The Island on Bird Street

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of religious discrimination, graphic violence, and illness and death.

“Only father couldn’t use his gun any more than Boruch could use his knife, because if anything ever happened to one single German in the factory or the street, the Germans would kill lots of men, women, and children to make sure it didn’t happen again. A retaliatory strike, it was called. And so no one dared do anything.”

Authors who create young point-of-view characters must filter difficult content through youthful experiences and observations. This description exemplifies how Alex thinks about one aspect of the Nazi oppression he and his family endure; in a child’s simple terms, he summarizes why his father keeps a pistol clean and ready but does not use it: Killing “one single German” would result in the deaths of “lots” of Jewish people, including children. By mentioning the death of children in a nonchalant manner, Alex conveys indirectly how conditioned he has become to the loss of life in the ghetto.

“All this must be remembered so that other peoples will know what can happen when a madman is elected to be their leader.”

Alex’s father and Boruch are friends, but they disagree on political matters and current events. While Alex’s father says no one knows what is happening in the camps, Boruch insists that Jewish people being systematically killed is a known fact; while his father thinks this terrible phase of history should be forgotten quickly, Boruch insists it must be remembered for all time so people do not make the terrible mistake again. His reference to “a madman” is to Adolf Hitler, who rose to power not through a direct election by the people of Germany but through more indirect but still legal means; he was appointed Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg and given special authority to make laws by the Reichstag (the lawmaking body of Germany).