Behind the Bedroom Wall

Korinna’s life is thrown into disarray by her discovery of Sophie and Rachel living behind her wardrobe. She feel the constant stress of maintaining normalcy to avoid suspicion, and her connection with Rachel forces her to reevaluate all she thought she knew about the allegedly evil and insidious Jewish race. She clearly struggles with the weight of the secret. Her friends ask her if she has heard anything more from the mice she thought were behind her wall and she responds, “‘It was nothing […] They’re gone now’” (67). Her hasty response and dismissal of the conversation illustrates her fear of her friends somehow learning about Sophie and Rachel. Rita clearly picks up on her uncharacteristic responses: “You are lying to me, Korinna. You can’t fool me. I’ve known you too long for that” (78). This comment touches on the theme Trust and Deception.

Rita’s mounting suspicion builds suspense, especially when she insists on coming to Korinna’s house, evidently eager to understand the source of Korinna’s dishonesty and report a potential enemy. Rita’s discovery of Korinna’s black book labeling her parents as enemies is clearly the origin of the Gestapo raid that night, directed by Rita’s brother, Hans. Rita’s action illustrates the success of the Nazi propaganda, as her loyalty to the regime easily trumps her loyalty to Korinna’s as her supposedly best friend. Thus, Rita is an untrustworthy and dangerous presence who epitomizes the theme The Propaganda of the Third Reich.

Korinna’s growing sympathy for Sophie and Rachel is evident. After harshly retrieving her kitten from Rachel and causing her to cry, she lies on her bed, imagining “what it must be like for the little girl living in a small room, never seeing the sunlight. There would be no toys or games for her to play with, and no friends and outings” (73). Korinna returns the kitten to Sophie and Rachel’s small room. Her mother’s lecture—“you have everything, Korinna. Rachel has nothing!”—clearly affects Korinna and forces her to reflect on her comparative privilege (72). However, Korinna rips up the note from Rachel with the drawing of the kitten, indicating that she’s still not entirely sympathetic to Sophie and Rachel and is struggling about whether to believe her schoolteachers and jungmädel leaders or her parents.

Korinna’s reluctance to join in taunting and hurting the Jewish children on the street after school is further evidence of her slowly shifting perspective. Korinna’s interactions with Rachel humanize Rachel; she’s clearly a normal young girl, albeit traumatized and scared. Rachel’s normalcy forces Korinna to confront their shared humanity. This calls into question all that the Nazi regime taught her about Jews as monstrous, evil, and “other.” Since knowing Sophie and Rachel, Korinna’s evident misgivings about the regime’s cruelty and discrimination toward Jewish people is clear in her effort to dissuade Rita from running after the Jewish children being taunted and spit at on the street: “They’re practically babies” (79). The influence of the regime’s depiction of Jewish people as enemies still remains, but she needs to steel and convince herself. “‘Throw it,’ Rita urged. Korinna took the cold [snow]ball in her hand. It was heavy with ice. She looked at the group of children […] they were Jews. They were the enemy, and for the Fatherland to thrive, all enemies had to be put down” (81). With Rita’s goading, Korinna throws a snowball at the child but hesitates and then feels guilty; she notices that there was “ice mixed in with the snow and that it had cut the little girl’s face” (80). Later, Korinna “couldn’t get the little girl’s expression out of her mind” (81). Her guilt about her actions is evident in her dwelling on the little girl’s evident pain and fear. Later, Korinna dreams of a snowball being thrown at Rachel, further suggesting her misgivings about the cruelty shown to a child and implying that this newfound understanding comes from her growing connection with Rachel.

Korinna’s confusion and distress is evident in her tearful reflection after the Gestapo raid: “Nothing made sense anymore” (110). Her growing disillusionment with the Nazi regime is obvious: “She had always loved her Fuhrer, but now his officers were frightening her” (110). However, she still has some misgivings about her parents’ alleged treachery: “Of course she loved her parents, but they were traitors to the Fatherland” (110). Also confusing to Korinna is the growing suspicion that she was betrayed by her best friend, along with her developing sympathy to the Krugmanns: “Should she trust Rita, her best friend? Or should she trust the Krugmanns, the hated enemy?” (109). Behind the Bedroom Wall is in part a coming-of-age story, in which Korinna matures as she grapples with where her allegiances lie.