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Number the Stars

by Lois Lowry

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Student Question

In Number the Stars, what does Annemarie reply when Ellen asks about her necklace?

Quick answer:

Annemarie tells Ellen that she hid her necklace "in a safe place...a very secret place where no one will ever find it," promising to keep it safe until Ellen can wear it again. The necklace, a gold chain with a Star of David, symbolizes Ellen's Jewish faith. Annemarie hides it during the Nazi occupation to protect Ellen's identity. After the war, she retrieves it from the pocket of her sister's dress, ready to return it to Ellen.

Expert Answers

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When Ellen asks Annemarie where she put her necklace, Annemarie replies that she "hid it in a safe place...a very secret place where no one will ever find it".  Annemarie promises that she will keep the necklace there for Ellen "until it is safe for (her) to wear it again" (Chapter 7).

The necklace about which the girls are speaking is a thin gold chain with a Star of David on it.  The Star of David is symbolic of Ellen's family's Jewish faith.  During the occupation of Denmark, Annemarie's family at first takes Ellen in as their own, to hide her from the Nazis.  When soldiers burst in one night searching for Jews, Annemarie, realizing that the necklace Ellen has always worn will identify her as Jewish, yanks the chain from her friend's neck when she cannot unhook the tiny clasp, and later puts it in safekeeping for her (Chapter 5). 

True to her word, when the war is over and the danger is past, Annemarie retrieves the necklace from where she has hidden it, in the pocket of the yellow dress her sister had worn on the night she had announced her engagement.  Her sister had died before she could be married, and the yellow dress had been packed away in a blue trunk which stood in the corner of Annemarie's bedroom.  Ellen and her family have been in hiding outside of Denmark, but now they can come home again.  When Ellen does return, Annemarie will return her necklace with the Star of David (Chapter 17).

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