Gerta and her eldest brother(Fritz) dig till the death strip (underneath the actual Berlin Wall) and were about to give up because Fritz had to report to the military (Grenzers). While they were digging they heard the humming of a familiar song. At first, Gerta was worried, saying, “Wait, what if it’s not the Grenzers. What if it’s Papa?” (Neilson 248). After a quick reunion through the walls of the tunnel they decide that they want to conjoin their tunnels, but the walls are slowly collapsing. Monday arrives and Fritz is forced to report to the military. Fritz decides not to go and instead decides to hide out in the tunnels, while Gerta and her mom finish packing up their stuff. While packing, they here a sharp pounding on their apartment door. It's the Grenzers. They find Victor, one of Fritz’s good friends in grade school, as one a Grenzer. Victor helps them out a little bit by helping them escape from their house and distracting the other guards. Gerta finds Fritz and the rest of the people that they are letting them escape with them. The suspense of their escape builds as “Flashlights were already showing in the the garden patch. It wouldn’t take the Grenzers long to follow us inside. They were coming,” (Neilson 304). Grenzers are shooting so they have no time. They crawl thrown the tiny hole. While doing so Fritz is shot in the leg. They race to West Berlin and are welcomed by the police there. The Grenzers can’t attack them anymore and they are all excited to be reunited as one family again. My book matters because it illustrates how political unrest can separate families, helps to understand the emotional side of the events surrounding the history of the Berlin Wall, and the harsh implications of the police. The most valuable idea or takeaway from this is book to appreciate a peaceful country, sympathize for others dealing similar situations,(America/Mexico). It also helps risking it all for family. It is still valuable together because we can learn from these events to prevent things like this from happening.
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The Berlin Wall was a wall that was built to divide Germany into two parts, East and West. But in order to be equal, they had to split the city of Berlin in half. This is why it became known as the Berlin Wall. In A Night Divided, Greta, a 12 year old girl, has her family split up by the Berlin Wall. She, one brother, and her mom are in East Berlin while her dad and other brother are in West Berlin. Greta and her East Berlin family try to dig a tunnel all the way to West Berlin. *SPOILER ALERT* Her father was also tunneling so they combined there tunnels and then escaped to the West. In America, many people are being deported to Mexico even though they have lived her for all/the majority of their life. The idea of a physical wall being built in Berlin, relates to the wall that is being planned at the Southern border of the U.S./Mexico border. This idea is explained in an article published by CNBC, which states, “The Department of Homeland Security reported earlier this month that the number of border arrests dropped about 44 percent from January to February, the lowest monthly tallies since at the least the start of the 2012 budget year.” In A Night Divided and in real life, many people tried to escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin for better schools, jobs, and just a better life. Many people from Mexico try and come into the U.S. for better opportunities as well, but illegally. Also, in a recent article by the Boston Globe, it says, “In his State of the Union address last week, Trump repeated his demand for a “great wall” along the border with Mexico. To construct a barrier 1,954 miles long would require 344,000 of those gargantuan slabs. Such a barrier would be “great” only in its brutal ugliness and hideous symbolism.” The Berlin Wall was made of mostly brick and mortar, with barbed wire in a few places because it was too expensive. That is how Greta saw her brother on the other side of the wall. Also, many people vandalized the wall and were arrested while doing so. Finally, TIMES explains the cost associated with the wall, saying, “Of the $1.6 billion allocated for border security — a far cry from the $25 billion Trump’s team sought as a starting point — most of it is for repairing existing fencing and conducting surveillance.” Although the Berlin wall was expensive many people were for the wall because of all of the economic and political differences Germany was having. A Night Divided explains how East Berlin was communist and how many people wanted to get away from that form of government. Similarly, Trump feels that illegal immigrants from Mexico should have a greater physical deterrent to prevent them from entering America.
A Night Divided is a book that takes place in Berlin in approximately 1963, during the period in which there was dissonance between West and East Germany, resulting in the creation of the Berlin Wall. A Night Divided is about a girl, Greta, whose family is seperated by the Berlin Wall. Greta’s dad and brother, Dominic, visit East Berlin and stay there for the night. Overnight, the Berlin wall was built, dividing East and West Berlin. Greta, her brother Fritz, her mother, and a few others help dig a tunnel all the way to East Berlin in order to escape the harsh living conditions that began in East Berlin (Nielsen 15). Aside from the story, many families were separated by the wall. The conditions in West Berlin were awful with many people were sent to prison or even killed if they did things such as stay out after curfew, looking at East Berlin, or disobeying a soldier. Soldiers guard the wall 24/7, and even came to check on families at least once every couple of weeks to ensure obedience. Also, if you were male and over the age 17, you were ordered to become a soldier. This was the case for Fritz. Fritz was ordered to report for training to be a soldier, but luckily he escaped through the tunnel the day before having to report for duty (Nielsen 102). Soldiers often mistreated the civilians of West Berlin. For example, Gerta saw her brother on the other side of the wall and waved to him. A soldier saw her and put a gun up to her head. They gave her a warning but they said that the next time this happened they would imprison or shoot her (Nielsen 25). The is an example where the story reflects the harsh conditions of West Berlin.
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