Minor character

Rachel Landau, Josef and Ruthie's mother, is a minor character, but she is no less important that the others. She is the reason that Ruthie survives the war, and her encouragement and tough love force Josef to grow up. She cares for her family when her husband is forced to go to a concentration camp, and ir is Ruthie who takes her children to the ship, secretly sewing their bank (her diamonds) in the seams of her daughter’s coat. When the Nazi find them, she offers up the diamond earrings she hid in Ruthie’s coat. When the Nazis accept them in payment for only one child, Josef offers himself, relieving his mother of the choice of which child to save. Rachel later dies in a concentration camp.