Projekt 1065

From the embassy roof, Berlin seems to be “on fire” (85) as “hundreds of thousands of bombs” (85) fall. Michael reflects that the factory he discovered the location of will be bombed as well, and that it won’t be soldiers inside it but “prisoners”—“innocent people” (86). Simon tells Michael if the Allies didn’t drop bombs and instead allowed the Nazis to win, “‘even more innocent people would die’” (86); like Michael’s Ma, he suggests that “‘good people’” must be “‘sacrificed’” (86) so others can be saved. Michael, however, wonders how one can “decide” (86) who to give up on and who to save.

Michael remembers why he’s on the roof—to conquer his fear of heights—and his legs turn so “wobbly” (87) that he falls toward the surface of the roof.

Simon catches Michael before he falls and points out that they were on the roof for 10 minutes before Michael panicked—Michael just needs a distraction to keep from focusing on how high up he is. The pilot tells another joke about the Irish and suggests that whenever Michael panics, he should “think of some insult to throw at [Simon]” (89), as his hatred for Englishmen will override his fear. Michael, however, is still so scared that he throws up and falls to the floor. Simon then admits he’s “‘deathly afraid of something’” as well (90).

Simon reveals that birds—especially a whole group of them—“‘frighten the pants off’” of him (91). When Simon was a child, his father tried to cure him of his fear by making him stand on a chimney full of “‘hundreds’” (92) of swifts, all of which emerged from their chimney nest at the same time. The tactic only made Simon’s fear worse, so he understands what it’s like to have “‘a real phobia’” (92). He encourages Michael to take “‘small steps’” (93) toward facing his fear, and the two exchange more jokes on the roof as the bombs fall around them.

After the air raid, as “gray ash […] flutter[s] in the air like snow” (94), Michael notices “DOWN WITH HITLER!” (94) and other Nazi slogans painted on a wall, along with a picture of an edelweiss blossom. Michael explains that the white edelweiss flowers grow high in the mountains where other plants can’t survive, so they’re considered “tough but ‘pure’” (95)—a symbol that both the Nazis and their critics, the Edelweiss Pirates, have adopted. The Pirates, according to Michael, are young “dropouts,” from the Hitler Youth and “society” as a whole (95), who play pranks and write anti-Nazi messages during air raids. Michael appreciates the Pirates—he’s glad he’s not the only one “doing something to fight back” (95).

The morning after the air raid, Michael stops by Fritz’s house before school, hoping he can look for the blueprints, but Fritz doesn’t invite him in. Michael meets Fritz’s 10-year-old sister Lina, and he’s unnerved by the way she studies him with “big saucer-shaped eyes” (96). Fritz says his sister is a “goofy dame” (97), another example of English slang that a German boy shouldn’t know. Michael suggests he and Fritz train together to join the SRD, a tactic that will help Michael stay close to Fritz.

At school, a bigger boy named Willi orders Fritz to give up his seat, and Michael tells Fritz to “‘sock’” (98) the bully—another British phrase that, oddly enough, Fritz understands. Fritz punches Willi in the stomach, and Willi immediately tackles Fritz. Fritz is such a poor fighter that the scuffle is “hard to watch” (99), and eventually Melcher breaks it up, grumbling about boys “‘bred […] to fight and die for the Führer’” (99). In fact, the professor seems angrier than he’s ever been as he passes back essays. Michael is shocked to see a “D” on his essay “copied straight from stupid Nazi propaganda” (100)—by giving him such a poor grade, the professor is challenging Hitler’s doctrine.

To his students’ surprise, Melcher abandons his textbook lesson and begins to point out how Hitler, a dark-haired, short man who appears to have an Eastern European background, does not embody the Aryan ideal he created. The professor goes on to discuss the “‘culture founders, culture maintainers, and culture destroyers’” (104) of Hitler’s doctrine—and then mentions that such great innovations as paper and gunpowder came from what Hitler calls inferior races, while the Nazi “‘culture founders’” (104) burn books and destroy art. Michael notices the “cool, calculated thrum” (103) of a classroom of students contemplating turning their teacher in for disloyalty, and he worries Melcher will “get him[self] killed” (105).

That afternoon, Fritz and Michael practice for the Hitler Youth exams, and Michael asks Fritz why he wants to be in “the junior Gestapo” (107). When Fritz responds, “‘Everything I do is for the greater good of the Fatherland’” (107), Michael wonders whether Fritz “really believe[s]” (107) his own words, parroted from Nazi doctrine.

Michael’s Da hosts a dinner for Nazi officials at the Irish embassy, while the Jewish pilot Simon is “hiding in the next room” (108). Michael fakes illness so he can check on Simon himself, and even brings him a plate of food. The two engage in another round of “verbal sparring” (110) about the English and Irish—Michael knows Simon “enjoy[s]” (110) it as much as he does, and he imagines them remaining friends after the war. Michael says he finished The Golden Spiders, and Simon gives him The Maltese Falcon to read next.

As the chapter ends, the door to Da’s study opens. Michael quickly closes the closet door, hiding Simon, as someone sticks his head through the study door.

The intruder in Da’s study is SS-Obersturmführer Trumbauer, “a man whose job [is] to find the Jews still hidden in Berlin” (112). Trumbauer says he’s looking for a telephone and walks right to the one on Da’s desk, using it while Michael tries to hide The Maltese Falcon behind him. Michael is certain the Nazi knows Simon is in the room and is “playing with” (113), but once the call goes through, the Nazi asks Michael to leave him alone so he can talk in private. Michael, however, can’t relax until he’s “sure Simon [is] safe” (113).

Two days have passed since the dinner party, and no one has come to arrest Simon or the O’Shaunesseys. Michael and Fritz are in line, finally preparing to complete the Hitler Youth initiation trials. The boy in front of them is stopped by one of the SRD because his father had been heard joking about Hitler. The boy is not allowed to remain part of the Hitler youth, his “‘admittance denied’” (116). The SRD allow Michael and Fritz to pass through the line—but they still have to “pass the tests” (116).

Michael and Fritz easily complete the “‘intelligence’ tests” (117) consisting of Nazi propaganda, and both make it through the physical tests of running, throwing, and jumping, although Fritz has more difficulty. Fritz becomes nervous when another boy with asthma is told he’s not “‘fit to be a Nazi’”—and therefore he’s “‘unfit to live’” (118). Michael gives Fritz a pep talk, as next is the “real test for Fritz” (119): boxing.

According to Michael, the violent sport of boxing is the Nazis’ “second-favorite sport,” right after “invading defenseless countries” (120). Michael gives Fritz a few last-minute pointers, and then Horst, the “sadistic” (120) leader of the junior Hitler Youth, announces the next pairing: Michael and Fritz will fight each other.

Michael hopes he and Fritz can trick their evaluators by not truly hurting each other, but Fritz starts “throwing everything he ha[s]” (123) at Michael. Michael tries to stop Fritz with a look, but Fritz insists that he “‘can’t show weakness’” (124)—they have to fight “‘for real’” (124). Fritz keeps hitting Michael as the other boys laugh, and Michael thinks back to his two years as the only Irish boy in a London school—a time he was mercilessly beaten until he learned “to fight back” (125). Just as he did in London, Michael responds to Fritz with the “righteous strength and brutal rage of a boy being bullied” (125)—and he knocks Fritz to the ground.

Michael’s victory inspires the “bloodlust” (126) of the watching boys, and for a moment Michael himself, caught up in the fight, wants to “hurt Fritz, deeply and permanently” (126)—until he realizes he’s become “one of these monsters” (126) rather than a compassionate human. Michael tells Horst the fight is over, but Fritz rises and surprises Michael with a blow to the head.

Fritz keeps hitting Michael despite Michael’s pleading with him to “‘stay down’” (128), and Michael finally knocks Fritz to the ground, straddles him, and punches him repeatedly. Michael “hates Fritz” for forcing him into the fight, “hate[s] [him]self” for fighting (128), and channels all that energy into defeating Fritz. By the time the match is over, Michael has managed to scare the Nazi boys and Horst—the “monsters” (128)—and that leaves him sure he’s become a monster himself.

Michael, “sore and bruised” (129) but in much better shape than Fritz, visits with Simon in Da’s study. Simon asks about the test where Michael has to jump into a pool, and Michael tells him that one is tomorrow. Michael goes on to admit what happened in the boxing test, and that he’s sure Fritz will never talk to him again. Michael believes he’s destroyed his chance to find the Projekt 1065 blueprints, but Simon insists “‘there’s always a chance’” (131) Michael can repair the damage.

Simon tells a story about falling in love with a woman named Mary, whose parents wouldn’t let her marry Simon because he is Jewish. Mary stayed with Simon anyway, but when her family and friends abandoned her, Simon saw how much she suffered and broke off the relationship for her sake. He hasn’t seen Mary since the war began, but he wonders if after the war, he’ll get “‘a second chance’” (132)—just as Michael might with Fritz.

Simon gives Michael another book to read, Kim by Rudyard Kipling—a book “‘about an Irish boy who becomes a spy’” (132).

The next day, Michael is worried to see Fritz’s head wrapped with bandages, but then Fritz comes right up to Michael and hugs him. Michael thinks Fritz is “‘certifiable’” (134) for forgiving Michael so easily, but Fritz says Michael only “‘did what I asked you to’” (134). In return, Fritz will help Michael make it through “‘the courage test’” (134).

Michael is terrified to take “the test of courage” (135), which requires climbing a ladder up a tower, then jumping 20 feet into a pool. Michael can’t even step onto the first rung of the ladder and starts to walk away, but Fritz points out that Michael climbed the ladder in the farmhouse, so he can do the same here. Just as Simon did, Fritz tells Michael to take it “one step at a time” (136), and with Fritz right behind him, Michael makes it to the top of the ladder. At the top, Michael is so scared he lies flat on the platform, and Fritz jokes that Michael should do an “Arschbombe” (137)—a “‘butt bomb’” (137) into the pool. The humor isn’t enough to relax Michael, and Fritz finally agrees to help him back down the ladder. With his eyes shut, Michael allows Fritz to guide him back to the ladder, and Fritz says he’s “‘really, really sorry’” (138)—and pushes Michael into the pool.

Michael hits the water in a belly flop, and imagines he would have “drowned in stunned horror” (139) if the other boys hadn’t pulled him out of the water. Fritz covers him with a blanket and congratulates him, but Michael knows he hasn’t yet “overcome” (140) his fear. Still, Michael thanks Fritz and acknowledges that they “made it. Together” (140).

Michael attends the Hitler Youth initiation held in an impressive power plant outside Berlin and memorizes the location “so the Allies could bomb it” (141). Along with the other initiates, Michael is asked to take the Hitler Youth oath while touching the “Blood Banner” (142), a flag supposedly stained with the blood of a Hitler Youth martyr. The new Youth members all sing along to Nazi songs, and Michael gets a “cold shiver” from the realization that if Hitler wins, he’ll do so “by turning all of Germany’s youth into his willing soldiers” (143). Finally, each boy receives a Hitler Youth dagger with a blade engraved “BLUT UND EHRE!”—“Blood and Honor” (143).

Michael and Fritz have both been assigned to the SRD, the junior Gestapo, and Fritz is “so happy he [is] crying” (144). Fritz is sure they got in because of their boxing match—it showed the Nazis Michael “‘could be ruthless’” (144), while Fritz is “‘not afraid to die for Germany’” (145). Fritz invites Michael to his home to celebrate and tells him he wants to show him a secret.

Michael goes home with Fritz every day, commits another part of the plans to memory, and later “reconstruct[s]” (150) them on butcher paper with Simon. Simon wonders where Fritz’s dad is, and Michael says his parents are never around. Simon mentions he and Michael’s Ma have been working on an escape plan, which might even involve “‘trench coats and false mustaches’” (151).

Simon suggests that Michael improve his already adept memory through something called “‘Kim’s Game’” (152), from Rudyard Kipling’s book. Michael has to study objects and then answer questions about them, and he doesn’t do as well as Simon is sure he can. The two continue to practice, with Michael “‘train[ing] [him]self to remember’” (153), as the chapter ends.