Summary
A soldier tells Alfred that the Wilhelm Gustloff will carry far more than two thousand people, though there will probably only be one doctor on board. Nazi party officials, local leaders and their families, military personnel, and wounded soldiers will have priority passage. Then among the refugees, women and children will board first. Young, single men will not be allowed.
The group of refugees boards the boat that the soldier arranged for Florian. They arrive to find a chaotic and desperate scene at the port of Gotenhafen. A strange woman tells them they can find shelter at the old movie house, and they head in that direction.
At the movie house, the group eats and sleeps. Florian says they are likely to be separated at registration. He tells Joana to present herself for work as a nurse and to ask to bring her patients with her. He asks Joana to provide a medical testimony stating that he is recovering from a wound and has lost his hearing. That way he will have a stronger case for boarding the Gustloff.
Joana follows Florian up to the projector room and she checks his ear. She tells him to call her Joana and he tells her he is Prussian. Florian says Emilia reminds him off of his sixteen-year-old sister. Their father sent her up north near the Danish border and he hasn’t heard from her in three years. Joana says her mother is in a refugee camp in Germany, but her father and brother are still in Lithuania.
Joana tells Florian that she will consider helping him but she needs to know more about who he is. She also says that she knows he took something from her suitcase and wants it back by tomorrow. Florian denies taking anything and the reader learns that he has already returned the drawing he stole to her suitcase. Joana is worried about a note that she left for the family of the Prussian estate. The note contains her full name and says she borrowed their sewing kit. The reader also learns that Florian took Joana’s note from the estate. After she leaves, he takes it out and studies her signature.
Alfred receives a letter from his mother. She asks about the large collection of butterflies hidden in his room and his fondness for Hannelore. He replies coldly, telling her not to enter his room and that he knows nothing of Hannelore’s family. Alfred recalls how the boys of Hitler Youth came to his home, then went to knock on Hannelore’s door.
Alfred steals a crystal butterfly that reminds him of Hannelore from among the belongings of the refugees at Gotenhafen. There he runs into Eva and Joana. Alfred learns Joana is a nurse and presents her to Dr. Richter, the doctor assigned to the Gustloff. Dr. Richter says they will get her registered for the ship. But first, he asks for her help evaluating an arriving convoy of injured soldiers to decide who can make the voyage. Joana asks if her patients can come with her but Richter tells Alfred to escort her group to registration.
Analysis
This part of the book is filled with foreshadowing about the fate of the Wilhelm Gustloff. We learn that the boat will be loaded with passengers far beyond capacity, and that there are insufficient lifeboats. Moreover, the boat was not built for rough seas and has not sailed for four years.
Just as we learn more details about the boat, we gradually learn more details of each narrator’s life before the war. Joana left her family behind in Lithuania and feels guilty. Florian’s sister is in the North of Germany and they haven’t spoken for three years. Alfred has a butterfly collection, and hints at a troubling interaction between him, the boys of the Hitler Youth group, and Hannelore. Moreover, he hints at his troubling family life. He replies to his mother very coldly. He also reveals that his father is ashamed of him and that his parents sleep in separate rooms.
Secrecy continues to be an important theme in Salt to the Sea. Sometimes, the characters reveal their secrets in a way that may be considered manipulative, because they need something from another character. At other times, the characters let their guards down or reveal the truth because they feel a genuine emotional connection.
When Florian needs medical testimony from Joana, he opens up to her more. He realizes that family is a very sensitive and emotional subject for her. So when he talks about his concern for his younger sister Anni, Joana lets her guard down and opens up more. In this vulnerable state, she is more likely to connect with Florian and give him the help he is asking for. “I realized that telling the truth might be the ammunition I needed,” reflects Florian.
At the same time, he feels bad for using this vulnerability to convince Joana. While he is opening up in order to get what he needs, he also genuinely likes Joana. In this part of the book, the romantic tension between Florian and Joana grows. They feel increasingly connected to each other, though neither wants to admit it.
Throughout Salt to the Sea, Florian has tried hard not to open up. But in Gotenhafen he lets his guard down. The group meets a strange woman carrying a goat in a baby buggy. When she leaves, they break into laughter about her strange mannerisms. Amid the terror of war and the chaos of the naval evacuation, the group shares a much-needed moment of humorous relief. Even Florian makes a joke about the woman and laughs hard.
When she sees Florian laugh, Emilia says that for a brief moment she is able to see the real Florian, “[t]he real man inside of him, not the one tortured by secrets and pain.” Each character seems to have a real version of themselves that is hidden behind layers of pain and trauma. These layers are gradually removed as the novel progresses. However, sometimes it’s hard to remove the layers and see the real person. For example, Emilia admits that she has become so good at pretending that she even fools herself and avoids looking at the real truth. This statement foreshadows that there is something dark about Emilia’s secret.
As Emilia gets closer to giving birth, she forces her mind toward happy thoughts of August, her home in Poland, and her mother. Yet deep down, she feels lost and alone without her mother. As they prepare to board the Gustloff, Emilia expresses these feelings through metaphors of boats and anchors. For Joana, who still has hope of reuniting with her mother, her mother is an anchor. But Emilia has lost her mother and is alone in the world: “A girl who lost her mother was suddenly a tiny boat on an angry ocean.”
