Daniel's Story

Daniel looks at a class photo from 1936-37—the last one before he had to leave public school because he’s Jewish. Daniel thinks about the Jewish students not in the photo and his best friend, Hans. Not Jewish, Hans avoids going to Daniel’s house and starts to fight him at school. Mr. Schneider repeats antisemitic tropes and exalts the Aryans—the supreme, mythological race promoted by the Nazis. Daniel yells at Mr. Schneider, who sends him to the principal. The next day, Daniel and Erika begin their Jewish-only school, where Uncle Peter, let go from his teaching job, teaches.

Ruth is upset that her son can’t attend public school and calls Hitler a “criminal.” Her brother, David, already moved to the United States after the passage of the antisemitic Nuremberg Laws, and other Jews in Daniel’s community are leaving. Germany won’t allow Jews to go to pools, restaurants, or concerts. The Jews who stay in Germany start a symphony and a swimming pool. Daniel joins a sports club sponsored by a Zionist group. Zionists believe Jews need their own country, which should be established in Palestine—the spot of their biblical home, Israel.

One night after the sports club, Daniel and his friends throw snowballs and chase each other when four boys in Hitler Youth uniforms arrive. They fight, and Daniel and his friends win and laugh about their victory, but Daniel knows the fight represents something serious: The Germans think the Jews are inferior.

Daniel and Erika see a film reel about an antisemitic exhibition, “The Eternal Jew,” and Daniel tries to laugh but is scared. Auntie Leah picks them up, and Daniel has a nightmare where people assault Leah for being Jewish.

Uncle Aaron applies for visas to England, but Uncle Peter, citing the Jews’ long history of persecution, believes they’ll be fine. Days later, the Nazis send Uncle Peter to the Dachau concentration camp for two parking violations from six years ago.

Back on the train, Daniel sees his mom staring at him. She’s wearing several layers, but she still looks beautiful. She tells him his photo album is full of terrible memories, and Daniel replies that some are good. His mom corrects herself, and his dad suggests she shut her eyes.

After Uncle Peter went to Dachau, Auntie Leah and their four kids moved in with Daniel, and Daniel inherited Peter’s camera and became the family photographer. He photographs their ID cards, showing how the Germans made Jewish girls add Sara to their names and Jewish boys add Israel to their names. He also photographs his dad‘s ravaged shop after Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass). A young Polish Jew killed a German official in France. As a response, the Nazis staged violent attacks against Jews and their properties.

Daniel’s dad doesn’t come home on Kristallnacht, and Daniel and Friedrich go to the store to look for him. He’s not there, but later that night, he comes home—he bribed the police. Joseph thinks they should leave Germany, but no country, including the United States, accepts many Jewish migrants.

The Germans take over Joseph’s hardware store, and Daniel takes pictures of people to earn extra money. After World War II starts in 1939, Daniel covers his face in flour and scares Ruth and Erika in the kitchen. They yell at him, and Daniel, with everything precarious and different, likes the normal scolding.

Oma Miriam makes Daniel a Hitler Youth uniform so he can go out in public. He takes pictures of the seized Jewish stores and visits museums and movies. He sees the SS bullying Jews and a crowd taunting four men who defied the Nazi ethos. Daniel recognizes one of the men (a cousin), and an SS man tells Daniel to take a photo. Daniel obliges, but he stops wearing the uniform. He doesn’t want to pretend to be a Nazi: He has to be himself. Yet he keeps the uniform, and his parents discover it. They yell at him and Oma Miriam, who, sensing an atrocious future, kills herself by overdosing on sleeping pills.

A package from Dachau arrives at Daniel’s home, and inside are Uncle Peter’s ashes. Leah, Peter’s wife, is upset, and Daniel stops taking photos and starts doing poorly in school. With a bleak future, he doesn’t see the point in studying to be a lawyer or teacher. Instead, he reads books in his room—his favorite is the French adventure epic The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-46) by Alexandre Dumas. During the summer, his spirits lift. He goes swimming, and he and Friedrich flirt with girls. When school starts in September, the Nazis force Jews to wear a yellow star on their clothes. In October, the Nazis deport Daniel, his family, and thousands of Jews in Frankfurt.

On the train, Daniel thinks about why Germans don’t stand up to the Nazis and how photography is an act of resistance. He asks his dad where they are, and his dad tells him: the ghetto for Jews in Lodz, Poland.