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Mother Minka is a stern nun, fond of corporal punishment, who runs a remote Catholic orphanage in Nazi-occupied Poland. Prior to the Nazi invasion, she used to buy books from Felix Salinger’s parents, a Jewish couple who owned a bookstore. When Felix’s parents decide to hide Felix from the Nazis at the occupation’s beginning, Mother Minka agrees to keep him at her orphanage, telling everyone he’s a Catholic orphan. Mother Minka tries to preserve the orphans’ innocence by concealing the truth about Nazi atrocities in Poland from them. Ironically, her protectiveness puts Felix in danger—initially, he’s more afraid of her than he is of Nazis, and when she finally reveals some of the truth, he reacts with denial and misunderstanding. Thus, Mother Minka represents the danger of trying to shield children from ugly realities. Yet she also represents human dignity in the face of dehumanizing, antisemitic totalitarianism; though not Jewish herself, she takes a moral stand and risks her life to protect Felix (and, it is implied, at least one other Jewish child) from Nazis.
Mother Minka Quotes in Once
The Once quotes below are all either spoken by Mother Minka or refer to Mother Minka. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Pages 1–8
Quotes
I don’t argue. You don’t with Mother Minka. Nuns can have good hearts and still be violent.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 18–28
Quotes
“We can only pray,” says Mother Minka. “We can only trust that God and Jesus and the Blessed Mary and our holy father in Rome will keep everyone safe.”
I can hardly breathe.
Suddenly I realize this is even worse than I thought.
“And Adolf Hitler?” I whisper. “Father Ludwik says Adolf Hitler keeps us safe too.”
Mother Minka doesn’t answer, just presses her lips together and closes her eyes.
“Look,” he says, “I can’t tell you what the Nazis are doing because Mother Minka made me swear on the Bible that I wouldn’t tell anyone. She doesn’t want everyone upset and worried.”
“Thanks,” I say. “But I know what they’re doing. They’re burning books.”
Pages 41–52
Quotes
Why are some people kind to us Jewish book owners and some people hate us? I wish I’d asked Mr. Kopek to explain. And also to tell me why the Nazis hate Jewish books so much that they’ve dragged Mum and Dad and all their Jewish customers off to the city.
I tell myself a story about a bunch of kids in another country whose parents work in a book warehouse and one day a big pile of Jewish books topples onto the kids’ parents and crushes them and the kids vow that when they grow up they’ll get revenge on all the Jewish books and their owners.
It doesn’t feel like a very believable story.
Pages 62–71
Quotes
“Excuse me,” I say to a man walking nearby. “Are you a book lover?”
The man stares at me as if I’m mad. His gray sagging face was miserable before, but now he looks like he’s close to tears. He looks away. I feel terrible. I wish I hadn’t asked.
Not just because I’ve made a suffering Jewish man feel upset at the sight of a crazy kid. Also because I’ve got a horrible suspicion I know the answer to the question.
Maybe it’s not just our books the Nazis hate.
Maybe it’s us.
Pages 72–80
Quotes
“That’s a good story,” I say. “And when the man gets better, he and the gorilla go and live happily in the jungle and open a cake shop.”
“Yes,” says Zelda quietly.
She doesn’t look as though she totally believes it.
Neither do I.
Pages 91–98
Quotes
Suddenly I’m thinking about another story. The one Mum and Dad told me about why I had to stay at the orphanage. They said it was so I could go to school there while they traveled to fix up their business. They told it so well, that story, I believed it for three years and eight months.
That story saved my life.
Get the entire Once LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mother Minka Quotes in Once
The Once quotes below are all either spoken by Mother Minka or refer to Mother Minka. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Pages 1–8
Quotes
I don’t argue. You don’t with Mother Minka. Nuns can have good hearts and still be violent.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 18–28
Quotes
“We can only pray,” says Mother Minka. “We can only trust that God and Jesus and the Blessed Mary and our holy father in Rome will keep everyone safe.”
I can hardly breathe.
Suddenly I realize this is even worse than I thought.
“And Adolf Hitler?” I whisper. “Father Ludwik says Adolf Hitler keeps us safe too.”
Mother Minka doesn’t answer, just presses her lips together and closes her eyes.
“Look,” he says, “I can’t tell you what the Nazis are doing because Mother Minka made me swear on the Bible that I wouldn’t tell anyone. She doesn’t want everyone upset and worried.”
“Thanks,” I say. “But I know what they’re doing. They’re burning books.”
Pages 41–52
Quotes
Why are some people kind to us Jewish book owners and some people hate us? I wish I’d asked Mr. Kopek to explain. And also to tell me why the Nazis hate Jewish books so much that they’ve dragged Mum and Dad and all their Jewish customers off to the city.
I tell myself a story about a bunch of kids in another country whose parents work in a book warehouse and one day a big pile of Jewish books topples onto the kids’ parents and crushes them and the kids vow that when they grow up they’ll get revenge on all the Jewish books and their owners.
It doesn’t feel like a very believable story.
Pages 62–71
Quotes
“Excuse me,” I say to a man walking nearby. “Are you a book lover?”
The man stares at me as if I’m mad. His gray sagging face was miserable before, but now he looks like he’s close to tears. He looks away. I feel terrible. I wish I hadn’t asked.
Not just because I’ve made a suffering Jewish man feel upset at the sight of a crazy kid. Also because I’ve got a horrible suspicion I know the answer to the question.
Maybe it’s not just our books the Nazis hate.
Maybe it’s us.
Pages 72–80
Quotes
“That’s a good story,” I say. “And when the man gets better, he and the gorilla go and live happily in the jungle and open a cake shop.”
“Yes,” says Zelda quietly.
She doesn’t look as though she totally believes it.
Neither do I.
Pages 91–98
Quotes
Suddenly I’m thinking about another story. The one Mum and Dad told me about why I had to stay at the orphanage. They said it was so I could go to school there while they traveled to fix up their business. They told it so well, that story, I believed it for three years and eight months.
That story saved my life.
