Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi
By:David Chotjewitz
Summary of DANIEL HALF HUMAN and the Good Nazi
Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi is set in 1933 in a Germany that was divided into two halves; the rich and the poor. Daniel, a teenager and the son of a lawyer, lived on the rich side of town. His friend Armin, the son of a dockworker, lived on the poor side of town. One night they both went out to a dangerous part of town together. This is where the Red Front (a group that supports the old Soviet Union's democracy/antiNazi) marched down the streets. Although they are not the Nazis they arrested any one that was not for their party. The friends start to paint some bad things about that party on a wall. As they started to paint they get scared because of the marching Red Front and start to run. Returning home, Armin climbs up a wall and starts to say bad things about the Red Front in their faces. When he got down, he twisted his ankle and they both get caught and are thrown in jail. While they are in jail they make themselves blood brothers with a shard of glass they found in their cell.
When Daniel gets home, his father locked him in the cellar and forgot about him. Daniel then got so hungry he ate the preserves saved for special occasions. When he is let out of the cellar he was beaten by his father and sent to bed without supper. The next day his uncle started to argue with his father about what Hitler could do for Germany. Because he was in jail his parents start to argue about something that Daniel doesn't understand. Three years later he finds out what his parents were fighting about. His mother is Jewish and that makes Daniel half Jewish. This fact turned his life upside down. Can he face this bad fact or should he try to out run it? Read the book to find out.
Theme
The theme of Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi is "never give up". Daniel never gave up, even though everyone around him was freely leaving and had no parental conflict about it. He had to fight through the arguments of his parents and loosing a blood brother/friend. If he would have given up, he might not have the power that he grew up to have.
Books portraying of the "NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS" or (Kristallnacht)
The "Night of Broken Glass" happened when Daniels father was abused and his apartment was trashed. His father was abused because Daniel half Jewish and his Jewish cousin had fled to his old best friends, uncles apartment. They spent the night of broken glass there and didn't go out until the next afternoon. When they headed out they went by a synagogue that had been burned down. Because it was a non German church it was not under any non-Jewish attention to be saved. They picked up a piece of glass from a stain glass window that was in the synagogue to remember what had happened there that night and throughout the city and country. They went through out the town and saw how many Jewish business had been destroyed.
The real "NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS" or (Kristallnacht)
Kristallnacht is German for the "Night of Broken Glass". Kristallnacht took place on November 9, 1938. On that day/night over 250 synagogues were burned, and over 7,000 Jewish businesses were invaded and trashed by German nazis. 30,000 Jewish men were arrested because of the "crime" they had committed. The "crime" the Germans thought they had committed was a teenage Jew had assassinated a high ranking German official in Paris and the official died on the "Night of Broken Glass". All though it is called the "Night of Broken Glass" it started in the evening and went through the night ending in the morning. I think he portrayed the night very well with all that happened to the Jews and what triggered the night.
For more info go to <http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007697>. and learn more.
Citation
Adam Hein