Yellow Star

“Clink, clink, Mother’s teacup trembles on its saucer. ‘Must we go, Isaac?’ she says to my father, who has come home from work unexpectedly, interrupting the weekly tea.”

Syvia observes her mother’s trembling teacup, illustrating her anxiety. A disruption to the usual schedule is implied in Isaac’s presence; Syvia is made aware that there is stress and worry among the adults in her life, which makes her feel anxious in turn.

“All the Jews? That must be more than one hundred! (One hundred is the largest number I know.) Papa corrects me. “Over one hundred thousand people, maybe twice that.”

The fact that 100 is the largest number that Syvia knows reminds readers of Syvia’s youth. Papa’s correction—that there may be as many as 200,000 people placed in the ghetto—foreshadows the immense crowding and subsequent rationing and scarcity that the family will experience in the coming years.

“Dora says they were our neighbors, but they aren’t our friends anymore. Many of the Polish people have been saying mean things and beating and tormenting Jews. ‘They hate us,’ says Dora. ‘They are happy we are leaving.’”

Dora’s comment alludes to the rising antisemitism in Poland, which became state-sanctioned with the arrival of the Nazi invasion. The tragedy of this discrimination and violence is rendered more striking through Syvia’s childlike perspective and language, suggesting that these events confuse her.

“My parents dressed up and went out to the theater and to movies. Now when Papa arrives home from work, he and Mother don’t go anywhere. Papa is very, very tired.”

The Perlmutters’ life in the ghetto is juxtaposed with their life before the war; they were relatively affluent—as is illustrated in Syvia’s memories of her parents going out for different forms of entertainment—but in the ghetto, they are exhausted and defeated.

“Sometimes there is enough flour for mother to make noodles. I hope today is one of those days, because before we have even reached the front of the grocery line, the grocer stands at the door and shouts, ‘No more bread! All out!’”

Scarcity is a recurring motif that highlights the Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto; here, it is illustrated in the fact that the bread rations run out before Syvia’s family can take their share. Their only possibility for food that day is in the scraped-together and divided flour that Isaac brings home from his work.

“I see brown shoes, brown pants legs, brown dresses, brown road. I look up at the brown buildings and the cloud of brown dust and smoke that hangs in the sky. Bright colors don’t exist in the ghetto, except for the yellow stars and puddles of red blood that we carefully step around. ‘More shootings,’ Papa says quietly. His face is gray.”

Through her retrospective child perspective, Syvia paints a vivid picture of the dullness and bleakness of the ghetto; it is a hard and harsh place to live. Symbolically, the stars and blood are bright, connecting Jewish identity with murder by Nazi guards and alluding to the central theme of Antisemitic Genocide.

“The guard is lifting up his arm (To shoot his gun?) to light his cigarette.”

Fear is a recurring motif that connects the reader to the central theme of Antisemitic Genocide. Syvia is acutely aware of the constant risk to her life when she passes Nazi guards; her hypervigilance is a result of her well-founded fear.

“Today would have been my first day of kindergarten. I imagine shiny classroom floors, sunny windows, a clean chalkboard, and a smiley teacher who says, ‘Welcome, Syvia!’

I ask Dora to teach me the alphabet. She takes a stick and draws letters in the dirt.”

The sisters are not allowed to attend school in the ghetto. The imagery of a shiny, sun-filled classroom with a smiling teacher is juxtaposed with Dora drawing in the dirt with a stick so that Syvia can learn the alphabet; Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto is referred to as an important theme in Syvia’s disappointment in being denied a proper education.

“I had to carry my doll in my arms over to Hava’s, because I no longer have a carriage. Father chopped it up to use for firewood.”

Scarcity continues to function as an important theme that illustrates the Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto. Syvia’s loss of childhood possessions—including her doll’s carriage—illustrates the family’s desperation for food and fuel; their life is reduced to the essentials as they struggle to stay alive.

“They slip me bits of things that do not taste at all like the food Mother used to cook at home. Before. Sweet pastries, soups thick with meat and noodles, chewy bread with fruit spread, even green beans. I used to not like green beans, but now I’d eat them all up.”

Syvia continues to use the juxtaposition of “before” and “after” as she explores the scarcities and hardships of ghetto life. The details of the foods she used to eat before the war are recalled with sensual, longing detail, elucidating the family’s struggle as they survive on meager scraps.

“Life goes on in the ghetto. Spring breezes blow through the wire fence. The mood becomes brighter with the sun. Life goes on in the ghetto. There are weddings and dances and songs. Mothers take their new babies outside to show them off to the neighborhood. Pink faces swaddled in blankets stitched with yellow stars. Life goes on in the ghetto. The grown-ups here have a saying: ‘Live for today, for tomorrow we may fry in the pan!’”

The theme of Resilience in the Face of Hardship is epitomized by the ghetto residents in their determination to find opportunities for joy and celebration, such as celebrating births and weddings. An atmosphere of hope is established in the spring breezes and the warming sun, whereas the repetition of “Life goes on in the ghetto” emphasizes the importance of looking and moving forward.

“Hava is missing. She went for a short walk on the street and never came back.”

Hava’s death at the hands of the Nazis is alluded to. This tragedy reminds readers of the pivotal theme, Antisemitic Genocide. Despite her young age, Syvia understands that, for Jews in the ghetto, unprovoked murder is highly likely. Although she and Itka pretend that Hava is alive, they know that she most likely is not.

“Deep down we know that there is no queen inviting little Jewish girls to tea.”

Syvia’s internalized antisemitism, learned from her treatment in the ghetto, is illustrated here; she believes that there are no people of high status who would invite Jewish girls to have tea with them in a social setting. This highlights the fact that Jewish girls are not only considered to be of low status but are also widely excluded and oppressed.

“Every day the neighbors buzz about who is gone, who is sick, who died, who has been murdered. It could be an old person or a baby or anybody. The German soldiers (Nazis) who keep us here do not care if we are sick or starving, alive or dead. They beat people and shoot them right in front of everyone, and no one can say anything, because the Nazis are the law.”

The powerlessness of the ghetto residents at the hands of their Nazi oppressors is emphasized in the fact that they have no legal recourse for violence or murder; they are utterly helpless. Antisemitic Genocide continues to function as an important theme in the Nazi guards’ indifference to murder.

“I see a white house with red geraniums in front. What is it like to have flowers in your garden? We only have vegetables. It seems like a dream to live outside the ghetto. The houses look so bright and clean. A woman comes out of the white house with a dog. I would like to have a dog, but of course there are no pets in the ghetto. They would be killed for meat.”

The poverty and hardship of the ghetto is starkly contrasted with the houses of non-Jewish Poles located just outside of the ghetto fence. This world looks unimaginably clean and wonderful to Syvia. Flowers rather than vegetables, and the option to have a dog, seem like incredible luxuries to this young girl who is trapped in poverty and scarcity. Her amazement at the house illustrates the Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto.

“Winter erases whole families. It has also erased the vegetables that we grew in our yard, a whole summer’s worth of vegetables. There weren’t enough to last us through the fall. Now the ground is frozen, bare. My family is weak and starving.”

Winter is a time of particular hardship in the ghetto, when many die of starvation and cold, as is illustrated in Syvia’s reflection that whole families have died during this season. The Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto are explored in Syvia’s family’s weakness and hunger, both of which imply that they are also close to death.

“Pulling children out from closets, from under beds, ripping children from their parents’ arms and dragging them away. Small children. Big children. Crying children. If parents try to stop the soldiers, Bang! Bang! The soldiers shoot them dead.”

Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto as well as Antisemitic Genocide are referred to in the forced deportation of children, which leaves their families (if they are not killed) devastated and sick with worry. The choice to deport children to the death camps first emphasizes the cruelty of the Nazi regime.

“Papa says that his sources tell him that the Nazis plan to return again and again until they are completely sure all the children are gone. ‘So Syvia and I may be spending some more time together under the stars,’ Papa tells us. He is trying to be funny, I know.”

The theme of Resilience in the Face of Hardship is epitomized in Isaac’s use of humor, despite the inherent, immense stress of the Nazis searching for children to deport. He tries to calm and soothe Syvia; this characterizes Isaac as both kind and courageous.

“The trains carry all the people from the hospitals. And this is very worrisome. It doesn’t make sense that the sickest and the frailest would be chosen to fix Germany!”

The Nazis claim that the 1944 deportations are transporting workers to bombed German cities to assist in rebuilding them, but this claim is undermined by their choice to begin with transporting the sick and frail inhabitants of the ghetto hospital. This hints at the actual function of the deportations—to transport ghetto inhabitants to death camps at Chelmno and Auschwitz for Antisemitic Genocide.

“The soldiers stomp through our building. Walls shake, windows rattle, my body trembles, and we all are awake, knowing the time has come. ‘Everybody out! Everybody out!’ Pound! Pound! Pound!

We all dress silently. My hands shake with fear, and I cannot button my dress, so Mother helps me.”

The possibility of murder is always at the forefront of the minds of the ghetto inhabitants, as is illustrated in Syvia’s fear—characterized by her shaking hands—when her family is ordered to the train station. The Perlmutters, including young Syvia, correctly sense that deportation means death, reminding readers of the pivotal theme of Antisemitic Genocide. Nazi soldiers continue to be depicted as terrifying monsters—harbingers of death—from the perspective of Syvia; this is illustrated in the immense noise and disruption they bring to the family’s apartment.

“I am dreaming that I am on a ship sailing on stormy seas. The boat rocks violently with the waves, rolling to its left side, to its right side, to its left side. In this dream I somehow know that I am the only one who can save the ship, but I am so small and the waves are so big! I run to the top deck and grab a wheel to try to steer the boat to safety, but it is too heavy and slippery and it spins out of my hands. ‘I’m sorry!’ I scream, as the salty sea spray slaps my face. ‘I’m sorry!’”

Syvia’s dream reflects her real-life feelings of guilt—that, having been sorted to the left, she is the reason that her family will be deported and die. Readers are positioned to feel sympathy for Syvia’s feeling of personal accountability regarding her family’s predicament, which was in fact caused by the ruthless, systemic processes of the Nazi war machine.

“Baby Isaac blinks at me. He has huge brown eyes. He doesn’t say anything. I realize later that he has learned to be very, very quiet so as not to disturb anyone, especially Nazis.”

Terrified family members have taught the children to stay silent to avoid being detected by the Nazis, given that all children of the Lodz Ghetto were ordered to the train station to be deported. Syvia notices that this is the case for her cousin, three-year-old Isaac, whose absolute silence initially confuses and unnerves her. Readers are positioned to feel devastated and disgusted that children have been trained into terrified silence to avoid detection and Antisemitic Genocide.

“I am drawn to the tree like a bee to honey. Closer. Closer. I can touch the tree branches now. I reach up and grasp the pear. Its skin is yellow green, ripe. I twist it a bit, and the pear pops off its branch into my hand. It is solid, smooth.”

The pear is an object of almost sensual beauty to Syvia, which stands in contrast to her years of deprivation and starvation in the ghetto. The pear, which she describes in loving detail, epitomizes the freedom of the outdoors—a place that has been denied to her for so long—as well as the pleasures of eating fresh food, when she has been close to starvation for years. The theme of Indignities and Hardships of Life in the Ghetto is referred to in Syvia’s amazement and delight at the pear.