A Night Divided

Nielsen, Jennifer A. A Night Divided. 2015. 317p. ISBN 978-0-545-68242-8. Available at FIC NIE on the library shelves.

The end of the Second World War led to the occupation of Germany by the British, the French, the Americans, and the Russians, who divided the country into zones of occupations. The first three zones eventually became West Germany, whereas the Russian-controlled area became East Germany. The capital city of Berlin was similarly divided into four zones that became two camps, but because it was deep inside the Russian zone West Berlin acted as a beacon of freedom for East Germans everywhere.

In 1961, rumors abound that the East Germans will close the border down between East and West Berlin, preventing people from escaping to the West. Greta’s father and her brother Dominic cross over to West Berlin on a Friday night, with the hope of getting an apartment and securing a job before returning on Sunday to retrieve and cross the line with the rest of the family. Unfortunately, at midnight on Sunday, the East German government erects a barb wire barrier between West and East Berlin, and suddenly the border is shut. Greta’s father and brother are on the West side, while she remains stuck in East Berlin with her mother and older brother Fritz.

Socialism is not kind to Greta, and since her father was an active intellectual who resisted socialist propaganda, the entire family has been black-listed. Life is miserable for the three left behind.

Four years later, now twelve-years-old Greta is walking to school when she notices someone who looks like her brother Dominic on one of the platforms on the West side that overlook the wall. Sure enough, soon her father comes up and waves at her. But there is danger in even this small an action, and a border guard tells Greta to move along. On another occasion, she sees her father again, and he seems to be miming digging. This was an old song he used to sing to her when she was a child, but what could he possibly mean?

With their lives in danger, in a society filled with oppression and spies, Greta and her family have no future. And when she receives a cryptic map indicating an abandoned building next to the Wall, Greta realizes that to escape to freedom, she will need to construct a tunnel underneath the Wall and the Death Strip.

The penalty for this attempt, if caught, is death. Can Greta trust anyone with her secret plan to escape to freedom?

Based on historical events, Nielsen successfully recreates the paranoia and oppressive nature of the East German regime and helps the reader imagine what it was like living in a totalitarian society. Fans of realistic drama and historical novels will enjoy this tale of courage and bravery against overwhelming odds. For an American take on the Cold War, take a look at The Enemy by Sara Holbrook, which details the Red Scare and its impacts on middle school students in the 1950s. Take a look too at This Rebel Heart for a Hungarian perspective on the same era.