The Silver Sword

Like his father, Edek Balicki is resourceful and enterprising. He fashions home comforts for siblings’ shelter after their home is destroyed, which illustrates his resilience: “With floorboards he made two beds, chairs and a table. With bricks from the rubble he built a wall to divide the cellar into two rooms” (23). Edek, like his sisters and Jan, shows further resilience in their journey to Switzerland. This is especially noteworthy given that Edek is weakened by his years in a German labor camp at which he contracted tuberculosis. Nevertheless, Edek insists that he is well enough to accompany his sisters and Jan to Switzerland, despite doctors’ warnings that the attempt might kill him. Edek survives the journey, and his determination is demonstrated once again by his decision to go to Zurich to study engineering once he recovers. Edek’s tuberculosis represents the ever-present threat of death for those children who survived the war only to navigate the chaotic post-war world. His recovery points to the hope of full recovery for all victims of the trauma and displacement caused by the war.

Bronia Balicki, the baby of the family, is only three years old when the novel begins. She is separated from her mother at four years old when Margrit is sent to a German labor camp. Ruth becomes a mother to Bronia, protecting her and schooling her and her friends. Bronia is a tolerant and resilient child, a disposition brought about by necessity through the circumstances she is raised in. She lives with her brother and sister in spartan shelters in the bombed city of Warsaw and the forest and then walks for hundreds of miles to reach Switzerland.

Bronia loves to draw. Her drawings are of the things she sees in Poland and Germany, like soldiers, destroyed buildings, and lines at soup kitchens. The grim subjects of her drawings symbolize the destruction of Europe and the trauma and tragedy of the lives of so many during and after the war. Bronia’s improved life circumstances when her family is reunited in Switzerland is illustrated in the more uplifting content of her drawings: “gradually her subjects changed. Soon they began to reflect her new and far more secure life among the mountains of Switzerland” (101). This implies a happier and more peaceful life for Bronia and the other survivors of the war after the conclusion of the novel’s events.

Jan, whose birth surname is never revealed, is a plucky and resourceful child who is hardened by extreme circumstances. Jan’s parents are killed during the early years of the war in Warsaw. Homeless and alone, Jan becomes an excellent thief. Jan’s chance encounter with Joseph, who gives him the silver sword, initiates the action of the plot, as this is the clue that helps Ruth to work out that Jan met Joseph and to help Jan remember Joseph’s message to go to Switzerland.

Jan is slow to trust people, as illustrated by his initial reluctance to tell Joseph his name. Jan invests his love and trust in animals, who become like a family for him, as is illustrated in his conversation with the American officer in Germany: “‘Jan, have you any parents?’ said Captain Greenwood. ‘The grey cat and Jimpy, but they're dead, and Ruth's my mother now,’ said Jan, sullenly” (59). This begins to change when Jan finds Ruth, who becomes a surrogate mother to him. Jan’s choice to help Ruth save Edek rather than continuing to search for the dog, Ludwig, is symbolic, as it illustrates Jan’s allegiance to Ruth as his family. Jan’s status as an honorary member of the Balicki family is confirmed when Margrit agrees to become his mother when he presents her with the silver sword. Jan represents the countless war orphans who lost their families in the war, as well as the promise of non-biological families to give those children a secure and loving home.