The story “Number the Stars” written by Lois Lowry talks about a girl named Annemarie's experience about helping Jews during WWII. She experienced many confronting things and dilemmas, mostly rescuing her friend Elle Rosen and her family to safety and taking other Jews to freedom while risking their lives in danger if being caught by Nazi soliders. At first, Ellen’s parents went away and left Ellen with the Johansens, Annemarie’s family. Nazi officers then came to check their apartment, which they already escaped from being captured and executed. The Johansens had Ellen pretend to be their daughter. Annermarie took off Ellen’s necklace of Star of David, a symbol of being Jews. Annemarie’s mom took them to Uncle Henrik, her brother, in Gilleleje. After traveling to Gilleleje, they had a pretend funeral which in fact was a secret passage to Uncle Henrik’s boat, the Ingeborg. After the Jews were on board, they drove off to Sweden.
The title Number the Stars has meanings related to the Psalm 147:4 about God numbering all the stars and naming each of them. The Psalm 147:4 is part of the Old testament of Christianity; in fact it originated from the Hebrew bible, written in Jewish language. In the story, Peter read the Psalm 147:4 “The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem; he gathers in the scattered sons of Israel. It is he who heals the broken in spirit and binds up their wounds, he who numbers the stars one by one.” All Jews and Christians can relate to. The author tries to suggest that all people in the world are the same. People are brothers and sisters to each other no matter which race they are because they have the same source of religion and beliefs. During WWII between 1941 and 1945, Natiz Germany performed the holocaust to terminate Jews. Natiz Germany has no right to murder six million Jews. Also, the Psalm 147:4 talks about God rebuilding Jerusalem, gathering the Jews People, and counting every Star of David, which is a symbol of being Jewish. The author hints that God can see everything, even count the stars. God knows their suffering and has this ability to ease the chaos. So that means God is protecting all Jews. Imagine all the Jews in Denmark were the stars. God is helping them to be all safe, and it is very hard to believe it. This is because of all the lives that were lost. God and him numbering to stars are a significant contribution to this story.
Resistance to injustice is part of human nature but it takes great courage to do so, even though that might cost one’s life. The meaning of bravery doesn't necessarily mean one taking weapons and confronting great powerful forces to fight. It also means that one is willing to secretly do something to fight injustice and willing to risk his life to save others in need. Both Lise and Peter joined the Resistance, an organization for protecting Jews. Lise died in a military car accident as she was running away after a meeting arranged Jews to hide. Peter also died because of being detcted by Nazi soldiers that he was part of the Resistance. They all lost their lives to help the Jews escape. Uncle Henrik was also a member of the Resistance, and he risked his life to carry the Jewish passengers to Sweden. The Johansen family does not face any danger, but the Rosen family and other Jews are in danger because they are Jewes. During WWII, Nazi Germany wants to terminate Jews. When people personally experience injustice, they will definitely speak out their rights or thoughts. But not everyone is brave enough to do so if it happens to another person who is fighting for his own injustice. Even though they stand up for others, they are also frightened. But they are very determined to fight for injustice because they think that is the right thing to do and they don’t consider much if they are in danger or not. Truly brave people are not afraid to be in danger when they have the option of not doing so. They are willing to protect people who are in danger even though that might cause big problems to cost their lives.
True best friends always have each other’s backs, no matter what happens, to provide help and protection, even risking their lives. A true friend is someone whom you can count on and be loyal to during hardships. When people are trying to hurt you physically or emotionally, they are always there ready to defend you. The Johansen family had already planned that if they came up with any Nazi Soldiers, they would pretend that Ellen was Lise, Annemarie’s older sister. When Nazi Soldiers showed up in front of Annemarie and Ellen in the middle of the night, Annemarie quickly broke off Ellen’s necklace of Star of David and put it in her palm tightly, being afraid it might be detected by the Germans. During WWII, the Nazi Germany took Jews to concentration camps to kill them. Some people of other religions risked their lives to save these Jews from being caught and killed. If the Johansen family and Rosen family don’t have a close relationship or Annemarie and Ellen are not best friends, then they would not take a risk of their lives to save them because that’s what true friends are. Influenced by such experiences of rescuing Jews or Ellen being sent to concentration camp, Annemarie is becoming a brave, strong, calm and intelligent warrior. Ellen and Annemarie’s friendship also symbolizes the friendship between the Danes and Jews of Denmark. True friends are willing to stand by you when you are struggling with difficulties or experiencing obstacles in life. They don’t abandon you. Instead, they will offer help immediately without asking.
The book “Number the Stars” is a very sad but inspiring book. It gives me a vision of the past history during WWII regarding how Nazi people treated Jews through the eyes of a ten-year old girl, Annemarie. It is totally NOT acceptable that Nazi Germany killed Jews just because they thought Jews people were inferior to Nazi becasue of the religion. We are people from Earth no matter where we are from or what religion we believe. We should treat everyone the same. Also, a person may not have the power to fight with all injustice, but after reading this book they may be inspired to do something to care about people who are suffering because of the unfairness or they may be encouraged to make a small difference in society. Moreover, people could learn from Annermarie and try to act like Annemarie, being a true friend by not abandoning their friends but to defend them when they are struggling in life.
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