Uprising

Uprising (2024) by Jennifer A. Nielsen is a middle grade historical fiction novel. The story is based on the life of Lidia Durr, who grew up in Warsaw during Germany’s invasion of Poland during World War II and actively participated as a messenger during the subsequent Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The novel follows a semi-fictionalized version of her life over five years, exploring her family, friends, and fellow resistance fighters as they struggle to survive life under Nazi rule and organize an internal resistance. As a bildungsroman, the novel examines Lidia’s development throughout the war, exploring themes of Personal Growth in Extreme Hardship; The Importance of Family, Friendship, and Community; and Self-Sacrifice and Resilience Against Genocidal Violence.

This guide refers to the 2024 first hardcover edition published by Scholastic Press.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide discuss wartime violence, the Holocaust and antisemitism, and death.

Plot Summary

In Poland in 1939, 12-year-old Lidia Durr is visiting her grandfather when a Nazi plane flies overhead, dropping bombs on the countryside and shooting at Lidia and her father. As they rush inside, they hear a broadcast on the radio announcing Germany’s invasion of Poland.

Lidia, Papa, Mama, and Lidia’s brother, Ryszard, return to their home in Warsaw. They immediately go into the basement as the bombing of the city begins. It continues for the next several weeks as Lidia and her family struggle to bring food and supplies into the basement. As Papa joins the war—despite Mama and Lidia’s arguments against it—their old maid, Ruth “Doda” Goldstein, comes with her mother, Bubbe, seeking shelter. Mama hesitates, but Lidia and Ryszard insist that she stay.

After nearly four weeks, Lidia and her family receive news over the radio that Germany—with Russia’s help—has officially occupied Poland. As they emerge from the basement and see part of their home destroyed, Lidia looks around at the destruction in Warsaw and realizes that the war has only just begun.

As Lidia and her family begin their lives under Nazi occupation, their schools are shut down, radios are forbidden, and their newspapers are outlawed; Nazi newspapers and constant broadcasts through loudspeakers on the streets replace them. Lidia and Ryszard have several run-ins with Nazi soldiers: One hits Ryszard with his gun, and another slaps Lidia for their supposed lack of respect for their authority.

Lidia’s family eventually loses the money they had saved up—taken from the bank by the Nazis—and their home. Doda invites them to live in her old apartment, with several of Papa’s workers coming together to pay their rent. While Mama largely continues to ignore the signs of occupation around her, she gets a job working in a restaurant to support their family.

The Nazis wall off a section of Warsaw, forcing Jewish residents—including Doda and Bubbe—to move in. Lidia does her best to help them over the next several months, and she meets a young girl named Maryna who helps her. Lidia sneaks into the ghetto with Mama to deliver food and clothes. She and Maryna drop food through a hole in the fence and then through a drainpipe on the roof of their building. However, as warnings are posted about helping the Jews and a neighbor catches Lidia sneaking in food, Lidia eventually backs down, realizing that she cannot continue to risk her life to do so little help.

At the same time, Lidia feels useless in helping the Jewish residents; she begins to see signs of resistance around her. One day, she meets Stefan, who tells her that he is working with Ryszard to deliver illegal newspapers throughout Warsaw. Lidia demands that they allow her to help, but Ryszard and Stefan both tell her no. Instead, Stefan gives her a task—to walk around the block with a newspaper and gather information about the Germans—but she fails. When Stefan refuses to let her join, she spends the next several weeks practicing, learning to move discretely while collecting information around her.

One night, there is news that the Jewish ghetto will be burned. Lidia angrily leaves her home after fighting with Mama about the resistance. She goes next door to Maryna’s house, where she meets her uncle, Halama, a resistance fighter. After impressing Halama at dinner with her arguments for helping the Jewish people, Halama gives Lidia an address to join the resistance.

Over the next year, Lidia does what she can to help the resistance movement. She delivers newspapers and messages for them and gathers whatever information she can from the Germans. Throughout, Mama insists that the resistance movement is a futile effort, warning both Ryszard and Lidia to stay out of it—even though they are already secretly involved. Ryszard speaks little of the movement to Lidia; instead, each pretends that they don’t know of the other’s involvement. However, after the Gestapo comes looking for Ryszard, he is forced to flee. Ultimately, he joins the partisans, a ground of soldiers fighting the Nazi army on the western front.

On August 1, 1944, a unified uprising in Warsaw officially begins, with Lidia at the center of it as one of their best messengers. She makes several trips between the Wola District—the center of operations—and an outpost in Old Town. As she does so, the German and the Polish Underground Army trade several blows. The Germans destroy much of the city of Warsaw, and the Poles manage to steal supplies, fortify a safe zone, and rebuff the Germans’ best efforts to retake Warsaw.

In the middle of the fighting, Lidia goes to see Mama one last time. She urges Mama to escape to Sweden, but Mama is uninterested in Lidia or her safety—instead, she still insists that the uprising is doomed to fail. Lidia finally asks her mother why she doesn’t love her, and Mama breaks down, admitting that she tried to distance herself from Lidia after losing her other daughter, Krystyna, at the age of two. Mama tried not to love Lidia to avoid having her heart broken again. Now, she apologizes as Lidia embraces her, and the two show affection for each other for the first time. Mama promises to get out of the country to Sweden, where she will wait for Lidia.

Eventually, the Nazi army manages to retake control of Warsaw. As the German army nears, Lidia makes several trips through the sewers, doing what she can to get the refugees out of the city. On her final trip, she plans to escape with Maryna and a young boy named Weasel. However, Nazi soldiers arrest Lidia and the remaining resistance fighters. The soldiers lead them to a train station nearby, where they will be transported to a prison camp. However, at the last moment, Lidia, Maryna, and Weasel manage to escape, fleeing from the train station and out into the woods.

Lidia, Maryna, and Weasel make it out of Poland and, eventually, to Sweden. They go to the address that Mama left but learn that she left weeks ago. Instead, Lidia begins playing the piano for money until she gets the attention of a wealthy British man who takes them to London. The three of them stay in London. Lidia continues to play the piano until Weasel and Maryna have enough money to go to her family in Norway. They try to get Lidia to join them, but Lidia stays behind in London.

Years later, Lidia manages to track down her mother, who is living in Chicago in the United States. Lidia knocks on the door, Mama answers, and the two embrace—ready to rebuild their relationship.