Stones from the River captures the lives of people living in a small German village, between World War I and World War II. This is an extraordinary time to have lived through, and the author poignantly depicts the persecution of Jewish people in German society leading up to WWII. She depicts everyday life in German during Nazi rule, and the atrocities that occurred during this time, offering an account of these events from the perspective of German people. Many didn’t agree with what was happening, but were too afraid to speak up:
“Only a few people in Burgdorf had read Mein Kampf, and many thought that all this talk about Rssenreinheit-purity of the race-was ludicrous and impossible to enforce. Yet the long training in obedience to elders, government, and church made it difficult-even for those who considered the views of the Nazis dishonorable-to give voice to their misgivings. And so they kept hushed, yielding to each new indignity while they waited for the Nazis and their ideas to go away, but with each compliance they relinquished more of themselves, weakening the texture of the community while the power of the Nazis swelled.”
The fact that people were unwilling to speak up is a huge aspect of the text. Trudi describes how, after Jewish people were forced to wear the yellow star on their clothes, people pretended not to see them: "In the bleak winter streets, those yellow stars often were the only color, and yet, many people pretended not to see them".
The protagonist of the text, Trudi, is a complex character. Due to her dwarfism, Trudi has been mistreated and teased for the whole of her childhood. The text shows how much of an impact this kind of treatment can have on a person, as Trudi becomes resentful towards the residents in her village. Later, she gets her revenge by learning people's secrets, and gossiping about them. However, we never see Trudi as being malicious or cruel, but instead see it as a human reaction to her mistreatment as a child. This is a story about differences and prejudice, promoting kindness and acceptance rather than judgement and cruelty: “And what she wanted more than anything that moment was for all the differences between people to matter no more - differences in size and race and belief.”
