Number the Stars: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

As the month of September passes by, Annemarie, Ellen, and Kirsti are careful to take the long way to school and back, avoiding the two soldiers who accosted them. As the nights grow colder, Mama and Mrs. Rosen sit up together knitting—there is no fuel or heat in the homes of Copenhagen, and the bitter fall chill is setting in. The Johansens can sometimes find some coal to burn in their little stove, but electricity, too is soon rationed, and the family must make their way around the apartment at night using only the light from candles.

One morning, while getting the girls ready for school, Mama notices that a button on one of Kirsti’s sweater has broken. She tells Annemarie to stop by the button shop around the corner after school—the shop is run by a woman named Mrs. Hirsch. When Annemarie and Kirsti—along with Ellen—stop by the shop, though, they find that it is closed. There is a padlock on the door, and a sign posted to it, but the girls cannot read the German words. When Annemarie and Kirsti return home and tell their mother about the closure of Mrs. Hirsch’s shop, Mama grows worried. She tells Annemarie to watch Kirsti, and hastily heads out the door to talk to Mrs. Rosen.

That night, Annemarie is nearly asleep when her mother knocks on the bedroom door and pulls her out of bed. Mama leads Annemarie into the living room, where Papa and Peter Neilsen are sitting. Annemarie is excited to see Peter, but knows something strange is going on, as there is a strict curfew imposed over all of Copenhagen. Nevertheless, Annemarie runs to Peter to give him hugs and kisses—his presence reminds her of happier times.

Papa, growing serious, tells Annemarie that the Germans have begun to issue orders closing any Copenhagen stores owned by Jews. Annemarie is surprised to learn that Mrs. Hirsch is Jewish, and wonders why the soldiers would close a harmless button shop belonging to a “nice lady.” Annemarie what will happen to Mrs. Hirsch and her family now that the shop is closed, and Mama tells her that their friends will take care of them—“that’s what friends do” for one another, she says.

Annemarie grows nervous—she points out that the Rosens are Jewish, too. Mama and Papa nod solemnly and ask her to take special care in keeping an eye out for Ellen at school and helping her stay away from the soldiers on the street. Annemarie tells her parents that just as all of Denmark serves as bodyguard to the king, they must now “be bodyguard[s] for the Jews, as well.” As Peter bids the family goodbye and takes his leave, Annemarie wonders whether she and her family will truly be called upon to die for Denmark’s Jews—she is nervous and frightened, but as she returns to bed, she tells herself that “only in the fairy tales” are people “called upon to […] die for one another.”