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Frau Eberhart is Gerta’s neighbor. Under normal circumstances Frau Eberhart, the neighborhood busybody, would simply be a nuisance. But in East Berlin, where the Stasi offer hefty payments to ordinary citizens who agree to work as informants, Frau Eberhart becomes a genuine threat. This is especially true after she spots Gerta returning home from working on the tunnel one day and becomes suspicious when she sees Gerta’s dirty clothing and asks a bunch of nosy questions. From that point forward, Frau Eberhart keeps an especially close eye on Gerta and Fritz.
Frau Eberhart Quotes in A Night Divided
The A Night Divided quotes below are all either spoken by Frau Eberhart or refer to Frau Eberhart. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 14 Quotes
Frau Eberhart always looked to me like the human version of a turkey, minus the feathers. She collected gossip like other women might collect buttons or teacups. In the west, she’d have been dismissed as a simple busybody or snooping neighbor. But behind the wall, we all knew the neighborhood tattler was as dangerous as fire. Stasi informants were paid well.
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Frau Eberhart Character Timeline in A Night Divided
The timeline below shows where the character Frau Eberhart appears in A Night Divided. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 14
...suspects Fritz has a crush on. She sets off with her shovel. The neighborhood gossip, Frau Eberhart , intercepts Gerta, curious about where Gerta is going, but Gerta lies and claims she...
(full context)
Chapter 18
...streets covered in dirt, Gerta tells him they can use the lie she told to Frau Eberhart about making a garden as a cover story. Despite Gerta’s insistence, though, Fritz refuses to...
(full context)
Chapter 21
On their way home one night, they encounter Frau Eberhart on the street. Frau Eberhart grills them with questions, seeming to take pleasure in their...
(full context)
Chapter 30
...their heads. He tells the siblings that he was first alerted to their plan by Frau Eberhart , who thought they were acting suspiciously.
(full context)
Chapter 31
...loses her grip and cuts her arm. She worries that something has happened to Fritz—could Frau Eberhart have intercepted him and gotten him arrested? After what seems like an eternity, Fritz returns...
(full context)
Chapter 35
...Fritz, and Mama debate where to find wood to support the collapsed tunnel. With nosy Frau Eberhart to worry about, getting wood from the doors of their apartment is out of the...
(full context)
Chapter 38
...walk back to the Welcome Building the next morning, Mama, Fritz, and Gerta bump into Frau Eberhart , who angrily lashes out at the children for their poor manners (even though it...
(full context)
...much later than Gerta and Fritz and explains to them that she tried to resolve Frau Eberhart ’s suspicions, but the woman remains convinced that the siblings are up to no good....
(full context)
Chapter 45
...is supposed to be on the streets. But Gerta, in her recent efforts to avoid Frau Eberhart , has found the most discreet ways to navigate the streets, and she urges Mama...
(full context)
