Behind the Bedroom Wall

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1996

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Korinna Rehme

The story’s protagonist, Korinna, is a 13-year-old girl living in Germany in 1942. A dynamic character, she evolves significantly throughout the story. Initially, she’s a loyal supporter of the Fuhrer’s Nazi regime. When she sees beatings on the street, she represses misgivings and feelings of compunction (which indicate her innate kindness and morality), convincing herself that the Nazis know what’s best for the Fatherland. Initially, she gladly attends her daily jungmädel meetings and excitedly tunes in to hear the Fuhrer speak. Accordingly, she’s furious to discover two Jewish people, Sophie and Rachel Krugmann, whom her parents have secretly hidden behind the wardrobe in her bedroom.

As Korinna spends time with the Krugmanns, particularly young Rachel, she begins to question the regime’s tenets, particularly that Jewish people are evil enemies of the Fatherland. As a result, she drifts away from her friend Rita, who is still committed to the Nazi cause. Korinna feels confused and conflicted but eventually realizes that her parent’s dissension is morally right. Her love for Rachel and her rejection of the Fuhrer’s ideology and friendship with Rita indicate the completion of her transformation. She sees past the intensely emotive and convincing propaganda, realizing that everyone has the right to freedom.

Rita

Initially Korinna’s best friend, Rita is the epitome of a patriotic young German girl. Unlike Korinna, who matures and begins to question the regime, Rita is a static character who remains passionately antisemitic. When her brother, Hans, a Gestapo officer, beats a man in the street for hiding and assisting Jews, Rita is enthusiastic and supportive, adhering to the regime’s propaganda. Unlike Korinna and Eva, Rita has no misgivings about the violence; she trusts entirely in the Fuhrer’s ideology and supports any methods it uses to purify the country.

Rita grows suspicious of Korinna’s changing behavior. The jungmädel encourages the girls to vigilantly watch for any un-German or traitorous behavior, even in close friends or family. Loyalty to Hitler’s Germany is the priority. Rita traps Korinna by telling her that she secretly feels sorry for Jewish people, leading Korinna to admit the same, and steals Korinna’s black book in which she wrote, “My parents are the enemy” (75), although (fortunately) she’d removed and destroyed that page. Rita’s evidence on the Rehmes’ suspected harboring of Jews prompts the violent Gestapo raid on their home and the family’s decision to flee.

Eva

Another of Korinna’s friends, Eva is a morally upstanding character who supports Korinna in her ideological transformation. In the opening anecdote, when Herr Haase is beaten on the street, Eva says, “I think it’s just awful” (4), and runs from the scene. This illustrates her kindness and shows that she’s sympathetic to the plight of Jewish people, despite the systematic antisemitic propaganda that the girls are exposed to, which is designed to dehumanize Jewish people as evil and “other.” Tears fill her eyes when her beloved teacher, Frau Meiser, is presumably arrested. When Korinna’s other friends exclude her, Eva follows her to whisper that her house will be raided. This establishes Eva as a loyal friend who will risk her own well-being to help Korinna’s family and any Jews they might be hiding.

Frau Rehme

Frau Rehme, Korinna’s mother, is kind, loyal, and morally upstanding. She teaches Korinna that the Krugmanns deserve kindness, respect, and safe passage. In addition, she’s perceptive and recognizes the immense cost of the Fuhrer’s promises; she seeks ways to rebel against the repressive regime, becoming involved in a network of German dissenters smuggling Jewish people to safety.

Rachel Krugmann

Five-year-old German Jew Rachel and her family have been forced into hiding to avoid arrest and deportation to a work or extermination camp. She and her mother, Sophie, quietly stay in a secret room behind Korinna’s wardrobe in the Rehmes’ home. In the tiny, dark space, Rachel is often bored. She draws pictures of her family’s home and her father and sister, Ruth, who are hiding elsewhere. Rachel loves playing with Korinna’s kitten, whom she names Tag (Hebrew for “day”). As Korinna becomes more sympathetic to the girl’s plight, they grow close and, she gives Rachel gifts: pencils and a doll. They draw together. Rachel is devastated when her sister, Ruth, dies. Rachel’s father, Herr Krugmann, comes to join Sophie and Rachel in their hiding place, and they soon move on to their next hiding place.