Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Refugee, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma and Coming of Age
Injustice and Cruelty vs. Empathy and Social Responsibility
Hope vs. Despair
Family, Displacement, and Culture
Invisibility and the Refugee Experience
Summary
Analysis
The Hitler Youth drags Josef down the train. Josef is worried that the boy will turn him into the Nazi Police, but the boy simply returns him to his own car, instructs him to put the armband on and not to do that again. Josef thanks the boy profusely.
In contrast to the Nazi soldiers at the beginning of the book, , Gratz illustrates how people can make an active choice not to be overly cruel, as this boy does here.
Themes
A few hours later, the Landaus arrive in Hamburg and arrive at the ship, the MS St. Louis. It is the biggest thing Josef has ever seen—bigger than any building. Above the 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, frightening them. They quickly realize, however, that the man is Aaron. Josef is surprised: his father is gaunt and scraggly, with his hair shaved off.
Aaron’s condition also illustrates the cruelty of the Nazis, whose concentration camps remain notorious in terms of the way they dehumanized the Jews. Aaron’s head (which has been forcibly shaved) and his thinness indicate some of the horrifying conditions to which Aaron has been subjected.
Themes
Aaron greets them warmly, but looks around “manically, like there [are] spies everywhere.” He insists that they have to get on board as quickly as possible and tells them to make a break for it. He runs 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 sailor taking tickets on behalf of her husband, and hands him the family’s tickets and visas.
More than Aaron’s appearance, his fear and paranoia also hint at the kinds of trauma he experienced at the concentration camps. Whereas it is traditionally a father’s role to protect and lead his family, here it’s clear that Aaron’s psychological trauma means his wife and children will have to look out for themselves.
Themes
As Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel board the ship, Josef is amazed that all of the sailors on board treat them “like real people.” Their rooms are spotless, with clean linens and amenities. But Aaron insists that it’s a trick, and that the Germans are going to come for them. Josef is nervous, and Rachel tells him and Ruthie to head up to the promenade.
After so much dehumanization and cruelty at the hands of the Nazi’s, simply being treated decently comes as a kind of shock to Josef and his family—to the point where Aaron doesn’t even trust that such treatment is genuine.
Themes
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Josef is glad to get away from his father. He and Ruthie watch Germany disappear as the ship pulls away from the dock and heads toward “a new life.” But Josef can’t help but think what could have happened to Aaron to make him “look so awful and act so scared.”
Josef’s thoughts here serve as the first connection between ships and the opportunity for a new life. Though Josef is the first to take this journey, both Isabel and Mahmoud also place their hopes in boats to shepherd them to new countries.
Themes
