Gerta and Fritz are careful to hide their efforts by using the dirt from the tunnel to plant a garden in front of the building. They are desperate to finish before Fritz is forced into the army where he is certain he will lose what little freedom he has forever. However, Gerta manages to convince Fritz to take the extreme risk and together they begin to dig the tunnel in secret. It is a perilous plan that could result in getting killed by the Stasi, Secret Police, or the Grenzers, border guards. A way to escape East Berlin is by digging a tunnel from the basement of a building that sits against the wall. One day, when Gerta is furtively looking at the wall, she spies her brother Dominic and father on the other side! It is the first time she has seen them in four years! Her father appears to be sending her a message but before she can figure it out, Gerta is quickly and harshly reprimanded by a guard, Officer Muller, for even looking in the direction of the wall.Įventually, Gerta uncovers the meaning of her father's message. Even her best friend Anna encourages her to keep quiet and to just do what she is told in order to stay out of trouble. She doesn't fully express this to anyone except her brother Fritz because the risk is too great. She secretly hates the wall that imprisons East Berlin and despises the constant fear and lack of freedom imposed on the citizens. Twelve year old Gerta desperately misses her father and brother. It is impossible to cross and those that try are often killed. The story flashes forward 4 years later where the wall has been built to twelve feet high and four feet wide, with guards all around. Her father Aldous and brother Dominic were trapped on the other side in West Berlin, while Gerta, her devastated mother, and older brother Fritz were trapped in the East with no way to contact them. On Sunday morning, August 13, 1961, Gerta awoke to discover that a wall of barbed wire had been built through Berlin to separate East and West.
Essential Questions for A Night Divided by Jennifer A.
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