Dite
A small man who struggles to feel confident. He takes a job at a hotel because he hopes to become a hotelier. He starts at the bottom as a busboy in Prague at a popular hotel. In the evening, he lives an indulgent lifestyle often visiting brothels and wasting his money on vices. He is accused of stealing golden cutlery from the hotel and he knows he could never repay the debt, and he knows he is innocent, so he becomes hopeless and almost hangs himself. His life continues to be difficult afterward.
Lise
Eventually, Dite realizes his ways are not leading to any kind of happy life, so he tries to meet someone. He finds Lise, a German girl and a Nazi sympathizer living abroad. She enjoys the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia which puts Dite in a strange position. He is the emotional support for a Nazi sympathizer. Lise gets pregnant with the permission of Nazis, and Dite and Lise's baby is born with mental handicaps.
The child
Their child is born with mental handicaps, and the child grows up in Nazi-occupied Chechoslovakia, partially around Prague, but mainly in Nazi camps, which is the only place the family is safe because of Lise's Nazi sympathies. The child's main character detail is that he hammers nails into the floor over and over again.
