Behind the Bedroom Wall

Behind the Bedroom Wall is a 1996 Young Adult historical fiction novel by Korean American author Laura E. Williams. The novel won the 1997 Jane Addams’ Children’s Book Award. Williams has written several other novels, including The Mystic Lighthouse series, Up a Creek, The Ghost Stallion, The Executioner’s Daughter, The Can Man, and Unexpected.

Set in 1942 Germany, Behind the Bedroom Wall follows a 13-year-old Aryan German girl named Korinna Rehme, who is an active member of her local Nazi youth group, or jungmädel. When Adolf Hitler mandates a program to deal with the “Jewish Problem,” Korinna willingly goes along in the belief that she’s helping her country, even if it produces violence in the streets.

However, Korinna learns that her parents are part of an underground organization that helps Jews find safe passage out of Nazi Germany to escape persecution. Korinna is appalled to learn that her parents have been secretly harboring a refugee family behind her bedroom wall. As Korinna comes to know the family and learns about their strife, however, she begins to open her heart, find sympathy, and act with a newfound sense of morality. The novel’s themes explore trust and deception in a country divided by suspicion, the insidious effect of propaganda, and the importance of compassion.

Plot Summary

Narrated in the first-person perspective by Korinna Rehme, the story begins in 1942 Germany. Korinna is a 13-year-old blond-haired, blue-eyed German girl who joins her local jungmädel, a Nazi youth group, at the onset of the Jewish Holocaust. Korinna has been conditioned to be very loyal to her Fatherland and will do anything Hitler says to do to protect it. During their time at the jungmädel, Korinna and her best friends, Rita and Eva, learn how to bake sweet buns, take nature hikes, and spy on people who act like disloyal Germans.

The story opens as Korinna witnesses the local butcher, Herr Haase, being beaten and arrested by a Gestapo Officer. At home, Korinna hears what sounds like mice scurrying behind her bedroom dresser. Korinna’s father, Herr Rehme, promises to lay traps for the mice and even buys Korinna a kitten as a potential mouser. The noises persist, however, and when she looks more closely, Korinna is shocked to find a Jewish mother and daughter living behind her bedroom wall. Korinna learns that her mother and father are secretly hiding the Jewish family behind the wall because they believe that Jewish persecution is wrong. They’ve been keeping the secret from Korinna because they’re afraid that their daughter will inform the authorities of their crime. Korinna, who has been brainwashed into doing anything to preserve Nazi Germany, knows that she must turn her parents in. However, she loves her family and doesn’t want to see them shot or sent to a brutal Nazi work camp. Korinna is stuck in a moral dilemma.

Korinna’s mother, Frau Rehme, introduces her to the hidden family of two: Sophie Krugmann and her five-year-old daughter, Rachel. At first, Korinna hates the family and vows to expose her parents’ traitorous ways by informing her jungmädel leaders. However, when she returns home from school one day, Korinna finds Rachel playing with her kitten. Later, Korinna sees her mother give Rachel a dress. Korinna is resentful at first of Rachel taking her things, but she begins to see that Rachel is just an ordinary girl. At her Nazi youth group meeting, Korinna is physically slapped for improperly hailing her Fuhrer. As a result, Korinna begins to feel even more sympathy for Rachel and Sophie, and she considers the abuse they’ve suffered.

In her black book diary for the jungmädel, Korinna writes that her parents are traitors. Rita, a strict adherent to the regime, finds the black book and sees Korinna’s confession. She tells her older brother, a soldier who raids homes in search of Jews. Rita’s brother informs the Gestapo, and soon the authorities raid the Rehmes’ house, ransacking it and destroying the furniture. Korinna’s father, Herr Rehme, is struck in the face for trying to save family photographs from being destroyed. The raid is so violently unpleasant that Korinna begins to question the Nazi regime and foster even more sympathy for Sophie, Rachel, and the entire Jewish population. Miraculously, the Gestapo don’t find Rachel and Sophie.

Rachel draws a picture for Korinna and tells her that she has named the kitten Tag, the Hebrew word for “day.” Korinna agrees that this is a perfect name for the kitten. She begins spending more and more time playing and laughing with Rachel. When she joins Sophie and Rachel in the confined space behind the wardrobe, she feels further sympathy for them. Korinna is shunned at school for being less active in the jungmädel. Herr Krugmann, Sophie’s husband and Rachel’s father, joins his family in the hiding spot at the Rehmes after his elder daughter, Ruth, dies.

Korinna’s last loyal friend, Eva, warns Korinna that her house will be raided again that night. Panicked, Korinna rushes home to discover that Herr Krugmann, Rachel and Sophie have already safely left her house, bound for their next hideout. That night, the Gestapo again raid the Rehmes’ house, intentionally destroying most of their possessions. Korinna cleverly converts the hidden room into a National Socialist shrine, and pretends that it is her private clubhouse where she celebrates the Fuhrer and reflects on the lessons she learns at the jungmädel. The Gestapo suspect a trick but, lacking enough evidence to arrest the family, leave.

Korinna’s parents consider staying put too risky, so the family decides to flee their home. Being forced out of her home makes Korinna feel an even greater kinship with Rachel and Sophie, who were likewise forced out of their homes under Hitler’s rule. In the end, Korinna realizes that the brainwashing propaganda that the Nazi youth group instilled in her has been morally wrong all along. She takes Rachel’s drawings with her, as a symbol of her love for the young girl who hid behind her wall. Korinna realizes that her family will now be the ones forced to hide. She reflects that everyone deserves to be free.