The German Wife

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, mental illness, and religious discrimination.

After driving a miserable Gisela to school, Sofie returns home and sees someone fleeing her home. She calls Jürgen, and he comes home immediately. She tells Jürgen that she believes it was Henry and that he stole her photographs. They decide that there’s no point in calling the police. He suggests talking to Calvin, but Sofie is afraid of blowback and just asks him to stay home with her.

Lizzie works on planting victory gardens for her friend Becca. Becca’s husband is deployed in the Pacific as a pilot, and Henry is still doing training exercises in the US. Shortly before Christmas, Lizzie and Calvin receive a letter from Henry saying that he’s being deployed to active fighting.

Sofie is kept in a tiny, locked room without even enough space to lie down. She is kept there for days, but because she never sees the outside, even when taken for periodic bathroom breaks, she has no sense of how long. She is given oatmeal and water once a day and isn’t allowed to speak at all. When she’s taken from the cell and interrogated by a Gestapo officer, he reveals that Jürgen may still be alive.