CHARACTER
A Night Dividedby Jennifer A. Nielsen

Herr Krause

Herr Krause

Quick Facts

  • Role: Elderly next-door neighbor to the Lowes; quiet dissident and catalyst for the plot
  • First appearance: Chapter 2, when he warns the family about the looming border closure
  • Past: Veteran of the 1953 worker uprisings alongside Aldous Lowe
  • Home: Same apartment building as the Lowes in East Berlin
  • Key relationships: Closest to Aldous; moral exemplar to Gerta Lowe; distrusted yet respected by Katharina Lowe; hunted by the Stasi
  • Fate: Arrested, tortured, briefly released, then killed for continued resistance
  • Theme focus: Embodies Freedom vs. Oppression

Who They Are

Quiet, stubborn, and fiercely principled, Herr Krause is defined less by physical detail and more by the shape of his courage. The author describes him simply as an “older man,” letting his choices—and the consequences of those choices—build his character. After his first arrest, he returns with “heavy bags under his eyes” and trembling hands, his body carrying the marks of the Stasi’s brutality. Despite that, he continues to resist. Herr Krause is the neighbor who speaks the quiet truth others refuse to say—and pays the price to prove it.

Personality & Traits

Herr Krause’s strength lies in the convergence of perception, principle, and perseverance. He recognizes danger early, refuses to surrender his beliefs, and acts even when action is costly.

  • Courageous: He urges the Lowes to flee before the border closes and later secretly prints anti-government pamphlets—fully aware that discovery could mean prison or death.
  • Perceptive: He foresees the government’s tightening grip and predicts the Wall when others, like Katharina, still cling to official reassurances.
  • Resistant: From the 1953 uprisings to clandestine literature, he sustains a lifelong fight for free thought, not just a momentary protest.
  • Loyal: His bond with Aldous drives him to endanger himself for Aldous’s family, continuing to pass information even after Aldous is trapped in the West.
  • Principled: His stamp—“IF I CANNOT SPEAK WHAT I THINK, THEN IT’S A CRIME JUST TO BE ME!”—encapsulates a belief system that values conscience over survival.

Character Journey

Herr Krause begins as a cautious dissident who quietly tries to protect his friends, warning the Lowes in the earliest chapters (Chapter 1-5 Summary). When the authorities discover his pamphlets, he is arrested; his brief, broken return—murmuring “I was wrong”—reveals the regime’s power to shatter the strongest spirits. Yet his resistance endures. He continues holding secret meetings, is seized again, and ultimately dies in state custody (Chapter 41-45 Summary). His arc is less about inner change than about outward martyrdom: the state can break his body, but the ideas he represents survive—not least in Gerta.

Key Relationships

  • Aldous Lowe: Herr Krause’s closest friend and ideological partner. Their shared history of dissent gives Krause a personal stake in protecting Aldous’s family. His warnings and sacrifices demonstrate what Aldous stands for when Aldous himself is absent, making Krause the living echo of Aldous’s beliefs.
  • Gerta Lowe: To Gerta, Krause is a model of quiet, everyday bravery—proof that resistance isn’t always loud but is always costly. Witnessing his arrests and death catalyzes her Coming of Age, clarifying the stakes of her own defiance and turning her father’s values into her own.
  • Katharina Lowe: Katharina respects Krause but fears the danger his views invite. Her skepticism toward his early warning shows how denial can become complicity; only later does the tragedy validate Krause’s foresight.
  • The Stasi: Krause is the exact citizen the regime fears: thoughtful, principled, and persuasive. Their pursuit of him becomes a lethal cat-and-mouse game that illustrates the GDR’s goal—not merely to silence opposition, but to make examples of those who think freely.

Defining Moments

Herr Krause’s most important scenes chart the cost of principle in a state built on fear. Each moment deepens the novel’s warnings about obedience and the price of truth.

  • The Warning (Chapter 2): He urges the Lowes to escape—“The whispers are growing louder... Your family must get over to the west, while you still can.” Why it matters: This is the spark that sends Aldous and Dominic west and, when the Wall rises, divides the family. Krause becomes the catalyst of the entire plot.
  • The Arrest (Chapter 24): Gerta sees the Stasi drag a bleeding Krause from his flat; his stamped pamphlets lie scattered—evidence of his dissent (Chapter 21-25 Summary). Why it matters: The image makes resistance tangible to Gerta, tying words on paper to blood on pavement.
  • The Return (Chapter 26): The Stasi return him broken; he whispers, “I never should have printed those papers... I was wrong” (Chapter 26-30 Summary). Why it matters: His forced recantation demonstrates psychological torture as a tool of control—and foreshadows his refusal to be silent for long.
  • His Death (Chapter 42): Gerta watches his body carried out after another raid. Why it matters: His murder transforms him from dissident to martyr, a warning and an inspiration that sharpen the Lowes’ resolve to act.

Symbolism & Themes

Krause symbolizes the quiet, durable conscience that survives beneath totalitarian noise. He stands for the belief that thought and speech are the irreducible core of selfhood; to outlaw them is to criminalize being. He anchors the novel’s meditation on fear and bravery, embodying the tension at the heart of Courage and Fear: courage rarely feels triumphant in the moment, but it lights the path others follow. His life—and more pointedly his death—insists that true imprisonment isn’t a wall of concrete, but a mind policed into silence.

Essential Quotes

“Choose to go now... Or soon you will have no choice.” This line distills Krause’s clarity about political momentum: he grasps that hesitation is itself a decision in an authoritarian state. The ultimatum frames freedom as time-sensitive and action-based, propelling the Lowe plotline and defining Krause as the novel’s early moral alarm.

“Where it is dangerous to speak, or to act, or even to think?” By listing speech, action, and thought, Krause identifies the regime’s total control over public and private life. The rhetorical escalation underscores the novel’s warning: when thinking becomes perilous, silence is no longer safety—it is surrender.

“IF I CANNOT SPEAK WHAT I THINK, THEN IT’S A CRIME JUST TO BE ME!” Printed on his pamphlets, this statement turns dissent into identity. It explains why Krause keeps resisting even after torture: to abandon speech would be to abandon himself, making resistance not a choice but a necessity.

“Why is the GDR so afraid of letting its people think?” This question reframes dissent as a test of state legitimacy. If truth were on the regime’s side, no censorship would be needed; the need to suppress thought exposes the fragility of its power—and vindicates Krause’s cause.