Chapter 5 - The Jesse Owens Incident

Death frames the episode as one Liesel later absorbed into her own story. In 1936, after Jesse Owens’s fourth Olympic gold, Rudy Steiner is enthralled. While his family gathers at home, Rudy sneaks charcoal from the stove, covers his skin and hair, takes his brother’s bike, and heads to Hubert Oval.

Alone under the moon, Rudy digs starting holes, imagines a roaring crowd, and sprints the hundred meters barefoot, commentating his own victory as “Jesse Owens.” He breaks the imaginary tape, then begins a triumphant lap—only to find his father, Alex Steiner, waiting at the finish like a stern apparition.

Alex, a normally polite tailor, is appalled to discover his son smeared in charcoal. He grips Rudy by the ear, demands an explanation, and hears, simply, that Rudy was being Jesse Owens. On the walk home, Alex tries to explain the political reality: admiration for a Black athlete is dangerous in Nazi Germany.

The narration outlines Alex Steiner’s contradictions: a Nazi Party member who does not personally hate Jews, yet feels relief when Jewish competitors are shuttered, all while prioritizing family survival and suppressing his moral doubts. He tells Rudy he cannot paint himself black or want to be like Black or Jewish people because “they’ll take you away.”

Rudy, confused, wishes he could be like Owens. Alex counters with the safety of Rudy’s blond hair and blue eyes, a reassurance that underscores the regime’s racial creed rather than easing his son’s bewilderment. The chapter closes with foreshadowing: two and a half years later, Mr. Kaufmann’s Jewish shoe shop is smashed and emptied, confirming the danger Alex warned about.