"Dry Tears" Notes

“Dry Tears: The story of a lost childhood” chronicles the story of Nechama Tec, or as she is known by her family Krysia, as a Gentile Jew living in Poland during WWII.

The novel takes place from the view of Tec as a young child as her family struggles to stay hidden from German authorities in WWII. The entire time that her family is in hiding they are in constant fear that the German army will uncover them. Luckily, this never happens.

During her journey, Tec is faced with multiple accounts of prejudice from her confidants. Although, since Tec does not have predominant Jewish features like her mother and father she isn’t ridiculed as much as others. Those who are hosting the family often tell her how she could not be Jewish because of the way she acts. Most times, Tec is struggling with an identity crisis due to her act of a fake relative to her host families.

Most of the people Tec grows attached to are killed during various attacks from German raids. Tec grows especially attached to the children of one of the families she stays with. Tec is very infatuated with Waldek, who is an infant. After an incident where Waldek and his sister are attacked, Tec and her mother have to go rescue the child from its drunken father.

As Tec grows into a teenager during the war, she witnesses many incidents that shape her worldview of others during the war. Tec learns about sex from a young age and she often struggles with judging others for their life choices. For instance, many Jewish girls would have sexual relations with German soldiers to secure their safety in the war. Tec thinks that these types of girls are hypocrites to their kind and finds the situation confusing.

At one point, Tec joins the workforce as a child laborer in a factory. Since Tec has a smaller figure than others, she is not able to as much work and makes lower wages. Eventually, her family resorts to selling baked breads in an underground black market scheme.

After the war is over, the host family rudely nudges the family out of their home. The novel finishes with the family visiting the home they abandoned at the beginning of the war. It leaves on a somber notes as the family discovers that the building has been bombed into ashes.