Emil and Karl #1

For my second book club book I will be writing about a book called Emil and Karl. In this book there are two friends; one who is Jewish and the other who is not. This book takes part in the earlier part of the war. In the book Emil and Karl are about nine years old and go to the same school. They are very close friends who look out for each other and are both being ridiculed because Emil is Jewish. In the story they both are being bullied and beaten up because they respect and are Jewish. “Filthy Jew, Filthy Jew” the children cheered. “Stop bullying him” Karl yelled putting himself between Emil and the crowd, protecting him with his broad back.”(P#18) This shows that the children are learning things from their parents and that the problem is spreading to even them. Emil’s and Karl’s teacher was nice at one point but she was ordered to treat any Jewish kids badly because of what the principle believed. She didn’t want to act like this but she was forced to and can be fired and taken away.

One of the first problems in the story is that in the beginning of the book Karl’s mother was taken away by Nazi’s. She was taken away because she supported the Jews, and Karl was left there with a man who said, “Wait until they come for you” (P#7) Emil’s mother wouldn’t let Karl into there home because she said that it would be bad for all of them if he was seen there. The part of the story that I read ended with Karl knocking on Emil’s door because he had nowhere else to go. The story takes place during the early stages of the Holocaust in Vienna. They live in a neighborhood where the vast majority of the people there hate Jewish people and attack them in the street. It isn’t a safe neighborhood and there are Nazis policing the streets. A question that I have is will Karl ever see his mother again, and will he be able to stay with Emil and get help?