Then

Genia owns a single pencil—a luxury in wartime, Nazi-occupied Poland, where most resources are diverted toward the Nazi war effort. Felix and Zelda spend their time drawing pictures, often using them to express hopes about the future, or to explore their past. Their drawings are a motif related to the theme of The Power of Storytelling. Zelda initially uses her drawings to depict violent fantasies against Nazis: “The pa­per Zel­da’s draw­ing on is old shop pa­per that has been wrapped around face pow­der or some­thing. There’s a pink stain in the mid­dle, which Zel­da turns into a dead Nazi’s brains leak­ing out” (54). Although the idea of such violent imagery from the mind of a six-year-old is jarring, the drawing does function as a form of therapy for Zelda, allowing her to express violent emotions in a nonviolent way. Felix, who is older and better able to cope with the trauma he has experienced, uses his drawings to express hopes for the future and to distract Zelda from the horrors of the present. Dov, the Jewish orphan, is also able to use drawings to express his feelings about the trauma of losing his own family. When Genia gives him the pencil, Felix observes, “Not with care­ful lit­tle move­ments like Zel­da does when she draws. With big vi­o­lent slashes. Some­times he tears the pa­per, but he keeps go­ing” (97). The anger expressed in his technique is reflected in the finished drawing. Felix notes, “He’s draw­ing a pit in the ground. I rec­og­nize what it is. The chil­dren’s gra­ve” (97). Thus, this silent moment of drama reveals that Dov himself was a nearly a victim of the aktion that killed his family and the orphans they protected. The experience rendered him unwilling or unable to speak about what happened, but drawing the scene finally lets him talk about it. Dov’s example also helps Zelda to reconcile her own conflicted feelings about her parents. In previous drawings, the loving parents she drew were Violetta’s fictional parents, not her own. After seeing Dov’s drawing, however, she draws a picture of her parents apologizing. Though they were not responsible for the death of Dov’s family, they represent the same forces that killed them. By allowing her parents to “apologize,” Zelda is actually apologizing for the guilt she feels, and she is finally able to recognize that her parents’ decisions were never her fault.