window at the Death Strip. When Anna offers her food, Gerta takes her up on it, thinking that it will take Anna some time, time Gerta can use to fulﬁll the purpose of the visit. As it turns out, she learns more than the location of the Death Strip in relation to the tunnel on this visit. After Anna returns with food, she proceeds to also offer Gerta some hand-me-down clothes. As she is getting the clothes from the closet, Gerta notices fresh dirt on Anna’s shoes, the exact shade and consistency of the mud in their tunnel. It is clear to Gerta that Anna has been in the tunnel very recently. Anna obviously was only there to spy. Chapter 34 Summary Fritz is disappointed to learn about Anna but not surprised. He thinks his sister should’ve confronted Anna about the mud to make sure that Gerta’s hunch is right. There isn’t enough time, though, to debate about what should’ve been done. They have several meters further to go and as they look up ahead, they see a spot where the roof of the tunnel dips down lower than anywhere else. They go outside and scan the street, to see if they can explain it from 23 that vantage point. It makes no sense to them. All they can do is try and ﬁnd ways to keep the roof of the tunnel from caving in. Chapter 35 Summary While Fritz and Gerta are trying to determine how to support the roof of the tunnel, they have another surprise visitor. This time it’s their mother. She has changed her mind, telling the siblings, “we will be together again as a family. We will ﬁnish this tunnel” (234). Part of the reason for her change-of-heart is that she has been demoted at her job. Her loyalties were questioned and she was asked to divorce her husband. When she refused, she was reassigned to a position that would not pay for rent and groceries. With no other option, she agrees to help her children. Chapter 36 Summary Their mother goes home for the day in order to supply needed sounds of life in their apartment for those who are listening in on them. She kisses her children goodbye and promises to bring them more food in the morning. Meanwhile, Fritz and Gerta hatch a plan to haul an old door down from the top ﬂoor of the Welcome building. They intend to use this as structural support inside of the tunnel. The risky part is moving around in the building, especially on a higher level, without the guards inside the watchtower taking notice. Gerta has to perform the job because her brother is too tall and is likely to attract unwanted attention. Gerta is terriﬁed but manages to haul the door down, making them ready to continue work on their escape. Chapter 37 Summary The next door, their mother brings them fresh fruit to enjoy. Gerta is delighted but wonders where it came from. Their mother confesses she got it from their neighbor’s house, as no one has been in it since the police took him away. While Gerta is confessing about stealing a pulley, Fritz opens a letter that has arrived at home for him. Inside is devastating news: he is to report for military duty in two days. This means they need to work quickly, though in all likelihood they cannot make it as far as they need in two days. While they are despairing, wondering what to do, they hear other sounds and voices inside the ground space adjacent to the tunnel. It could be the Stasi, tunneling to ﬁnd them, their mother warns. Fritz wonders if it isn’t other East Germans working on the exact same thing as them, 24 tunneling to freedom. Gerta feels she knows what the answer is—it is their father, tunneling out from the west to help them and reunite them. Chapter 38 Summary Though no one but Gerta believes for sure that it is her father tunneling through in the same space as them, the three of them continue to work. They are anguishing over the possibility of neighbors or Stasi arriving at any time when Gerta hushes her mother and brother. She hears something through the walls of the tunnel, a low voice, a song. It is the song her father sang to her. It is deﬁnitely him. Chapter 39 Summary Through the walls of the tunnel, the family is brieﬂy reunited. Gerta’s parents speak to each other for the ﬁrst time in years. Gerta hears the voice of her brother, Dominic. But Gerta’s father tells them it was too dangerous for them to tunnel. His goal had just been for them to get ready once he tunneled through and got them to the West. Gerta and Fritz tell him they couldn’t wait and Fritz tells his father about his required military service which is meant to start the next day. Their father tells Fritz, “Don’t report there […] If they get hold of you, we’ll never get you out” (258). Even as they speak through the walls of the tunnel, they spot a ﬁssure, a serious one, on their father’s side of the tunnel. The threat of total tunnel collapse prompts their father to order them out of the tunnel. He will ﬁgure something out. In the meantime, they need to make preparations to leave for good. Chapter 40 Summary Keeping to their word that they will make their preparations to leave, Fritz, Gerta, and their mother head home for what will be their last night there. They clean their apartment because their mother wants it to be clean when the Stasi arrive and ﬁnd them gone. Their mother goes to visit their grandmother, to say goodbye for good. Fritz goes out looking for Claudia and ﬁnds her. Gerta notices how crestfallen he is when he comes home; she can tell that he has asked Claudia to come with him through the tunnel and that she has refused. Chapter 41 Summary Gerta and Fritz’s mother says that their grandmother’s only response is to ask why they waited this long, in regard to leaving East Germany. The structure of the tunnel hasn’t collapsed but it still needs reinforcing. Their father works to reinforce his side of the tunnel 25 and Fritz begins to use mud to make some makeshift bricks to reinforce their side. Above them, guards have noticed the dip in the ground and are beginning to investigate. They can hear guard dogs barking overhead. Chapter 42 Summary When Gerta sneaks outside to fetch some more dirt to make reinforcement bricks, she is surprised and troubled to ﬁnd Anna there. Anna tells her everything that she’s held back all this time. The Stasi put her up to spying, she tells Gerta. She had no choice. She had to give them information or her family would suffer more or possibly be killed. Her parents only thought that Gerta and Fritz were gardening. Anna needs to give the Stasi information to keep her parents safe. She tells Gerta that she and her brother and mother must leave tonight. Tomorrow, she will tell the Stasi all she knows. They have to get out safely ﬁrst. Chapter 43 Summary Gerta and her mother go home to write down their goodbyes. Gerta writes a long letter to Anna, one she feels she can’t quite get right but she tries as best as she can to speak what’s in her heart. Gerta’s mother leaves the Bible in a conspicuous place with a note that it is there for the Stasi, who are in need of it. The two are about to leave the apartment for the ﬁnal time when there’s a knock at the door. They know straightaway who is waiting for them on the other side. The secret police, the Grenzers, have arrived at last. Chapter 44 Summary The secret police state that they are there on their doorstep because Fritz failed to report for military duty. They demand to know where he is. Gerta and her mother volunteer no information. Gerta’s mother remains calm and polite and the Grenzers leave, for the moment at least. Gerta and her mother remain quiet indoors, watching as the Grenzers linger in their car and then ﬁnally drive away. While Gerta and her mother ﬁnish up the very last of the packing, another knock arrives at the door: the Grenzers again. This time, they are ﬁerce and threatening, telling Gerta and her mother that they will be taken into custody. Fritz will be found, Oﬃcer Viktor tells them, or they will be made to explain his whereabouts. Chapter 45 Summary Viktor tells his men to ﬁrst riﬂe around in the apartment and ﬁnd whatever they can. Gerta’s mother uses this opportunity to make a daring move. She reminds Viktor that she knew him 26 as a boy, that he and Fritz were once friends. She says she knows how much Viktor must value his family and their safety and well-being. With this, she presses her car keys into his hands, tacitly offering them as a bribe to get out safely. Gerta is astonished and nervous but knows how hard even the unreliable East German cars are to acquire and that Viktor will likely gift this to his own mother. Without a word to Gerta’s mother, Viktor orders his men out of the apartment, declaring that he’s found nothing. Once the secret police are gone, Gerta and her mother hurry to the Welcome building. Fritz wonders what took them so long. He is already inside, in the company of Oﬃcer Muller and his family. Gerta can hear her father and brother still chipping away at dirt on their side of the tunnel. Then she hears a voice behind and above her. It is Anna, standing at the opening of the tunnel with her family. They have come to tunnel to freedom, too. Chapter 46 Summary The group begins tunneling through—a diﬃcult, painful process in that very cramped space. As Oﬃcer Muller’s wife tunnels through, the baby begins to cry. Anna helps to comfort the child, who has made suﬃcient noise for them to be detected. At last, Gerta is reunited with her father, who embraces her for the ﬁrst time in years. They are still not safe, though. They are just inches away from the Death Strip and before they can all even safely surface, ﬂashlights are upon them and guns aimed at them. Chapter 47 Summary Gerta is stunned when Oﬃcer Muller puts himself between her and the gun. He grabs the weapon away from the guard but not before it ﬁres, straight into his chest. Muller tells Gerta to run and she does, still trying to drag him along with her. Her father tells her not to, takes a quick pulse and pronounces Muller dead. The guards chasing them ﬁre again but they are too far away. Gerta escapes to freedom in the West, accompanied with her mother, brother, Muller’s wife and infant son, and Anna and her family. They will all be a family again now, Gerta’s father declares. They are ﬁnally united. Chapters 29-47 Analysis Gerta’s relationship with Anna is diﬃcult for her to navigate in this section of the book. She feels compelled to keep in contact with her friend but also doesn’t want Anna to ﬁnd out what she’s up to. She doesn’t want to endanger Anna by having Anna know the truth about their tunneling. She also isn’t sure that Anna can be trusted completely. When she sees dirt on Anna’s shoes she knows Anna has indeed been spying on her. However, by the book’s 27 conclusion, Anna proves to be a faithful friend. Not only does she not turn Gerta and her family in, she decides to trust Gerta in her journey down the tunnel to freedom. Gerta and Fritz’s mother also evolves in the ﬁnal section of the book. Though she is on fence about the tunnel at the beginning, she seems to realize she cannot dissuade her children. If she cannot talk them out of it, she wants to at least keep them safe. What cements her resolve to be involved is her demotion at her job. The state’s insistence on her divorce is the ﬁnal straw; when she refuses, and is demoted to a pay level that disallows for her to be able to take care of her family, she realizes that she can no longer afford to keep her head in the sand and believe that the ways of East Germany are for the best. Further, it’s shown that individualism does still remain in East Germany, albeit in the form of greed, when Gerta’s mother bribes Viktor with her car, which is, of course, property of East Germany. Whereas Gerta’s mother disavows the State for the sake of freedom, Viktor betters himself at the sake of the State, even while remaining in its employ. Gerta’s mother is not the only character who turns out to be more complex than previously thought. Oﬃcer Muller surprises Gerta ﬁrst by accompanying them into the tunnel and then surprises and impresses her even more by stepping between her and a bullet. As a character who has been ﬁguratively caught between Western freedom and Eastern socialism, that liminal aspect of Muller’s nature, once actualized, winds up being fatal, and Muller winds up dying in the same place he patrolled in life: the Death Strip. 28 Character Analysis Gerta The main character of the book, Gerta ages four years over the span of the novel. She begins as a member of a happy family, shocked by the creation of the Berlin Wall. After the separation from her father and brother, she gradually becomes more critical of the government. She senses the danger of dissent but cannot fully grasp the magnitude of the government’s corruption and malevolence until she sees it herself. Fritz Gerta’s older brother becomes her closest friend and conﬁdante. In a Western setting, they might enjoy only a normal brother-sister bond, but in their restricted environment, they become fellow dissenters and plot their rebellion together. Though they disagree at times, Gerta is admiring of her older brother and he is protective of her. By the novel’s end, Fritz parts ways with his love interest, who does not want to come to West Germany, and barely avoids compulsory East German military service. Dominic Gerta’s brother, Dominic, is in West Germany, with her father. He is a different person when they see each other again. They are no longer taunting siblings. They are glad to be reunited and do not take each other for granted any longer. Aldous Lowe Aldous is Gerta’s father. Gerta doesn’t know much about her father’s political life at the opening of the story. She knows he is friendly with their neighbor, who has some controversial ideas, but not much more than that. As the story unfolds, she learns all about her father’s political connections, his critique of the current communist government, and his work as a freedom ﬁghter. At ﬁrst, Gerta is disturbed, believing what he did was too dangerous. In time, she realizes that he was ﬁghting the right ﬁght and admires him for it. Gerta’s Mother Gerta’s mother, who goes unnamed in the novel, lacks her father’s courage. She suffered during WWII and is still traumatized by the experience of poverty and hunger. She wants 29 safety for herself and her family. It is not until the very end of the novel, when she is demoted at her job because she will not divorce her spouse, that she realizes she really must leave and go west. She gains her family’s freedom by bribing one of Fritz’s friends with the family car. Herr Krause Gerta’s next-door neighbor is too controversial, according to Gerta’s mother. He is critical of the government and runs a printing press from his home. He is taken away by the secret police and tortured. This doesn’t stop him. He is ultimately murdered by the government because he will not stop his work. Anna Gerta’s friendship with Anna evolves throughout the novel. Anna likes to play it safe, whereas Gerta asks questions of the world around her. When Anna’s brother dies trying to get to freedom, Anna initially cuts off their friendship. She resurrects it but only to spy on Gerta. Eventually, the friendship becomes genuine again, when Anna sees both the sincerity of Gerta’s caring for her and the intensity of Gerta’s drive for freedom. Peter Peter, Anna’s older brother, dies trying to cross to freedom. This experience causes suffering for Anna’s family and trouble in her relationship with Gerta. Additionally, Gerta wonders if her own brother would try the same move, leaving his family behind in trying to get free. Claudia Fritz loses his girlfriend, Claudia, over politics. Her father is shown Fritz’s ﬁle containing all the info the government has on him and Claudia’s family decides Fritz is too dangerous for Claudia to associate with. Fritz warns Gerta to expect losses of this kind in her life, too. Frau Eberhart Frau Eberhart is a nosy neighbor and possibly on the payroll of the Stasi, Gerta suspects. She is certainly interested in knowing what Gerta and Fritz are up to. She doesn’t buy their story about gardening and hopes to trick them into giving up information. Oﬃcer Muller Oﬃcer Muller ﬁrst harasses Gerta for looking at the wall too long and too intensely. Later, he 30 goes to investigate their gardening and is immediately suspicious. He ﬁnds the tunnel and tells Fritz and Gerta that he could shoot them on site. To Gerta’s surprise, however, Oﬃcer Muller is not interested in shooting them but in getting to freedom himself. He saves Gerta and her family by taking a bullet for them in the tunnel, when the group is discovered by other East German soldiers. Viktor Fritz’s former childhood friend, Viktor, has matured into the person the government wishes all young men to be. He is devoted to the state and does their bidding. Fritz tries to jog his memory, wanting him to recall his former self, but that identity has been lost. Fritz knows that if he goes into the military as he’s been ordered he could very well end up like Viktor. Viktor does show his human side (albeit a self-serving one) when he accepts Gerta’s mom’s bribe. 31 Themes Heroism in the Face of East German Oppression Gerta does not set out to be a hero at the start of the novel. She doesn’t necessarily think her father is a hero, either, as he has infected his family with the disease of his rebellion, and doesn’t understand just how dire the circumstances are for her family. She comes to equate heroic behavior with taking principled risks, in following one’s beliefs no matter what might come of them. Further, some of Gerta’s actions can be seen as not typically heroic, such as stealing the pulley to help dig the tunnel. In this way, the author asks the reader to question just what comprises a hero, and would seem to suggest that sometimes heroes must undertake actions that in other contexts, might not be seen as heroic. Separately, Oﬃcer Muller, who ultimately sacriﬁces his life in order to save Gerta and help her get to freedom, spends much of the book as something much closer to a villain, even telling Gerta and Fritz, at one point, that he could kill them at any time, after he discovers them in the tunnel. In the end, however, Muller dies for others’ freedom. In Gerta’s case, we see how an otherwise good person must resort to a criminal action for the betterment of those around her, due to East Germany being unwilling to let its people leave. In Muller’s last action, we see how someone who would appear to be a servant of the State is anything but, showing that heroism must sometimes be veiled to be effective. Propaganda and Spying Gerta does not set out to be a hero at the start of the novel. She doesn’t necessarily think her father is a hero, either, as he has infected his family with the disease of his rebellion, and doesn’t understand just how dire the circumstances are for her family. She comes to equate heroic behavior with taking principled risks, in following one’s beliefs no matter what might come of them. Further, some of Gerta’s actions can be seen as not typically heroic, such as stealing the pulley to help dig the tunnel. In this way, the author asks the reader to question just what comprises a hero, and would seem to suggest that sometimes heroes must undertake actions that in other contexts, might not be seen as heroic. Separately, Oﬃcer Muller, who ultimately sacriﬁces his life in order to save Gerta and help her get to freedom, spends much of the book as something much closer to a villain, even telling Gerta and Fritz, at one point, that he could kill them at any time, after he discovers them in the tunnel. In the end, however, Muller dies for others’ freedom. In Gerta’s case, we see how an otherwise good person must resort to a criminal action for the betterment of those around her, due to East 32 Germany being unwilling to let its people leave. In Muller’s last action, we see how someone who would appear to be a servant of the State is anything but, showing that heroism must sometimes be veiled to be effective. Freedom of Speech Gerta is appalled by the treatment of her next door neighbor, who runs a secret printing press in his home. At ﬁrst, Gerta cannot understand why the secret police care about a man printing messages with a child stamp set. However, the more she works on the tunnel, the more Gerta sees how important it is to be able to speak one’s mind and feel safe expressing one’s thoughts aloud or in writing. This idea hits home even more once her family’s apartment is bugged, and the reader sees by the end of the novel just how serious the East German government is about oppressing free speech through the murder of Herr Krause. The Beatles record that Fritz enjoys can also be seen as representing free speech. Fritz states it’s not just that the record is a symbol of the West, and capitalist-facing freedom, but that the music allows Fritz to think about life and living in a way that he hasn’t before. The record, then, is a path to individuality for Fritz and something the East German government wants and needs to suppress. 33 Symbols & Motifs The Tunnel The tunnel is the main symbol in the book. It is a space in which the siblings can work together to plot out a future for themselves, one that involves freedom and family reuniﬁcation. It is also a liminal space, as it’s being built under the Death Strip, that span that separates West Germany from East Germany. Further, Gerta and Fritz are surprised to discover in their tunneling that their father and brother are tunneling from the other direction in order to reach them. They end up meeting up in the middle and journeying out together. On the literal surface of the Death Strip, there are only negative connotations; beneath, however, there is hope. The tunnel is also a space in which unlikely conspirators come together—Anna and her family, who previously resented Gerta and her relatives; and Oﬃcer Muller, who previously harassed Gerta for looking at and beyond the wall. Digging the tunnel is arduous, dangerous work full of complications but it is also a project that inspires bravery and unity. The Garden Though the garden is really just a front for the tunneling, it is a space that attracts two visitors who eventually assist Fritz and Gerta in getting to freedom. Anna visits the garden, offering to help but really spying on Gerta and her brother. In the end, Anna does not turn her friend in but instead leaves with her. The garden also attracts the attention of Oﬃcer Muller, who suspects there is something behind the garden. He also ends up leaving with Gerta and family, much to their surprise. Gerta’s father, who sends squash seeds to Gerta under the premise of helping to grow the garden, uses the letter with the seeds as a way to actually send money to Gerta and Fritz. In this way, the garden works as veil for the tunnel; if the tunnel is what can’t be seen, the garden is its camouﬂage. The Family Car Gerta’s mother uses the family’s State-owned car as a bribe late in the novel. Once the Stasi arrive to Gerta’s apartment, after Fritz has failed to show up for compulsory military service, Gerta’s mother presses the car’s keys into Viktor’s hand, offering the car in exchange for allowing Gerta and her family to get out of the apartment and continue to try to get to West Germany. The car, then, functions as a symbol of turning the State against itself, and using its own property to bribe the very people meant to carry out its directives. If Viktor is largely characterized as being a person who believes in the ways of East Germany, here, he breaks 34 from that, as we learn that he plans to give the car to his mother. In doing so, we see that Viktor still places family before the State, revealing that individualism and humanism remain intact in individuals who would superﬁcially seem to have given their allegiance to East Germany. 35 Important Quotes 1. “It was Sunday, August 13, 1961, a day I would remember for the rest of my life. When a prison had been built around us as we slept.” (Chapter 1, Page 1) Though there are signs of the state becoming progressively more restrictive, no one fully expects the construction of the wall when it ﬁrst appears, according to Gerta. The actual erecting of the wall happens under the cover of night, so citizens wake up to ﬁnd themselves enclosed and unable to reunite with those on the other side. In the case of Gerta, this means a portion of her family (her father and brother, Dominic) are now trapped on the other side of the wall, and can’t return. 2. “People had noticed the widening gap between our countries. As more East Berliners left each week, those of us who remained whispered in dark corners about what if we left too. I heard them. I watched as neighbors and friends made their plans to go.” (Chapter 2, Page 8) Greta understands the division between the two nations before the oﬃcial partition is erected under cover of night. Her father is one of those who wished to go but her mother is afraid to leave behind a life she knows; even within Greta’s home, there is a rift. 3. “With each brick, my hopes faded until nothing was left. If there had ever been a chance of Dominic and my father returning, then the wall took that too.” (Chapter 3, Page 15) For Greta, the wall is not just a partition between parts of a once united nation. It also bricks her away from her father, who has left with the intention of ﬁnding work and a place to live for his family. Her younger brother has gone along with him in order to serve as conspicuous proof that Greta’s father is a dependable family man. 4. “My heart was pounding, just as hers surely was but for an entirely different reason. All I could think was that after four long years, I had ﬁnally seen my brother. And I hoped it wasn’t for the last time.” (Chapter 4, Page 26) 36 Greta’s spotting of her brother, Dominic, on the other side of the wall is complete happenstance. It ﬁlls her with a sense of hope that she hasn’t felt since the wall went up. Her father and brother are there and she hopes to get to them. 5. “Nobody could succeed here but most people around me seemed to be okay with that. It meant they wouldn’t fail either.” (Chapter 5, Page 28) The culture of East Germany emphasizes the collective and compliance. Greta sees the effects of this everywhere, even in the numb passive faces she encounters at the grocery store. There is lack of passion and a feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness; it’s as though people now lived in a sort of purgatory. 6. “‘That’s not how bravery works,’ Fritz said. ‘Courage isn’t knowing you can do something; it’s only being willing to try...’” (Chapter 6, Page 37) Gerta and Fritz discuss Peter, Anna’s brother, and his decision to try and cross over to the West. Though his family viewed his action as cowardly and selﬁsh, Fritz sees the act as brave. Gerta is not sure what to make of it but her brother’s deﬁnition of bravery sticks with her. This quote also relates back to the theme of heroism in the novel. 7. “Don’t ask questions like that. Don’t even think questions like that.” (Chapter 7, Page 42) While Fritz encourages Gerta towards bravery and action, her best friend, Anna, always reminds her to be cautious, that the consequences of speaking up could be disastrous. In this instance, the friends are walking beside the wall and Gerta is trying to weigh out the dangers of trying to cross to the West. This bifurcation of talking and thinking relates to the way in which the East German government was able to instill a paranoid fear in its citizens through constant surveillance; here, the implication is that those in charge can not only hear a person, but read their very thoughts. 8. “Although my instinct was to leave the basement as soon as possible, I forced myself to stay and stare at the shovel.” (Chapter 8, Page 47) 37 Gerta is not sure what to make of the secret, pantomimed song/message that her father conveys to her from his side of the wall. She knows that digging is involved, but what and where? A part of her feels that this is too dangerous a question to ask, yet she continues out of loyalty to her father. 9. “It was behind the glossy scenes that everything remained in ruins.” (Chapter 8, Page 50) Even at a young age, Gerta is acutely aware that too much of the East German government is theater, mere posturing to seem successful while in fact poverty and need are rampant. The notion of the collective translated to suffering for the individual. 10. “Whether that was true or not, I chose to believe. I made myself believe it or the worry would drive me insane.” (Chapter 8, Page 54) Gerta realizes she will get no conﬁrmation of her father’s message. She will simply need to believe in its power, despite the warnings she gets from her mother and her best friend. In this way, we see the need for faith among those who are attempting heroic acts. 11. “He looked exhausted and had a dark bruise on his cheek where someone must have hit him. From what I’d heard about the Stasi’s brutal methods of questioning, he was lucky if that’s all they had done.” (Chapter 9, Page 55) Fritz is marked as a target of the secret police after Peter’s disappearance/death. Fritz was aware of Peter’s plans and did not report them to the authorities. This alone makes Fritz a dissident in the government’s view. This passage may also be seen as foreshadowing for the death of the family’s neighbor later in the novel. 12. “You don’t understand how bad it is, Gerta. They have a ﬁle on you too.” (Chapter 9, Page 62) Gerta listens to her brother explain the way that their father’s political engagement has endangered them. Fritz is now being proﬁled and watched, simply for being his father’s son. Gerta is initially hopeful that if they keep their heads down and don’t call any extra attention 38 to themselves they’ll be okay. Fritz informs her that she’s wrong, and that she’s already being surveilled. 13. “Sometimes we weren’t joking though. Sometimes we genuinely resented the life we were forced into. I could admit that. But was it a crime to feel that way?” (Chapter 10, Page 64) Listening to Beatles albums together, Gerta and Fritz discuss their lives and the limitations they face. Gerta wonders to herself if it’s illegal and dangerous to complain. It doesn’t seem right to her that the government can mandate that people should feel gratitude and behave uncomplainingly at all times. 14. “I turned away from him down another street, on a road that was the long way to my home too. Away from the disease.” (Chapter 10, Page 67) The loss of Anna’s friendship is devastating for Gerta. She doesn’t realize how her family is to blame but she knows her father and his political involvement is part of it. For once, Gerta hurries away from the wall, hoping not to see her father there. 15. “Despite its promises of a free press, the state controlled all printing machines and wrote the stories for the newspaper to publish. No citizen was allowed to write his own ideas.” (Chapter 11, Page 72) Herr Krause, Gerta’s neighbor, runs an illegal, homemade printing press in his home. He is eventually killed for doing this. Before his murder, though, Gerta manages to grasp the importance of his work, of ﬁghting for free speech and free thought. 16. “[W]estern tourists […] often came to the wall on the weekend. They took pictures, brought their binoculars and stared into our world as if we either needed or wanted their pity. I hated that they watched but did nothing for us.” (Chapter 12, Page 76) The residents of Eastern Berlin are treated like animals in a zoo, with tourists from the West staring at them and photographing them. The experience is enraging for Gerta, who already feels her powerlessness and now feels both judged and forgotten as well. 39 17. “You’ve seen the sun, Anna. Now that you have, could you ever be content with just the stars for light?” (Chapter 13, Page 83) Gerta feels the need to try to explain to Anna why Peter risked his life getting to freedom. To Gerta, it makes sense to pursue what you are passionate about, even at the cost of personal safety. Fritz and her father have helped her understand this truth. 18. “Mama often warned me that the Stasi had blanketed the country with informants. It might be a bus driver, or a co-worker or even a family member.” (Chapter 14, Page 88) Gerta has learned to be careful, mostly because her mother has drilled this message into her head—that not everyone she meets is someone she can be open and honest with. Gerta keeps this idea in mind while she tries to fulﬁll the work she believes her father wants her to undertake. 19. Gerta has learned to be careful, mostly because her mother has drilled this message into her head—that not everyone she meets is someone she can be open and honest with. Gerta keeps this idea in mind while she tries to fulﬁll the work she believes her father wants her to undertake. (Chapter 15, Page 96) Fritz is expected to comply with the government’s orders to report for required military service. Fritz and Gerta realize that he cannot do this and he also cannot refuse. 20. “[B]esides, the war was the crime of my grandparents’ generation. I didn’t see why I should be forced to share in their penance.” (Chapter 16, Page 104) It seems unjust to Gerta that her generation is made to suffer for what the Nazis did. They are not free to map their own future with any amount of personal freedom. 21. It seems unjust to Gerta that her generation is made to suffer for what the Nazis did. They are not free to map their own future with any amount of personal freedom. (Chapter 17, Page 109) 40 Gerta is in the tunnel and expects to be found out at any moment. She realizes how dangerous and how forbidden her work digging the tunnel truly is. When she doesn’t immediately get found, it serves as conﬁrmation to her that she should keep going. 22. “Fritz looked up at me, his eyes burning with curiosity. I wrote one more word: Tunnel.” (Chapter 17, Page 114) Gerta is initially nervous about sharing her plans with Fritz. She knows from the experiences of Anna’s brother that a sibling can pay acutely for their brother or sister’s perceived sins and she wants to spare Fritz any possible danger. But when she sees how intensely he is suffering and how likely he is to try and cross over on his own Gerta conﬁdes in him. 23. “This is better than trying to swim the Spree. You’ll die if you go that way and whether you make it to the other side or not, what will the Stasi do to Mama and me afterward?” (Chapter 18, Page 119) Gerta expects Fritz to react differently than he does to the news of the tunnel. Rather than being enthusiastic, he’s skeptical. He still believes swimming to freedom might be more plausible. Gerta reminds him to think of his family, though, and what would happen to the family members he’d leave behind. 24. “I wanted a home without hidden microphones, and friends and neighbors I could talk to without wondering if they would report me to the secret police.” (Chapter 19, Page 125) The persecution of Gerta’s neighbor and the bugging of her apartment make it clear to her just how little personal freedom she has in East Germany. She cannot vocalize her thoughts and share them with others, lest these friends and neighbors should turn out to be spies. This passage encapsulates just how diﬃcult life in a surveillance state can be. 25. “A smile started in the center of my heart and warmed every inch of me. No matter how hard today had been, how hungry, tired and thirsty we both were, Fritz planned to tunnel again tomorrow too.” (Chapter 20, Page 132) Tunneling to freedom gives Gerta hope for the ﬁrst time in her life that she might be reunited 41 with her brother and father. It is diﬃcult and dangerous work and yet it seems to her to be the only thing truly worth doing, and worth whatever chances she needs to take. 42 Essay Topics 1. In what ways does Gerta evolve or change as a character through the course of the novel? 2. What are the primary differences that Gerta sees between East and West Germany? 3. What role does Anna and her friendship with Gerta play in the novel? 4. How do neighbors both support and undermine Gerta and Fritz in their struggle for freedom? 5. What role does freedom of the press and freedom of speech play in the novel? 6. How does Gerta’s relationship with her mother change and deepen throughout the novel? 7. What role does music play in the book? 8. How do interactions with characters such as Viktor and Oﬃcer Muller complicate Gerta’s view of good and evil? 9. What role does gardening play in the book? 10. List the ways in which living in East Germany is oppressive to individual happiness.

A Night Divided Summary and Analysis

Related Documents

Recommended Documents

Description

Related Documents

Almost There!

Free up your schedule!

Take 5 seconds to unlock