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The Nazi Officer
Chaya, whose name means “alive” in Hebrew, is one of the Jewish children that Barney is hiding from the Nazis in a cellar in the Jewish ghetto. One of her arms is bandaged. Later, she reveals to the other children—indirectly, through a fairy tale about a princess persecuted by goblins—that Nazis tortured her and killed her family because they falsely believed the family had information about the Polish resistance. After Nazis capture Chaya, Barney, and the other children and put them on a train headed to a concentration camp, Felix discovers a rotten part of the train wall through which the prisoners can jump and escape—if they are willing to risk exposure to the Nazi machine-gunners stationed on the train roof. When Felix tries to persuade the other children to jump with him, Chaya and Zelda are the only two who want to risk it. A Nazi machine-gunner shoots Chaya to death after she, Felix, and Zelda jump, which starkly illustrates that the children were in fact putting themselves in mortal danger to escape the train.
Chaya Quotes in Once
The Once quotes below are all either spoken by Chaya or refer to Chaya. 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:
).
Pages 112–120 Quotes
“Once a princess lived in a castle. It was a small castle, but the princess loved it, and she loved her family who lived there with her. Then one day the evil goblins came looking for information about their enemies. They thought the princess knew the information, but she didn’t. To make her tell, the goblins gave the princess three wishes. Either they could hurt her, or they could hurt the old people, or they could hurt the babies.”
Chaya pauses, trembling, staring at the floor. I can see how hard it is for her to finish her story.
“The princess chose the first wish,” she says quietly. “But because she didn’t know any information, the goblins made all three wishes come true.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Once LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Chaya Character Timeline in Once
The timeline below shows where the character Chaya appears in Once. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 81–90
...young boy gnawing on “a piece of wood” (Moshe), a girl “with a bandaged arm” (Chaya), and others. Barney says that Zelda told him that Felix has good stories and that...
(full context)
Pages 91–98
...stairs leading up to it but can’t open it. The girl with the bandaged arm (Chaya) explains that Barney locks it. When Felix hits the door, Zelda tells him to be...
(full context)
...for. When Zelda says she’d wish for her parents, the girl with the bandaged arm (Chaya) asks them to say what else they’d all wish for.
(full context)
...“alive”; when the other children laugh, Ruth explains to Felix that the girl’s name is Chaya, Hebrew for “alive.” When the wood-chewing boy, Moshe, says nothing, Chaya says he’d probably like...
(full context)
Pages 112–120
Chaya tells a story about goblins who visited a princess’s castle seeking “information about their enemies.”...
(full context)
Pages 144–152
...Barney makes Zelda drink the water with aspirin. Felix shows Zelda’s locket to Barney. When Chaya sees it too, she says she hates Polish collaborators. Barney says that the Polish Resistance...
(full context)
Pages 153–161
Zelda says she wants to jump. After a moment, Chaya says that she does too. Barney asks whether any of the other children want to;...
(full context)
Pages 162–163
Felix lies dazed in the field. Beside him, Chaya lies dead from machine-gun fire. Felix resolves to move her body under a beautiful nearby...
(full context)
