The Wind Knows My Name

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of mass violence, genocide, antisemitism, discrimination, sexual assault, and hate crimes, which are depicted in The Wind Knows My Name.

The Nazis have occupied Vienna following Austrian surrender, and their antisemitic policies are becoming widespread. Rudolph Adler, a family physician, isn’t particularly religious, while his wife, Rachel, and his sister, Leah, want to raise Rudolph and Rachel’s son, Samuel, in the Jewish tradition. Rudolph has become publicly estranged from his friend, a pharmacist named Peter Steiner, and most of Rudolph’s “Aryan” patients, a term the Nazis use to describe Germanic peoples, won’t interact with Rudolph publicly, though Steiner maintains a friendship with Rudolph and Samuel in the back room of his own shop.

Rachel, a teacher, worries about the growing antisemitism in Vienna, noting that one of her best students joined the Hitler Youth, a group for the indoctrination of young people into Nazi ideology. She must pick Samuel up from Leah’s house, as she has been teaching young Jewish students who can’t attend school because of Nazi laws. Rachel notes that Samuel has a talent for music, and she appreciates that he’s kind and seems to have matured early.