54 pages • 1 hour read
Hans Peter RichterFriedrich
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1961A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Slippery Slope of Antisemitism/Racism
As a novel that deals with the period from 1933-1945 in Germany, the Nazi persecution and destruction of Jewish culture are at the heart of its themes. The novel attempts to show through its chapter sequences how general, everyday antisemitism (and one can insert the term racism here, as well), can steadily escalate and result in mass deportation and even genocide.
The very first example of antisemitism in the novel occurs in Chapter 3, when Herr Resch calls Friedrich by an antisemitic epithet after Friedrich mistakenly tramples his rose bushes. While such language is never justified, its everyday nature grants it a certain innocuousness. The narrator’s mother, when pulling her son away from the window, does not do so out of shock at hearing a racial slur, rather she does not want to incur the landlord’s wrath.
However, Herr Resch’s seemingly harmless racial slur quickly becomes much more serious after he joins the Nazi party. In Chapter 10, Herr Resch’s racism, supported and fueled by Nazi racial ideology, pushes him to evict the Schneiders from their apartment. He is unable to do so because the Nazis have not yet been able to change all the laws that make antisemitism legal. Yet, it doesn’t take long for the violence against the Schneiders to increase, which ultimately peaks in Chapter 21: “The Death.”
The time between the initial eviction and the death of Frau Schneider is only five years. Between these two events, Herr Schneider loses his officiating job at the Post Office and all its benefits; he is forced to work in a toy store; the Schneiders’ cleaning woman is forced to quit working for them because of a new law forbidding her to work for Jews; Friedrich is moved out of his normal class and into an all-Jewish school; he is humiliated at the local pool, and the narrator is marched through town in military fashion and is forced to sing antisemitic songs involving killing Jews in front of Friedrich.
This steady increase in widespread and public antisemitism explodes in November 1938, the infamous Kristallnacht or November pogrom, which results in Frau Schneider’s death. Once open and unpunished murder is tolerated by German society under the Nazis, there is little more than can be done to escalate the violence. When Herr Schneider and the rabbi are arrested in Chapter 28, there is no textual evidence to suggest that they will be sent to an extermination camp; it is only with historical knowledge that the reader can suppose this will very likely be the case.
Not only does the chapter sequencing support the presentation of antisemitism as a slippery slope but so too does the narrator’s personal detachment from events as a non-Jewish person. The narrator is himself an actor in the story, but he mostly behaves as an observer, watching events unfold as they happen and reporting on them. Because the racial slur is not directed toward him, the narrator is able to convey its superficial harmlessness, much like the way he narrates his mother’s discovery of Friedrich’s Jewishness in Chapter 2. Thus, through techniques such as these, the novel broadens the perception of the Holocaust to something that occurred gradually over time, beginning with seemingly harmless racism that was easily ignored. Instead of the events leading up to the deaths of millions of Jews appearing on the historical timeline like the flash from a powder keg, the Holocaust came about more like a line of dominos, gradually but incrementally.
Nazism and Guilt
Though this guide is written in English and intended for English-speaking readers, the book was originally written in German in 1961 and was intended for young German readers who had to learn to come to terms with the history of their nation and the actions of their parents or grandparents. Thus, though it is not as obvious a theme as the previous one, an overall goal of the novel was to address what life under the Nazis was like and to deal with the guilt of a lost war, the destruction of their nation, and the murder of millions of Jews and other peoples deemed unfit for life by the Nazi regime.
In nearly every chapter of the book, a discussion can be held about the events and what could have or should have been done to stave off the increasing violence and persecution of the Jews in Germany. In Chapter 7, for example, when the young Nazi is standing outside the stationery store, trying to persuade people through intimidation to boycott Jewish-owned businesses, two examples are highlighted as to what the right thing to do was, and what the wrong thing was. The old lady who defies the young man, enters the store, and emerges with some wrapping paper, unscathed and unharmed, provides an example of how, in the earliest years of Nazi rule, people could have simply openly disobeyed any antisemitic urgings from the Nazi party. However, as the chapter points out, it was only one person from a group of people who did anything about it. The majority only looked on, saying and doing nothing. In essence, the author and narrator place the guilt of inaction upon not only those bystanders in the book, but also the Germans who did nothing to nip antisemitism in the bud when they had the chance. There was not, however, only one chance to stop events, and the book makes sure to show that.
Perhaps the most important chapter in the book regarding this topic is Chapter 16. In the chapter, the narrator’s father speaks with Herr Schneider and confesses to having joined the Nazi party. In a way, the narrator’s father seeks Herr Schneider’s blessing and forgiveness for doing so. It is a poignant scene. The narrator’s father is well-aware of the Nazis’ antisemitic stance, and he greatly desires to warn Herr Schneider of the impending danger. Nevertheless, and despite his knowledge of the Nazis’ aggressive antisemitism, the narrator’s father remains in the party because doing so has gotten him gainful employment and improved his and his family’s social and economic situation. It is no accident that the two families are juxtaposed in the novel to show how as the narrator’s family improves in affluence and station and the Schneiders decline, almost like two weights on a scale.
Because the reader approaches the novel with the benefit of historical knowledge and hindsight, it is nearly impossible for the reader not to judge the characters and their actions along the way. This is precisely the aim of German post-war literature. In Germany, this is its own specific genre, Nachkriegsliteratur: literature that dealt specifically with events during the Nazi period and how to deal with its repercussions. Answers are never provided, but that is not the point. The point is to open a line of discourse and give voice to the many who had no voice, or whose voice was taken away from them, and give them a chance to tell their story. It provides a means for subsequent generations to learn, discuss, engage, and sympathize with the human and emotional side of history, and not just facts and figures.
Understanding Others as a Means to Combat Racism
In line with the book’s themes about antisemitism and guilt, Richter attempts to inform the reader about Judaism and Jewish culture, because, as stated in Chapter 14, “they [antisemites] believe them [Jews] capable of everything bad just because they don’t know them well enough” (59). This is not only why Teacher Neudorf goes on to give his pupils a brief lesson on Jewish history and culture but also why the book does so through the narrator’s friendship and dealings with his friend, Friedrich.
Chapter 3: “Snow,” for example, illustrates a loving scene of a mother playing in the snow with her son. All the fun is had by Friedrich and his mother, while the narrator is forced to look on and wait for his own mother to finish cleaning before he is allowed to go out and join them. Right from the start, the two families are juxtaposed, and it is shown how the Jewish family loves and plays just like any other family. One of the most poignant scenes that emphasizes Friedrich as an ordinary German teenager is in Chapter 24: “Benches.” Friedrich experiences his first crush, holding hands, walking, and talking alone with a girl, but this rite of passage recognized the world over is cut short by Nazi persecution, and Friedrich is forced to sever ties with the girl. The innocence and universality of the teenage crush situation juxtaposed with the abnormal horror of Friedrich’s persecution creates an immediate point of relatability and empathy for the reader.
While displaying Friedrich’s and his family’s commonality with everyday Germans, the book simultaneously seeks to educate the reader about common Jewish practices to dispel myths and stereotypes and also to show its similarities to Christianity, making it relatable for a German reader of the time. In Chapter 5: “Friday Evening,” the narrator is with the Schneiders while his mother is away, and he is allowed to witness the beginning of the rituals of Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath. The aim of the chapter is not only to share Jewish practices but to have the reader draw parallels between Jewish worship and Christian worship. For example, the narrator learns of the mezuzah and its meaning: “It’s to help us never to forget God and His commandments” (16). These words could easily have been used by a Christian or Catholic to explain why there is a cross above the door. A little later in the chapter, Herr Schneider performs a ritual that is very similar to the Christian sacrament (18-19). The lessons on Judaism and Jewish culture continue and culminate in Chapters 25-27, the ultimate lesson being that all people, regardless of race or religion, are humans.
In the bunker during the air-raid, the others, including a German sergeant, feel that Friedrich, a Jewish boy, should be allowed to take shelter with them. In a moment of life and death, the people care little for another’s creed and realize they are all in the same situation and are all dependent on each other. The other Germans and the sergeant recognize their shared humanity with Friedrich. It is Herr Resch who, through his racism and hatred, separates himself from the group and becomes the Other.
