The Painted Bird

The boy’s current village is overlooked by a railroad bridge guarded by German soldiers with swastikas on their flags. Gunfire is heard at night, and the peasants speculate about who is winning and losing. Some look forward to the Soviets redistributing the land to the poor. Others fear they “would nationalize everything right down to the wives and children” (172). The peasants dig pits and hide food, distracted from their differences by the ever-nearing battle. The boy likes the idea of communal families, excited that many people would take care of and comfort him. He ponders whether God determines what will happen and asks how God could let either the Germans or the Soviets win, as they both “demolished churches and murdered people” (174).

One day the Germans leave hastily. The next day, a band of Kalmuks—Mongolian nomads who’d settled in Russia and, persecuted by the Russians, joined the German forces—terrorize the village, killing without mercy and brutally raping the women and girls. When they first arrive, the boy is proud that dark men like him inspire fear. However, after witnessing their cruelty, he laments that God must not answer his prayers because he “belonged like them in another world” (178).