The process, however, is fraught with difficulty. That word is “dig.”įollowing a map delivered to her by her friend, Anna, Gerta locates a building under which she and Fritz can tunnel to get to West Berlin. She realizes this is a message and that the word he leaves off on is pivotal. Though she is told by watch tower guards to stop looking over there, to West Germany, a few days later, she sees her father, who begins doing a dance and mouthing the lyrics to a song she used to sing her. First, Gerta spies a glimpse of her brother, Dominic, on the other side of the wall. But what sparks their rebellion is a sighting of other members of their family. Gerta does poorly at disguising her irritation during the indoctrination rituals at school and mandated Pioneer Club. Fritz craves the amenities available in West Berlin-the Beatles albums, the Coca Cola, the right to dress as he pleases. Neither Fritz nor Gerta are followers by nature. They have to begin living their lives with the new menacing partition of the wall splitting their family in half. They cannot communicate with Gerta’s father or Dominic, and cannot receive monetary support or unadulterated letters. Gerta, her mother, and her older brother, Fritz, are now barracked into their communist half of the nation. Her brother, Dominic, who had accompanied her father over to West Germany, is also lost to them. All this changes, however, when the Berlin Wall is erected overnight, while Greta, her family, and the rest of Germany sleeps.īecause he has been seeking employment in West Berlin, Gerta’s father is permanently separated from them, now a denizen of another world.

Still traumatized by WWII, Gerta’s mother wants nothing to do with dissidents or protesting and desires only to keep her family clothed, fed, and safe.

Her father has a history of government critique but has been careful to hide this from his children. At the start of the novel, Gerta is fairly unaware of the political challenges she and her family face.

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen