The Night War

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and religious discrimination.

“‘Nothing to worry about, Miri,’ Mama said, in her usual soft Yiddish. She didn’t look up from mending the pocket of my other dress.”

Miri’s family is characterized as Jewish through the “soft Yiddish” spoken by Mama. The exposition also characterizes the family’s impoverished circumstances; seeing Mama mending the pocket of Miri’s “other dress” hints that Miri only has two.

“I ran forward and threw myself between him and the soldier.

The soldier pushed me sideways, hard. I fell to the pavement, scraping my knees and biting the inside of my cheek.

The other soldier looked down at me and said, ‘Is this your father, little girl?’

I looked up at the three men. I tasted blood inside my mouth. My arms and legs, my entire body, froze. Only my head could move, and I shook it, to say no.

I shook my head.

‘Well, then.’ The first soldier kicked me aside. He and the other soldier shoved Monsieur Rosenbaum into the back of a police van parked on the street. The van drove away, siren blaring.

We hadn’t seen Monsieur Rosenbaum since.

I should have said yes, he was my father. I should have jumped to my feet. I should have fought them.”

Miri unfairly attributes Monsieur Rosenbaum’s arrest to her own inaction, which she bitterly regrets. This blame feeds into Miri’s conception of herself as a cowardly person. However, the description illustrates proactive intervention against armed adult soldiers—she throws herself between Monsieur Rosenbaum and the soldier—which is an undoubtedly brave act. As the novel progresses, Miri comes to recognize her own bravery and correctly attributes the fault to the Nazi soldiers, not to herself. Miri’s brave action in this event also foreshadows her role as a passeur.

“As we stepped into the courtyard I saw something smashed against the cobblestones. Dirt and bright petals and shards of clay pot.

Our red geranium. Fallen from our windowsill six stories up.”

Miri’s family’s red geranium is sentimental to the family; it reminds them of their beloved, lush garden in Berlin. Gardens and plants are recurring motifs that bring Miri comfort and joy; therefore, the destroyed geranium carries connotations of death and loss. Its destruction is significant, symbolizing the destruction of the family’s home and way of life. The breaking pot is also relevant in terms of the fact that Miri hears what she thinks is a gunshot and worries that it was a gun fired at her mother.