Projekt 1065

Michael quickly sketches everything he can remember from the blueprints and explains how he saw them. Simon is happy he can “‘finish [his] mission after all’” (82) by bringing actual blueprints back to England. He just needs Michael to memorize more of the plans, which Michael is sure he can do because he and Fritz are in the same junior youth squad. However, Michael remembers they’re about to be moved up to the senior squad, and Michael is sure he won’t pass the necessary tests because of his acrophobia. Simon responds, “‘We have less than a week to get you over your fear of heights’” (84). Simon wants to start immediately and convinces Michael to join him on the roof—in the middle of an air raid. 

From the embassy roof, Berlin seems to be “on fire” (85) as “hundreds of thousands of bombs” (85) fall. Michael reflects that the factory he discovered the location of will be bombed as well, and that it won’t be soldiers inside it but “prisoners”—“innocent people” (86). Simon tells Michael if the Allies didn’t drop bombs and instead allowed the Nazis to win, “‘even more innocent people would die’” (86); like Michael’s Ma, he suggests that “‘good people’” must be “‘sacrificed’” (86) so others can be saved.