The Boy at The Top of the Mountain

Orphaned, Pierrot initially lives with Anshel and his widowed mother. Mrs. Bronstein tells a neighbor she would accept the Gentile Pierrot into her Jewish family permanently, but she does not have enough money to care for both him and Anshel. The neighbor concurs, noting “life isn’t getting any easier for Jews in Paris, is it? The boy might be better off in a family more like his own” (25). While she is unable to care for Pierrot for material reasons, the goodwill Mrs. Bronstein shows foreshadows the kindness her son Anshel will show Pierrot after the war, when he forgives his friend’s one-time allegiance to the Nazis.

With no money to care for him, Mrs. Bronstein arranges for Pierrot to live in an orphanage in Orléans, run by the Durand sisters, Simone and Adèle. Pierrot says good-bye to Anshel, and the two agree to write regularly. Anshel promises to care for Pierrot’s dog, D’Artagnan.

Upon arrival at the orphanage, the Durand sisters assure Pierrot that he will enjoy his time there and will likely be adopted soon. While this proves to be inaccurate, the Durand sisters still provide a model of tolerance and acceptance: “‘[e]very child who is alone will be welcome,’ they declared. ‘Color, race, or creed mean nothing to us’” (23). The two sisters have distinct personalities, with Adèle being sunny, optimistic, and nurturing, while Simone is more aloof, straightforward, and realistic. Both clearly care for the children they look after, and describe the daily routine at the orphanage, aiming to do their best to help Pierrot. 

Despite the Durand sisters’ assurances that life in the orphanage will be pleasant, Pierrot does not adjust well. Feeling isolated as a newcomer, he struggles to make friends. He does spend time with Josette, a girl who has twice been adopted and returned for being “too disruptive” (40). Anshel keeps in contact with Pierrot by writing him letters, which describe how life has become more difficult for Jews living in Europe.

Pierrot continues to be bullied as well, now the target of a boy named Hugo, who is inexplicably protected by the Durands. Josette defends Pierrot from one of Hugo’s attacks by calling him “a filthy Jew,” which devastates the bully (45). Hugo responds by giving Pierrot a bloody nose. While cleaning him up, Simone explains that Hugo is the Durands’s nephew. Hugo’s father shared a fate similar to Pierrot’s, having been deeply scarred by experiences in the First World War. Simone alludes to the fact that Hugo’s mother had been persecuted by her husband’s family for being a Jew.

Simone explicitly mentions that Hugo’s story has parallels to Pierrot’s own, and the conversation reiterates the Durand’s message of tolerance, given their empathy for Hugo, his father, and his mother. This sticks with Pierrot, who tries “to feel sympathy for Hugo” (52). Adèle seeks to cheer Pierrot up by explaining that his Aunt Beatrix has written from Austria. Though Pierrot and Beatrix have never met, she has arranged for her nephew to come and live with her.

Pierrot takes a multi-leg journey to where his aunt lives in Salzburg. In the first train, he takes a seat in a car occupied by a woman and another young boy. Soon, an elderly man with “long dark curls on either side of his head” joins them in the car, to the dismay of the woman (57). She has the conductor order the man, who is presumably Jewish, out of the train car.

In Mannheim, Pierrot switches trains en route to Munich. On the platform, he stumbles after bumping into a man wearing a Nazi uniform. The man presses his boot down on Pierrot’s hand while his children mock his old and smelly clothes. Years later, Pierrot will recognize this man as a high-ranking Nazi official when he visits Berghof, his new home in Austria. After boarding the second train, Pierrot is forced to take a seat in a car with five Hitlerjugend. The teenage boys harass Pierrot when they realize he is French. They mock him for having a French mother and steal the sandwiches that Adèle had packed him for the journey, throwing the empty bag in his face.

By contrast, the final train ride to Salzburg passes by quietly. Pierrot opens a small gift that Simone had given him when they parted. It is a novel by Erich Kästner, Emil and the Detectives. He reads the book and finds much in common with the protagonist, a boy whose father had also died, and who was also robbed on a train. Lulled by reading and the motion of the train, Pierrot falls asleep. He awakens in Salzburg and sets eyes on Beatrix for the first time.