A Night Divided

Back at home, Gerta is awakened by the sound of crying through the walls. It is their neighbor, Herr Krause, who returned home after being interrogated by the Stasi. The sound of his sobs rattles Gerta and Fritz. Together, the siblings put their ears to the walls of their apartment, wishing there was some consolation they could offer their elderly neighbor, who had survived both world wars, the threat of starvation, and his wife’s death only to be emotionally decimated by his government. His suffering makes Fritz see that tunneling is the only recourse. As soon as school is out for summer, the siblings decide they will begin.

When Gerta arrives at the bomb shelter the next day, Fritz is already hard at work. The siblings decide that Fritz, as the older and stronger one, will do the digging. Gerta’s job will be to haul the dirt away and place it in a space that will not attract undue attention. It’s hard work and Fritz must use the scant money their mother has sent them for groceries to buy them overalls to work in. They can’t go home through the city covered in dirt or people might become suspicious.

As grueling as the job is, they leave the shelter on the first day feeling hopeful. The siblings even joke about not stopping in West Berlin but instead tunneling to France, and that they’ll “come up right beneath the Eiffel Tower” (131).

After the first day, the work goes more slowly. Gerta is content for it to take as long as it must, but not Fritz, who reminds her, “I don’t have months […] It’s just weeks until they’ll expect me for military duty” (133). The siblings continue to tunnel industriously and walk home, feeling they’ve made progress. They try to hide their dirty hands but come upon Frau Eberhart on their walk home. She is full of questions, asking why they are out on their own and where their mother is. They explain that their mother is helping their grandmother recover from an injury and that they’ve been gardening. Frau Eberhart asks to be taken to see the garden and they agree that they will let her see it one day soon. Fritz is panicked, reminding his sister that they haven’t planted anything or pulled a single weed. Worried, they head home for dinner together.

When Gerta wakes up the next morning and finds her brother gone, she is filled with anxiety. She finds a note he left behind, telling her to stay where she is, that he will be back soon. She begins pacing, wondering what his note could mean and where he has disappeared. Eventually, she stops pacing, fearing that the repetitive noise of her footfalls will attract the attention of whomever listens to her family’s daily life. She peeks inside a cookie jar on the counter and there she finds an old letter from her father. They are useless, she thinks at first glance, as they have already been blacked out by the Stasi. The only detail that remains is the return address. Figuring maybe it is still good, she writes a brief note to her father, asking him for money to help them plant a garden. She heads out to mail her note when she runs into Fritz, who has been off applying for a license for a garden. They use the plot by the Welcome building, the site of their tunnel in the bomb shelter, so they are legitimate for the moment at least.

To preserve their cover, Fritz and Gerta must use some of their tunneling time outdoors, working on a garden. At first, Gerta almost enjoys the work, noting that “the weeds didn’t require me to think so much” (145). While Fritz digs several meters deep in the tunnel, Gerta keeps up the gardening, working hard to manage the dirt her brother unearths. She is taking a brief break to drink some water when she notices a pulley being used by the sausage shop across the street. A pulley, she decides, would be helpful for her and Fritz and make the work go more quickly. She is thinking this to herself when Anna happens to walk by. She asks Gerta what she’s doing and Gerta points out the gardening. To her surprise, Anna leaves and then reappears with more water. Gerta is puzzled: Could it be that they are friends again?

The idea of a pulley captivates Gerta. It will make the job less onerous, she realizes, and she will be able to work more quickly. She decides to steal the pulley from the shop across the street one night when Fritz is out. She must be quick about it because if she is out after curfew she will arouse extra suspicion, even more than the suspicions that already surround her and her brother.

Once she is out on the street by the Welcome building, she spots guards patrolling. She is unsure whether to duck into the tunnel. It seems safer than hiding around a corner, but she doesn’t want to tip the guards off to the tunnel’s existence. She decides to hide in a small alcove and quickly realizes she is not alone there. Another woman is in the same spot, also hiding from guards. She asks Gerta if she is Aldous Lowe’s daughter and expresses her respect for Gerta’s father. She gives Gerta some money, saying, “Shall we agree not to have seen each other then?” (154). Gerta takes the money and the pulley home to Fritz, who is furious with the risk Gerta has taken but relieved that the pulley will speed up their work.

The siblings are hard at work on their tunnel when they encounter a new complication. After many attempts to repair her relationship with Anna, Gerta is surprised when Anna suddenly forgives her. The timing and location are both troubling. Anna shows up suddenly, outside the Welcome building, carrying a basket of food. It is clear to Gerta that Anna is sincerely trying to reinstate their friendship. Anna then tells Gerta and Fritz, “If you’d like, I could come by sometime and help here in the garden” (163). This, of course, is the last thing that the siblings want. Worse yet, Anna notes that Gerta is just covering up weeds with dirt—the dirt they are digging up for the tunnel. This means that Fritz and Gerta will now have to find another spot to stow the extra dirt.

Fritz and Gerta are both becoming noticeably stronger from the physical exertion of digging the tunnel. Because they have both trimmed down due to the extra exercise, Gerta realizes that “people had begun staring at us and stares invited questions” (165). They eat the food that Anna offers them in the hopes that they will keep on weight and keep questions away.

At home, they “dedicate the day to pleasing […] hidden microphones” (165). They talk for those eavesdropping about their enthusiasm for Fritz’s impending military service and another year of Pioneers Club for Gerta in the fall. In reality, the siblings are trying to figure out what to do with all the extra dirt they can no longer dump and pretend to be gardening. Gerta is washing filthy sheets on a homemade laundry line when the answer occurs to her and Fritz at the same moment. With the laundered sheets hanging up as a screen, they will use buckets on pulleys to dump the extra dirt into the pond beside their house. This plan works well and the tunneling continues with real progress. Still, Fritz would like them to have a backup plan.

The siblings experience multiple surprises of both pleasant and unpleasant varieties. First, to Gerta’s astonishment, she receives a message in the mail with the return address she has already learned is her father’s. Inside the envelope, which was already opened by the Stasi, are numerous squash seeds, more than they could ever plant. At first, she thinks her father sent her seeds to grow his favorite vegetable, but then she shakes the envelope some more and detects a low rattling. In addition to the seeds, their father sent them money, enough to buy a wheelbarrow. It is a practical purchase, but Gerta wishes they could splurge on a little extra food. Constantly hungry, she now understands her mother’s intense fear of not having enough food for the family.

Another surprise arrives when they are outside gardening by the Welcome building. Officer Muller, who has reprimanded Gerta before, sees her and comes over to inspect what she and Fritz are working on. “I know you,” Muller says to her, “You’re the girl who watches the wall on her way to school” (175). During their brief, tense conversation, Muller manages to tease out of Gerta the name of her father and then tells Gerta what she already knows: Her father was politically active and critical of the government. Muller repeatedly asks if Fritz and Gerta go inside the Welcome building, and if there is a way inside, but Gerta tells him no, that they think it’s unsafe structurally and that the doors are stuck closed. For the moment at least, Muller seems to buy this answer and is called away to other work.

Anna begins popping by to help with gardening at unexpected moments, and this becomes a real issue for Gerta and Fritz. While Fritz stays inside the Welcome building, trying to continue with progress on the tunnel, Gerta must stay outside and talk with Anna. When Anna begins asking where Fritz is, pointing out that he is leaving all the gardening to Gerta, Gerta can scarcely hide her feelings of irritation. Anna then compounds the issue by pointing out that the sheets that Gerta repeatedly launders to remove transported dirt are hardly shiny white. Anna offers to help with the laundry, suggesting that maybe life is extra difficult for Gerta without her mother around. Gerta doesn’t want the help and says so. She feels guilty doing so but tells Anna it’s too late to try and revive their friendship. Gerta notes that “even if I’d punched her, I couldn’t have hurt her worse,” and feels terrible for this (186).