Number The Stars

Annemarie Johansen lives in Denmark during World War II. Her best friend is Ellen Rosen.
They are as close as sisters. is Jewish and the Nazis have just invaded Denmark. Supposedly, it is
a non-aggressive infiltration. However, the Nazis continue to round up Jews, as they did in other
countries. Annemarie and Ellen are afraid of all the soldiers walking the streets with guns and
dogs.

Annemarie's sister, Lise, had been part of the Danish Resistance Movement. Lise was killed
during a demonstration, but her family still thinks of her often and Annemarie is sad to think of
her. The fact that Lise had her very dark hair made it easy for her to pose as her when the
Germans came to search the Johansen's house.

One night, Annemarie remembers a story her dad had told her about the king. One of the German
soldiers was in the crowd when the King of Denmark rode past on his horse. The soldier asked a
boy where all his guards and soldiers were. The boy said: "The whole of Denmark is his
bodyguard." And in a way, the Danes not only take care of the king, but also take care of each
other. That's why the Germans had such a hard time arresting the Jews in Denmark. Working
together, the Danes rescued more than 7,200 Jews, out of the 8,000 who lived there during the
occupation.

Annemarie's family staged an elaborate fake death so that many Jews could gather at Uncle
Henrik's house to prepare for his escape. They had a closed coffin in the living room and told a
guard that the doctor had demanded it be closed because "Great Aunt Bertie" had died of typhus.
Jewish "mourners" sneak onto the ship in small groups at night. Peter, Lise's fiancé and a fierce
Resistance fighter, brings Ms. Johansen an important package. She must get to the ship before
morning. Mrs. Johansen sets out to take it to Henrik, but she breaks her ankle on a loose stone.
When Annemarie realizes that her mother is hurt, she takes her inside of her. Mrs. Johansen tells
him to take the
envelope from her and put it under a napkin and some food and take it to her uncle. Mrs.
Johansen says that if the soldiers stop her, she just says that she will bring lunch to her uncle, a
fisherman. Annemarie is stopped by the guards. They go through her entire basket and laugh at
the handkerchief in the hidden envelope. They let her go her way.

The scarf is paramount in the escape plan. Peter had worked with the Resistance scientists to find
a formula that would attract the dogs with its scent, but also leave them unable to smell anything
for a period of time afterward. Henrik kept it at the front of the ship, so even though the Nazis
went aboard and searched for stowaways with dogs trained to sniff out humans, once they
smelled the chemical on the handkerchief, they couldn't detect any of the Jews that were packed.
like sardines under the floorboards of the ship. Henrik saw the Rosens safe on the shores of
Sweden.

The book ends with the war coming to an end. The Johansens have guarded the homes of their
Jewish neighbors, awaiting their safe return. Peter and other members of the Resistance had been
killed by the Nazis before the end of the war. The author, Lois Lowry, also ends with a little
detail about how much of the story is true. Although the characters are fictional, they are based
on the life of a good friend of Lowry's who spent her childhood in Copenhagen, Denmark, during
the war. She also claims that the scarf was real. They were given to all the ship captains and
contained rabbit blood and cocaine to lure and disable the dogs.

Personal learning:

In the book, there are many fishermen who also helped save the lives of people who are hunted
by the Nazis. Peter was an active member of the Danish Resistance, and Uncle Henrik was one
of the fishermen who sent people to Sweden for safety.
Real life facts: More than 7,200 Jewish citizens of Denmark were saved thanks to the efforts of
the Danish Resistance Movement. The fishermen smuggled Danish Jews into Sweden.

Nazi arrest: People were picked off the streets and sent to detention camps, simply for being
Jewish.

Real life: The Nazis hunted down and imprisoned Jews. They segregated people according to
their religion, gender, and race. Many people the Nazis didn't like were sent to prison camps