This historical young-adult novel, written in 1961, is about a German boy and his Jewish friend from 1925 through 1942. Narrated by the boy at different ages, the novel describes the Holocaust through the eyes of these friends. The boys were born one week apart in 1925 and lived in the same large house that had been divided into apartments. Friedrich lives on the third floor in a large apartment, while the narrator lives in smaller quarters on the floor below. The boys become acquainted at age 4 and become best friends even though Friedrich is from a somewhat affluent Jewish family and the narrator is a Christian from a poor family whose father is out of work. Over the years the two families interact in several ways even though their backgrounds are so different. But as Hitler rises to power, from the late 1920s through 1942, the circumstances of the lives of these families change drastically.
In the beginning, the narrator considers his Jewish friend lucky: Friedrich has a larger apartment and his family has enough money. In Germany in the 1930s many were unemployed, but Friedrich’s father has a good position and his family has enough food and money to be comfortable – until Hitler comes to power. Then Friedrich is expelled from school, and his family and the Jewish community suffer attacks from the Nazis. Friedrich’s mother dies from an attack on their apartment and his father is fired from his job and later deported. Friedrich dies in an Allied bombing attack in 1942 when he was denied safety in an air raid shelter because he was Jewish.
The book describes the slow development of the horror of the Third Reich. At first, both boys think being a member of the Jungvolk – the Hitler Youth — is great, but over time comes the slow realization that the world is not all fun and games. When the narrator joins the mob destroying a Jewish school, he doesn’t share the political will, but simply enjoys the idea of smashing things. The internalization of what he is doing doesn’t really enter the picture until he sees the same mob enter Friedrich’s apartment and do the same thing. The unique de-evolution of civility is presented very simply.
This book is suitable for 5/6th graders and up and is also of interest to adults.
The book is divided into short anecdotes that slowly progress from bad to worse, showing the cruel treatments of Jewish people by the Germans. At first there is an allure, to the boys, to participating in Nazi Party events. But soon the ugliness of these events becomes apparent, and the devastation of the treatment of the Jewish people and community becomes very apparent in this story through the eyes of someone who lived it.