The Night War

Miri’s family’s experiences in Berlin and then Paris between 1938 and 1942 attest to increasing antisemitism in Europe as Nazi ideology and control spread and the cascading onslaught of violence and degradation against Jews during World War II. In the opening chapters, Miri refers to Kristallnacht in 1938, when her family’s home in Berlin was set alight. The family’s current circumstances—living in poverty in the crowded refugee Pletzl in Paris—are contrasted with their previous wealth and comfort in Berlin, where they had “green space and beautiful things” (8). In contrast, Miri is often hungry in 1942, and a tomato is presented as a rare and amazing treat. In recounting Miri’s change in circumstance, Brubaker Bradley refers to the dispossession of Jewish homes and possessions in Germany (and other parts of Europe occupied by the Nazis), one of the first elements of the systemic persecution of the Jews. As they had in Germany in the 1930s, antisemitic laws increasingly took hold in occupied France in the early 1940s. Miri refers to the yellow star she must wear to signify her Jewish status. Not only was the star an easy way to identify Jews, but it also served to make them targets of discrimination, hate speech, and violence.

Increasing antisemitism in France and collusion by the French with the Nazis culminate in the brutal and violent roundup, which Miri escapes with Nora. The violence of the roundup is emphasized in the novel, mirroring the historical facts of this event: “They dragged every person they found out into the street: a few men, but also women and children and babies and frail old people who walked with stick[s]” (22). This is echoed in Sister Félicité’s description of the deportation of the Parisian Jews from the vélodrome: “‘They’re taking people out of the vélodrome,’ she said. ‘They’re loading them into trucks, packed tight. No one knows where they’re going. The people are wretched. They’re suffering. They’re being shown no mercy’” (33). The mass murder of these individuals at Auschwitz is foreshadowed by the brutality of the roundup.

The roundup was enabled by the collusion and support of French civilians, soldiers, and police; Miri correctly notes that the roundup was conducted by Gendarmes rather than Nazis, which mirrors the historical facts of this event. Jacqueline epitomizes the views held by those influenced by Nazi propaganda:

My grandparents took me to an exposition in Paris before they moved to the country. The Jew and France. I learned all kinds of things. The ways the Jews are harming the country, and how to tell Jews apart from normal people. If you’d seen it, you would understand. Until then I hadn’t realized how horrid Jews were (139).

Jacqueline’s whole-hearted acceptance of the exposition illustrates that it was not difficult for many Parisians, who were perhaps already prejudiced against Jews, to be convinced that the roundup and expulsion of Jews was a positive thing for the country.

While the story’s events take place in 1942, the Epilogue provides a realistic coda on the cumulative horrors of antisemitism and genocide. While Miri’s and Nora’s families survive the Holocaust, Elodie and Beatrice both lose their families. The “final solution” stole the lives of more than 6 million Jews, destroying entire extended families or sometimes leaving behind sole survivors like Elodie and Beatrice.