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The wiry, hate-filled neighbor of the Hubermanns, Frau Holtzapfel wears her malice like a suit of armor. Characterized at first as a bit of a ghoul among children and adults alike, her vitriol is the vehicle through which she meets the world. Frau Holtzapfel has an especially strong distaste for Rosa Hubermann. She spends a great portion of the novel spitting on Rosa’s door whenever she walks by the house. While it is a cliché for a reason, Frau Holtzapfel is a clear example of not judging a book by its cover, as there exists an entire world hidden beneath her hard surface. She is a single mother, living alone, worrying about her two sons who are both fighting in the war. It isn’t until the air raids start on Himmel Street that we see her hard shell cracked by the hammer of fear. In the shelter of the basement, Liesel takes silent stock of who is most afraid. She sees Frau Holtzapfel consumed by unblinking terror. Liesel’s reading of The Whistler during one such raid was the start of Frau Holtzapfel’s quiet unraveling. She comes to the Hubermanns’ door a few days later, asking that Liesel come read to her each day, offering her coffee ration and a halt to the door-spitting as payment. What we learn through this exchange is that she is a profoundly lonely woman who longs for someone to sit with, and her vitriol is the cloak with which she conceals her fear. It may be assumed that war hardens a person, but here, the opposite is true. The terror and violence of the war reveals a softness and humanity in Frau Holtzapfel.
