Friedrich

It’s still 1933, and Friedrich is helping the narrator with his math homework. In the distance they notice a man approaching who appears drunk; it’s Herr Schneider, and he is crying. Friedrich goes with his father upstairs to their apartment. Later, in the narrator’s kitchen, Frau Schneider comes in to talk with the narrator’s mother. She is also crying. Herr Schneider has been sent into early retirement. He has lost his job. The narrator’s mother can’t believe it and wonders why. Frau Schneider cries out that it’s because they’re Jews.

It’s 1933, and the narrator’s family is in a courtroom to support the Schneiders in their case against Herr Resch. Herr Resch and his attorney state the reasons for the eviction are because the Schneiders are Jewish and Herr Resch, as a member of the Nazi party, cannot have Jews in his building. The judge mocks Herr Resch’s reasons, especially when Herr Schneider tells the court that Herr Resch always knew he was a Jew and that the Schneiders have been living in the building for a decade. Herr Resch drops his case. Friedrich cries. The judge tells him not to cry, that people like him are there to protect them against people like Herr Resch.