The novel, A Night Divided relates to this image in many ways.

This is an image of a small piece of the Berlin Wall that includes a poem on it. The writing reads “Forget not the tyranny of this wall horrid place. Nor the love of freedom that made it fall.” At the bottom it says “Laid Waste,” although I am unsure what that means. One way this relates to A Night Divided is the first phrase, “Forget not the tyranny of this wall horrid place.” The government was oppressive and cruel, affecting Gerta’s life as well as her family’s but also all of the other citizens of Germany. Gerta is lucky that she at least still has her mother and Fritz as well as Anna and her friends, but many people were completely alone on one side of the wall as everyone else they know is on the other. The government put up this wall to separate the east from the more prosperous west, forcing many to adapt to new ways of life, as Dominic and Gerta’s father had to do.

The second line makes an even stronger connection with the text, in my opinion. It describes how the fight that the people put up for their freedom is impossible to forget. When I read this line for the first time I immediately thought of Fritz and his friends, risking their lives to get onto the west side for a chance at a better life. Without brave people fighting for what they feel is right for themselves and their nation, the wall never would have come down.

I think it is important that we acknowledge this wall and the cause and effects behind it, for this was such a challenging time in history yet many are unaware of it. I did not know anything about the wall until I began this book, and the piece of art in this image assists in bringing attention to the wall as well.