The Upstairs Room

The narrator and protagonist, Annie de Leeuw, is based on Johanna Reiss, whose nickname was Annie. At the start of the war, six-year-old Annie is innocent and naive, aware of the conflict but childlike and carefree in her thoughts and actions. She hears things on the radio, and even though the news is bad (for example, the report on Kristallnacht), Annie notes, “Well anyway, Germany wasn’t Holland” (2). This assertion shows that she perceives the news as faraway stories that don’t impact her. In reality, the German border is close to her town of Winterswijk. Annie reports what she hears adults saying, but her narration indicates that she doesn’t fully understand what’s happening. In fact, when the war picks up, she wonders why no one is scolding her about getting to bed earlier, and when they move out of Winterswijk to the new house, she plays and wanders in the field with her dog. Despite the war’s horrors and Hitler’s persecution of Jews across Europe, Annie still enjoys some aspects of childhood. Even when she must disguise herself to leave town, Annie shows her innocence: She fears going to the bus alone but whistles along the way, swinging “[her new suitcase] back and forth” (41).