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Mahmoud Bishara
Josef’s younger sister, who is six years old when they board the St. Louis to escape Nazi Germany. Throughout Ruthie’s experiences on the St. Louis, she is able to retain her innocence largely through Josef’s protection. He takes on the responsibility of caring for her so that she can remain carefree. She is upset by many of the things that happen to her father, Aaron, and mother, Rachel, but as she explains as an old woman at the end of the novel, she has very little memory of her time with her family. After Josef chooses to sacrifice himself to allow Ruthie to go free when they are caught by the Nazis, Ruthie is taken in and raised by a kind French woman who treats her like family. When Ruthie later tries to search for Josef and Rachel, she finds that both died in concentration camps. Ruthie returns to Germany, marries a fellow Holocaust survivor named Saul Rosenberg, and has a large family. In 2015, she and her husband choose to be a host family for Syrian refugees, and Mahmoud and his family are placed in her home while they get back on their feet. Hearing Mahmoud’s story, Ruthie tells him her own story, and explains that Josef died so that she could live. Ruthie’s kindness toward Mahmoud and the Syrian refugees contrasts with Lito’s treatment of the Jewish refugees in 1939—it emphasizes again the importance of empathy and the need for all people to help those who are most vulnerable and who are trying to rebuild their lives.
Ruthie Landau/Rosenberg Quotes in Refugee
The Refugee quotes below are all either spoken by Ruthie Landau/Rosenberg or refer to Ruthie Landau/Rosenberg. 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:
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Josef: Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 22 days Quotes
For as much as he’d wanted to grow up, Josef wished now that he could join them. Be a little kid again, cheerfully oblivious to what was going on around him.
But he wasn’t a kid anymore. He had responsibilities. Like keeping his sister and his mother safe.
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Isabel: Coast of Florida – 1994, 5 days (3) Quotes
“Don’t you see?” Lito said. “The Jewish people on the ship were seeking asylum, just like us. They needed a place to hide from Hitler. From the Nazis. Mañana, we told them. We’ll let you in mañana. But we never did.” Lito was crying now, distraught. “We sent them back to Europe and Hitler and the Holocaust. Back to their deaths. How many of them died because we turned them away? Because I was just doing my job?”
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Mahmoud: Berlin Germany – 2015, Home Quotes
I don’t remember much about him, but I do remember he always wanted to be a grown-up. “I don’t have time for games,” he would tell me. “I’m a man now.” And when those soldiers said one of us could go free and the other would be taken to a concentration camp, Josef said, “Take me.”
My brother, just a boy, becoming a man at last.
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He was filled with sadness for the boy his age. The boy who had died so Ruthie could live. But Mahmoud was also filled with gratitude. Josef had died so Ruthie could live, and one day welcome Mahmoud and his family into her house.
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Ruthie Landau/Rosenberg Character Timeline in Refugee
The timeline below shows where the character Ruthie Landau/Rosenberg appears in Refugee. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Josef: Berlin, Germany – 1938
...bed and becomes so scared that he wets himself. The soldiers grab Josef’s six-year-old sister Ruthie by the hair as she screams. They then destroy everything in the room as Josef...
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The soldiers then drag Josef and Ruthie into the living room, where the children’s mother, Rachel, and father, Aaron, are. They accuse...
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Josef: Berlin, Germany – 1939, 1 day from home
Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel board a train to Hamburg and sit in a compartment labeled J, for...
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Ruthie was born the year Hitler was elected. She would be starting school this year, if...
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...the police. When Josef reaches in his pocket for more money in order to buy Ruthie a treat, however, his armband falls out of his pocket for everyone to see. Instantly,...
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Josef: On the Train to Hamburg, Germany – 1939, 1 day from home
...ship flies the Nazi flag, with the swastika in the middle. As Rachel, Josef, and Ruthie stand on the dock, a shabby man stumbles out from behind a pile of luggage,...
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...past the other passengers in line to board and streaks up the gangway, with Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel running to catch up to him with their luggage. She apologizes to the...
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As Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel board the ship, Josef is amazed that all of the sailors on board...
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Josef: Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 6 days from home
The St. Louis is a “paradise” for Josef and Ruthie, who enjoy far greater luxury on the ship than they have in the previous six...
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Josef and Ruthie befriend two girls named Renata and Evelyne Aber around Ruthie’s age. Ruthie tells them that...
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...platter try the door handle, and fumble so hard that he dropped his tray. Josef, Ruthie, Renata, and Evelyne burst into laughter. Josef realizes that he hadn’t played or laughed like...
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Josef: Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 11 days from home
...funeral because he had seen “too many men die without funerals at Dachau.” Rachel and Ruthie stay behind while Josef and Aaron go to the A-deck for the funeral with a...
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Josef: Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 14 days from home
...The doctor comes down the line and looks at each person. Josef, Aaron, Rachel, and Ruthie all pass the inspection. Josef is relieved, but he feels terrible for scaring his father,...
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Josef: Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 17 days from home
...They throw the Landaus’ clothes all over the cabin and tear the head off of Ruthie’s stuffed bunny. They tear pages out of the book in Rachel’s hands.
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Josef: Just Outside Havana Harbor – 1939, 18 days from home (1)
...following the incident with Schiendick, even after Josef and Rachel have cleaned the cabin up. Ruthie crouches in a corner, crying and hugging her mended stuffed bunny. Josef is afraid, too,...
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Rachel tells Ruthie to go to the pool, and she tells Josef that she’s going to get a...
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...to anyone for help, and he also knows that he has to take care of Ruthie.
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...there before closing his eyes and falling asleep. Josef then knows he has to find Ruthie at the pool as quickly as possible. On the way, he instructs a steward to...
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When Josef and Ruthie return, however, Aaron is no longer in the cabin. Josef instructs Ruthie to stay with...
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Josef: Just Outside Havana Harbor – 1939, 19 days from home (2)
Josef, Rachel, and Ruthie go to talk to Padron. Rachel asks how Aaron is. Padron says through an interpreter...
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After letting Ruthie catch him, Padron turns to Josef and says that it’s his turn. Josef tries to...
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Josef: Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean – 1939, 22 days from home
Josef watches Ruthie splashing happily in the swimming pool. He wishes now that he could join them and...
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Josef: Antwerp, Belgium – 1939, 36 days from home
...the refugees among them. The passengers throw an enormous party in celebration. Josef, Rachel, and Ruthie are assigned to France. Josef had wanted to go to England, across the English Channel,...
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Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel arrive in France exactly 40 days after leaving on the ship. Josef thinks...
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Josef, Rachel, and Ruthie spend the night in a hotel before taking a train to Le Mans, where they...
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Josef: Vornay, France – 1940, 1 year, 1 month, and 10 days from home
One year after arriving in France, Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel are hiding in a tiny schoolhouse in Vornay, trying to avoid the Nazi...
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...sees Nazi soldiers entering the building. He breaks a nearby window and helps Rachel and Ruthie out, glass ripping through his coat and into his skin. The Nazis spot them, and...
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...keeps hidden, but they say it is not enough. Then she rips the seams of Ruthie’s coat and pulls out two diamond earrings to give them.
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Mahmoud: Berlin Germany – 2015, Home
Frau Rosenberg gives Waleed a little stuffed rabbit, explaining through the translator that she is a toy...
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...Frau Rosenburg’s brother chose for her mother, and offered to go to the concentration camp. Ruthie says that she doesn’t remember much about her brother, but that his name was Josef...
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Frau Rosenburg tells Mahmoud that she only survived because a kind French woman took her in and...
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...with gratitude. Saul calls Frau Rosenburg back into the living room, referring to her as Ruthie. Looking at the photos, Mahmoud thinks about how Josef died so that Ruthie could live,...
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