Refugee

The MS St. Louis is the setting for the bulk of Josef’s story, while he and his family are passengers.

The boat that Isabel and her family take from Havana through the Straits of Florida to Miami is the setting for most of Isabel’s story.

The Mediterranean is the open water setting for Mahmoud and his family, though is not as significant in terms of devotion of time as compared to Isabel or Josef’s story. The Mediterranean, like the MS St.Louis for Josef, or the boat for Isabel is both a setting of safety and danger. Mahmoud and his family have to take a raft from Izmir, Turkey across the Mediterranean to get to Greece.

Havana, Cuba (1939 and 1994) is a setting for both Isabel and Josef and ties their stories together. It is a setting of safety for Josef, a symbol of hope and freedom; and danger for Isabel, a symbol of political persecution.

Berlin, Germany (1938 and 2015) is a setting for both Josef and Mahmoud and eventually ties their stories together. Berlin is a symbol of the fluctuation of politics, and how each country can be both a hell and a haven for different groups of people over time. The novel both begins and ends in Berlin, in Ruthie's home. The novel starts in 1938 as Josef’s family’s apartment is raided by Nazis. It is the night of Kristallnacht, meaning broken glass, and all Jewish businesses and homes are being systematically raided and destroyed. Josef’s father is captured in his home, and taken prisoner for practicing law. He is sent to Dachau, a concentration camp. After 6 months he is permitted to leave the camp, but only on the condition that he leaves Germany immediately. The family boards a train to Hamburg, and then take the ship to Cuba. For Mahmoud, Berlin (in 2015) becomes his new home. After his perilous and exhaustive journey out of Syria, he and his parents arrive in Berlin and are taken to Saul and Ruthie Rosenberg’s home. They soon learn the story of Ruthie, that she was a little girl in the Holocaust and survived, though her brother did not. Saul and Ruthie have opened their home to Mahmoud and his family, as they know what it means to live as refugees.

Aleppo, Syria is the setting of Mahmoud’s original home city. It is a minor setting in terms of number of pages devoted to it. Gratz uses this setting to show how unlivable a refugee’s home can become. He demonstrates through the few scenes he writes in Aleppo that refugees love their homes, but have no choice but to leave in order to survive.