Karl Stern

Karl Stern is the main character and hero of the novel. He is 14 when the novel begins and 18 at its conclusion. He lives in Berlin, Germany at the beginning of Hitler’s reign. Oppression of the Jews has just begun when the novel opens but Karl is already beginning to feel the abuse of this oppression as a group of boys known as the Wolf Pack give him a brutal beating after the final day of school because he is Jewish.

It is at one of his father’s art showings the day of his beating that Karl meets Max Schmeling, the German championship boxer. Seeing Karl’s injuries, Max offers to give Karl boxing lessons in exchange for a painting Karl’s father owns. Karl’s boxing lessons become much more than just a hobby, they are a way for him to escape from the increasing...