The German Girl

Anna and her mother land in Havana and pass through immigration. They get in a taxi outside which takes them to the neighborhood of Vedado, “the neighborhood Aunt Hannah has lived in since she came here from Berlin. The place where Dad was born” (206). It is a nice neighborhood in the center of the city. They pull up at a faded house with a cracked roof and a dilapidated iron gate. A boy sitting under a nearby tree greets them and asks them if they are relatives of the German woman and if they are Nazis. He speaks quickly and has lots of questions. His name is Diego. They go up to the front door of the home. Hannah smells violet water perfume and hears a weak voice welcoming her. Her Aunt Hannah “is tall and slender, with a strong jaw and a long neck. As she emerges more into the light, wrinkles appear on a face that seems incredibly calm” (208). The dining room ceiling has patches of damp; the wall paint is peeling. After some small talk, Anna’s mother brings out the photographs from Berlin. When she sees a photo of Leo, Aunt Hannah says, “He betrayed me, so I erased him from my life. But I think the time has come to forgive” (211). But Hannah seems more interested in Anna and her mother’s lives than talking about the past.

Hannah and her mother leave the port in a car, which they share with a lady named Mrs. Samuels, who will be their neighbor at the Hotel Nacional for a couple weeks before the house in the Vedado neighborhood is ready. In her room at the Hotel Nacional, Hannah’s mother keeps the window curtains closed and asks that the local guaracha music she hears be played at a low volume or not at all. When their Cuban identity cards arrive, Hannah’s name is changed to Ana, which she then adds a “J” to, to make her new name “Jana.” Hannah and her mother communicate in Spanish instead of German.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis “docked at Antwerp, Belgium, France, Holland, and Belgium, and it had agreed that the passengers would be taken in by Great Britain, France, Holland, and Belgium” (216). Hannah’s father goes to Paris. Hannah and her mother move to their house in the Vedado neighborhood. It is a “solid two-story house” that Hannah describes as “modest in comparison with the mansion next door” (217). They are greeted at the door by an older woman named Hortensia who is to be their help. The furniture inside is elegant and in the French style. It occurs to Hannah that they might be in Havana for longer than two months, perhaps at least a year. They receive a letter from Hannah’s father. He is living austerely in Paris, where the situation is tense “but nowhere near as bad as it had been in Berlin” (221).

Alma leaves for New York to give birth to her son. With her mother gone, life becomes easier for Hannah. She can open all the windows and bake cakes and deserts with Hortensia, whom she loves spending time with. Hannah attends the Baldor school, where she is known as “the Polack” despite being German by birth. Hortensia tells Hannah that her mother has sent word from New York: She has given birth to a boy who she’s named Gustav. As a gift to her mother, Hannah goes to a local bookstore and buys several volumes of French literature, albeit written in Spanish, for their home library.

Anna, Anna’s mother, Catalina (Aunt Hannah’s maidservant), and Aunt Hannah visit a cemetery in Havana. As they walk, Catalina tells Anna that Hannah’s mother suffered a lot: “She left with a heavy suitcase, and you should go to your grave as lightly as possible. […] We have to leave the past behind” (230). There is a plot of Rosen family tombstones, with one stone blank, still reserved for Aunt Hannah. Aunt Hannah’s mother had made a vow: “all the Rosens who ended their days on the island, as well as those born here, were to be buried in the family plot” (232). The group returns home.