Web design and content by the 8th-grade students of Bernard Zell
A student's guide to the novel inspired by hidden history.
Minor Characters
Seraph
Seraph is one of Tsura's closest friends. She supplies weapons to Tsura and Tsura's friends, and along with Wolf allows Tsura to live the life she does. The name Seraph means angel, and although it is not her given name it is the name that she goes by in Train. It is very fitting, because, in a way, she is the guardian angel of not only Tsura but also the other major characters in Train. Seraph's parents were political prisoners of the Nazis. The Nazis came and took away most of their belongings before Train begins, leaving Seraph with only her apartment at the beginning of the book. Even with this, she is able to be a large influencing factor in Train.
Wolf
Wim
We never know how Wolf received his nickname but it could allude to the tribe of Benjamin from the bible because the wolf is the symbol of the tribe of Benjamin. Although Wolf is a minor character in the novel, Train, his character still has significance. It can be assumed that Wolf’s parents are sent to concentration camps, as they are described as being taken away. He seems to be reserved and cold, perhaps as a result of losing his parents. Further, Wolf is dating Seraph and operates an illegal business that involves giving false papers to people who need to escape Germany.
Wim is a Nazi guard at Marzahn. He had been hanging out with Tsura because Tsura wanted to secretly get information on the camp. He shows her pictures of his family which shows that even the Nazis had families and people who cared about them. With all that occurred in the Holocaust, it is difficult to imagine Nazis as real people but that picture shows they are. Then later in the story when Wolf, Seraph, and Tsura visit the camp again, Seraph shoots Wim and takes his uniform.
Annett
Annett Broden is Ruth and Alex's mother. She is very supportive of her family as well as Elise throught Train, and spends most of the story protesting at Rossenstrase. Annett stays optimistic throughout the book even though her son and husband are imprisoned by the Nazis. When Alex comes home to tell her aboit roundups, she stays calm as she calls to see where Samuel, her husband, is, and tells Alex to hide. Annett is dedicated to the protests at Rossenstrasse where she spends almost all of her time after Samuel and Alex are arrested.
Viktor
Viktor, Elise’s brother, is an extremely significant and symbolic character throughout Train. He follows her through some of the most traumatic experiences she’s faced. He held her hand and guided it as she cut herself due to depression. Viktor stays with Elise throughout Train; he symbolizes how Elise needs a victim of the Nazis by her side to remind her not to succumb to the beliefs followed by most of society. At the end of the book, he leaves showing that Elise now understands the harm the Nazis have created and the depths of how terrible they are.
Professor Duerr
Professor Duerr is a caring and brave individual who took Marko, Tsura, and Kizzy into her care after they left Marzahn. Duerr is genuinely close with all three of them as evidenced by their sorrow when her health takes a steep turn for the worse seemingly out of nowhere. Kizzy, Tsura, and Marko’s efforts to bring Professor Duerr to the hospital sets off a sequence of events that drives the plot of much of the book. Until the moment she died, Professor Duerr was a trustworthy, loving, and loyal character, the type of person one can always count on.