Fifteen-year-old Paul Ritter lives in the Unterbilk suburb of Dusseldorf with his parents. His mother is an obstetrician at St. Martin's hospital in the city center while his father is an orthepedist who specializes in bone and joint disorders.
It is August, 1938, and Hitler now rules Germany with an iron fist. He has annexed Austria and will likely take over other countries too. In Dusseldorf, flags with swastikas fly over every building. Hitler's picture can be found in businesses, department stores and even Paul's classroom.
As they walk home from school, Paul confronts Harold, questioning him about Hitler's views on the Jewish people. Harold doesn't like what Hitler says but isn't really concerned. However, Paul's parents have taught him that all people are equal and that what is happening to the Jewish people is wrong.
The next day, Paul's teacher, Herr Bentz, continues to indoctrinate the class with false ideas about the Jewish people. Paul knows these ideas are false because he has a good friend, Analia Morgenstern who lives in the Kasernenstrasse district of Dusseldorf. Paul and Analia have been friends since childhood: she attended his school and they often ate lunch together. But with the new laws, Analia has had to leave school.
In class, one boy, Ernst Wagner states that he would turn in his own parents if necessary. Each day students speak up, informing on those who help Jews or criticize Hitler. After Herr Bentz corners Paul, questioning him as to why he hasn't yet joined the Hitler Youth, he reluctantly decides to join.
The meetings are held every Saturday morning across the Oberkassel Bridge, in a fairground. Paul finds the entire experience disturbing: lots of swastika flags and the message that they are being prepared to be soldiers. As Paul and Harold return home from the meeting, they argue about the merit of joining the Hitler Youth. Harold believes that Hitler has done so much for Germany but Paul responds that he jails those who don't agree with him and treats the Jewish people badly. When the two boys witness Ernst's parents being led away by the Gestapo they realize he has done exactly as he bragged he would do in class, he has reported them.
On the weekend, Paul's parents decide he needs to join the Hitler Youth in order to protect himself and his family. Paul finds the meetings draining emotionally. Then one weekend, the boys in their group are forced to jump over a fire to prove their bravery. Although Paul, who is athletic is able to do this, Harold is not and his leg is badly burned. But Paul's success only serves to attract the attention of the youth leader, Franz as well as their school bully, Ernst.
Paul's life changes unexpectedly through a chance meeting the following weekend. Distraught over what he's experiencing in the Hitler Youth, Paul rides his bike to the beach at Lake Kaarst where he has fond memories of times spent with Analia. There he overhears a song against Hitler and eventually meets a group of young people who turn out to be resisters. They tell him their group is part of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group with members throughout Germany. They are doing what they can to resist and to stop Hitler.
He meets Luka and Kikki, brother and sister who are in charge of this group and decides that he too wants to join. Paul decides not to tell his parents that he's involved in the Edelweiss Pirates. But as the situation in Germany rapidly deteriorates, Paul finds himself drawn further into resistance and less able to pretend he's a Nazi. He is forced to make a choice: follow the Nazis and their brutal regime, or begin to really help people like Analia.
Discussion
Under The Iron Bridge focuses on one group of Nazi resistors, the Edelweiss Pirates. It's likely the Pirates, which were mostly found in western Germany, began sometime after membership in the Hitler Youth was made mandatory in 1936. Almost every city in western Germany had a group, although they sometimes had different names.
The pressure on young people to conform to Nazi ideals was tremendous. Boys were expected to join the Hitler Youth, while girls were expected to belong to the League of German Girls. As Kacer writes in the novel, "The girls underwent physical training that included long hours of marching and hiking, just like the boys. Hitler wanted young German girls to be strong and fit, even though they weren't being groomed to be soldiers." As Kikki tells Paul, they are to be mothers who pass on Nazi values to their children.
While many German youth held similar views to the character in the novel, Ernst Wagner, who turns in his own parents to the Gestapo, there were young Germans like Paul's friend, Harold who simply went along with what was happening because they were probably too afraid to resist.
Initially Paul believes "It was better to be seen going along with the others than to keep resisting." He is afraid that he will be informed on by one of his fellow students.However, as the situation for the Jewish people in Dusseldorf becomes more threatening, Paul finds it harder to "go along". When he and his Hitler Youth group are pressed into forcing Jews to scrub the pavement, Paul does nothing. This is especially painful, because within this group is his dear friend Analia. He experiences shame that she likely believes he holds the same views as the other boys.
The Pirates offer Paul a chance to act according to his conscience. At first these acts are small, but dangerous; painting slogans on a Nazi building. This earns him the Edelweiss pin. "His cheeks glowed and his eyes sparkled as he thought of Analia. There was no question that a part of him was doing this for her. But he was also doing it for the old Jewish man who had very nearly been beaten, and for all the other Jews who had been humiliated that day on the streets of Dusseldorf. And above all, he was doing this for himself, affirming hid desire and responsibility to be a good and moral person, no matter what the risk."
Paul proves that he's up to the risk, when he drops food off for Analia and her family, when he partakes in a mission to wreck the Gestapo cars and when he distributes pamphlets at the train station. But he takes the biggest risk of all, in saving Analia during what comes to be known as Kristallnacht.
Kacer realistically portrays the internal conflict some German youth experienced as the Nazis indoctrinated Germans to hate their Jewish neighbours. This is done through the interactions of the characters of Paul, Harold and Ernst. Paul has been taught that all people are equal and knows the Nazi views of Jews is wrong. Harold also believes what is being taught to them is wrong. Ernst however, is an avid Nazi. In class when Ernst Wagner states that he would turn in his own parents, Paul notes that only a few students looked uncomfortable with this idea. His friend Harold struggles to reconcile what he knows to be right with his participation in the Hitler Youth. Deeply conflicted he tells Paul, "But what are we supposed to do?....We have to be part of the Hitler Youth. We have to obey the rules. You saw them take away Ernst's parents. I don't want that to happen to my family --or yours!" While Harold believes resistance is impossible, Paul is not so sure. He's not willing to accept that they can do nothing.
Under The Iron Bridge is another excellent novel by Canadian author Kathy Kacer. In her Author's Note at the back of the novel, Kacer informs readers on many different topics and events covered in her story including Kristallnacht, The Hitler Youth and the Edelweiss Pirates. The novel takes its title from the iron bridge the Pirates used as a secret meeting place from which to plan their acts of resistance. Look for more outstanding novels from Kacer in the future.
Book Details:
Under The Iron Bridge by Kathy Kacer
Toronto: Second Story Press 2021
222 pp.
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