Refugee Video Summary

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The novel Refugee, by author Alan Gratz, follows three families, generations apart, as they escape from their dangerous homelands. Separated by history and geography, they nonetheless all share the desire to be free from oppression. The main characters are:

Josef Landau, a 12-year-old Jewish boy who lives in Germany, in 1938. His family flees from the Nazis by sailing to Havana. Josef is preoccupied with what it means to become a man in order to protect his family.

Isabel Fernandez, an 11-year-old Cuban girl living under Fidel Castro’s communist regime, in 1994. Desperate to become free and escape poverty, she and her family and friends flee to Miami. Isabel must leave her passion for playing the trumpet behind as she tries to save her family.

Mahmoud Bishara, a 12-year-old Muslim boy who lives in Syria, in 2015. After bombs from the raging civil war destroy their home, Mahmoud and his family flee to Germany. He tries hard not to attract attention that would put his family at risk.

Josef
Berlin, Germany—1938
The novel starts with Josef waking up to the Nazis invading his family’s home in Berlin. It is the night of Kristallnacht,” or “Night of Broken Glass,” when Jewish families and synagogues are attacked. His father is arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

Josef
Hamburg, Germany—1939
Six months later, Josef, his mother, and sister meet his father in Hamburg after he is released from Dachau. They are all forced to wear their Star of David armbands. Josef’s mother has booked them on a passenger ship to Cuba. Josef is shocked to see his father is thin, paranoid, and severely traumatized.


Isabel
Havana, Cuba—1994
Isabel is playing her beloved trumpet in downtown Havana when a violent riot erupts. People are starving under Fidel Castro’s regime. Isabel’s father and grandfather are among the protesters and Isabel rushes to protect her father as he is beaten by police.

Isabel
Just outside Havana, Cuba—1994
Isabel and her family leave Cuba the next day. Isabel secretly sells her trumpet in exchange for gas to make the journey to Miami. Her mother, father, and grandfather join her best friend Ivan and his parents on a rickety homemade boat. As they are pushing off from shore, Ivan’s older brother and his girlfriend, both police officers, unexpectedly rush from the beach to join them. They narrowly escape gunshots when other policemen fire at them.


Mahmoud
Aleppo, Syria—2015
Mahmoud is living with his family in war-torn Aleppo, Syria. When a missile explodes in their apartment, they barely escape unharmed. Mahmoud’s father decides that they will flee to Germany.

Mahmoud
Just outside Aleppo, Syria—2015
Traveling by road from Aleppo, the family abandons both their car and their possessions when bullets tear into the side of the vehicle. They trek by foot for several hours to the Turkish border by following a map on their cell phone.


Josef
Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean—1939
Meanwhile back in 1939, Josef’s family has settled on a ship with other Jewish families. They feel safe for the first time in years. Josef even has his bar mitzvah on board, but soon discovers there are a few outspoken Nazi sympathizers among the crew.

Josef
Just outside Havana, Cuba—1939
When the ship arrives in Cuba, the passengers are not allowed to disembark. Soon after, Nazi crew members ransack Josef’s family-cabin, pushing his father to the brink of insanity. In desperation, he jumps overboard but a Cuban police officer, the young Mariano Padron, who will one day be grandfather to Isabel, jumps in the water and saves him from drowning.


Isabel
Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, outside of Cuba—1994
Isabel is still on the boat with her family and friends when the motor stops. A large tanker barrels toward them and their boat capsizes from the waves. Isabel rescues Ivan’s father who nearly drowns. Everyone survives, but the boat begins to take on water.

Isabel
The Atlantic Ocean and the Bahamas—1994
Blown off course and landing in the Bahamas, the refugees are forced to turn around and then decide to continue on to Miami. Each takes turns hanging onto the outside of the leaking boat so it won’t sink. Ivan bleeds to death after being attacked by a shark.


Mahmoud
Izmir, Turkey, and the Mediterranean Sea—2015
In Turkey, Mahmoud and his family hire a smuggler to take them to Greece. They board an inflatable raft with other refugees that pops in a storm. Mahmoud’s mother on the brink of drowning, surrenders the baby Hana to a passing boat. The family is eventually rescued.

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