Projekt 1065

Michael finds Horst walking home from a movie theater, throws a sack over his head, knocks him to the ground, and gives him “the beatdown he’d delivered to so many other boys” (241-42), the same beatdown he hopes the Allies can give to Hitler. By the time Michael is done, Horst is “just barely” (242) alive, and Michael uses Horst’s blood to draw an edelweiss on the wall above him.

Michael arrives home to tell his parents and Simon they must act tonight—“‘There’s been an opening on the science team’” (243).

Michael, Fritz, two other members of the science team, and a few SS officers wait under the Moltke Bridge on an unusually cold night. Michael asks Fritz where Horst is, and Fritz replies that “‘the Pirates got him’” (244). Finally, they hear footsteps on the path under the bridge and shine flashlights at the man caught out after curfew: Simon.

Trumbauer asks Michael where his parents are, and Michael says they were supposed to be with Simon. Trumbauer sends some of the SS to the embassy to find Michael’s parents, as Michael hopes they’re already safely away. Michael, playing his role, condemns Simon as “‘an enemy of the state’” (247), and when a soldier guts Simon with a rifle, the “boy” within Michael is terrified for Simon—but Michael must try “to remember to be a man” (247).

Despite the serious situation, Simon starts telling a joke about an English and Irishman before a firing squad; then he pulls free of the soldiers and runs. Shots echo, Simon falls, and one of the SS officers announces that Simon is dead.

Michael has to hide his tears as he realizes that Simon intended to get shot rather than become a prisoner. Simon died “to protect his mission” (250), to ensure he would never reveal secrets under torture. Trumbauer notices Michael is crying, and Michael covers by saying he’s distraught his parents betrayed Germany. Trumbauer says Fritz has recommended Michael for the “‘special mission’” (250), and the officer agrees with Fritz’s suggestion. Michael replies that he’d “‘give anything and everything to be on that team’” (251)—because he already has.

Michael and the rest of the team who are pretending to be young scientists—Fritz, Ottmar, and Erhard—are in a tram car over the Swiss Alps, and Michael is suffering from his fear of heights. At the same time, Michael keeps replaying the moment of Simon’s death, “like a piece of broken film” (253). Despite his grief, Michael must continue to portray “the zealous Hitler Youth” (254) until his mission is complete.

team arrives at the Edelweiss Resort, which is perched on the side of a mountain and “an acrophobe’s worst nightmare” (255). Michael notices that all the guests must go through security, and he’s worried the guards might find the Projekt 1065 plans Michael has hidden under his shirt, which would turn the other boys against Michael. Michael decides to conceal the plans behind a loose stone in a wall near the cable car, but once he does so, a voice asks what he’s doing.

The voice Michael heard is Fritz. Michael lies that he’s still sick from the tram ride and needs time alone, and Fritz agrees—apparently, Fritz hasn’t seen the plans. Michael hides the plans behind a stone that sticks out a few inches so he can find them again. He rejoins the others, and the guards wave them through without searching them. Michael realizes that his mother was right—women and children are great spies because people “underestimate” (259) them.

Only Ottmar knows the full plan to assassinate Goldsmit, and when the boys are in their room, he tells them to empty their suitcases and find the equipment with red dots painted on it. Ottmar quickly fits together the dotted pieces to make their “‘science project’” (261)—a bomb. Ottmar then tells the boys to gather their clothes and fake passports for their trip home—they’ll pretend to be four Swiss boys “on holiday” (261).

Ottmar explains that he and Erhard will plant the bomb while Fritz and Michael tell the front desk that they noticed a crack in the snow mounds above the resort. This will cause an avalanche alarm, and all guests will be moved to the hotel basement—where the bomb will explode 15 minutes later. Michael is horrified to learn that they’ll kill everyone, but Ottmar responds, “‘What do a few more dead scientists matter?’” (262). Fritz confirms that Goldsmit is already at the resort, and the boys plan to detonate the bomb immediately, giving Michael no chance to alert the Swiss guards.

As Michael and Fritz head to the front desk, Michael protests against killing innocent people, while Fritz argues that innocents are killed by Allied bombs as well. Michael loses Fritz and finds a few Swiss soldiers, then leads them to the basement where Ottmar and Erhard are setting up the bomb. However, when the Swiss soldiers open Ottmar’s suitcase, all that’s inside is “a messy pile of clothing” (265).

Michael realizes that Fritz, not Ottmar, is carrying the bomb—the boys have “known all along” that Michael is “a traitor” (266). The Swiss soldiers think that Michael is playing a prank, and then the avalanche alarm sounds. The soldiers leave, telling the boys to stay in the basement room, as Ottmar mockingly tells Michael he’s “‘safe here’” (267).

Ottmar and Erhard gang up on Michael, beating him until he’s “back in that school yard in London” (268), and he wants to teach the two boys a lesson. Michael has more important matters to deal with, though, so he knocks a stack of chairs over on the two boys, slowing them down enough to escape. Pushing against the guests streaming into the basement, Michael runs right into a short, curly-haired man he recognizes from a picture as Goldsmit. Michael pulls Goldsmit away from the basement, explaining the assassination plot as he does so. When Michael mentions the atomic bomb—something that isn’t common knowledge—Goldsmit knows he’s telling the truth. Ottmar attacks the professor from behind.

Ottmar tries to stab Goldsmit, but Michael knocks Ottmar unconscious with a nearby vase. Michael leads Goldsmit out of the building—if Goldsmit is not in the basement, Fritz won’t detonate the bomb—but when Michael reaches the wall where he hid the Projekt 1065 plans, sure he’s about to earn “more medals” than the German boys could “dream about” (273), the plans are missing.

Michael realizes that Fritz must have taken the plans, because he’d seen Michael pull them from his shirt. What’s more, Fritz would have recognized the plans as belonging to his own father, and realized Michael’s entire friendship with Fritz had been a ruse. Now, Fritz has a bomb and must be “mad as hell” (275).

Michael pushes Goldsmit onto a descending tram and nearly passes out from his fear of heights. Something lands on the roof of the tram car, and a metal blade breaks through the roof, with the words BLOOD AND HONOR written on it. Michael realizes Fritz must be on the roof of the car.

Fritz’s upside-down head looks through the car window, affirming Michael and Goldsmit are inside, and Michael catches sight of the suitcase bomb as well. Michael is sure Fritz won’t hesitate to blow himself up with the others, and they’re all trapped during the 40-minute ride down the mountain. Goldsmit manages to open a window but is too big to fit through. Only Michael can climb up to the roof and stop Fritz, but his fear of heights prevents him.

Michael reflects that Simon would tell him to “confront [his] fear” (279), and telling jokes as Simon used to do, Michael climbs through the window.

Michael stands on top of the window, unable to open his eyes, until he forces them open and accidentally looks down. He can’t keep his grip on the roof, and he begins “watching [him]self fall” (282).

Fritz grabs Michael’s hand and pulls him onto the roof, thus saving him from falling, and from death, for a second time. Fritz says he’s impressed with Michael’s climb through the window—Michael is getting stronger, just as Michael taught Fritz to “‘fight back’” (284) and become stronger as well. Maybe, Fritz says, that’s why he saved Michael—“‘because you saved me’” (284).

Michael tries to reason with Fritz, arguing he doesn’t have to become a “‘monster’” (285) and kill others and himself—but Fritz responds that he’s already started the timer on the bomb.

As Michael panics, knowing the bomb will go off any minute, Fritz pulls the Projekt 1065 blueprints from his shirt and accuses Michael of using him rather than being a true friend. Michael insists he “‘really did become [Fritz’s] friend’” (286), but Fritz believes they’re “‘enem[ies]’” (286). Fritz throws the papers down the mountain, meaning the Allies will never be able to use them, and goads Michael into crossing the roof and kicking the suitcase over the side. Fritz believes Michael’s fear of heights will leave him “paralyzed” (287), but now Michael knows this is more than a “game” (287), and he can’t let his fear destroy lives. Michael draws his dagger and steps toward Fritz, “ready to fight” (287).

Appearing rattled by Michael’s bravery, Fritz draws his dagger and picks up the suitcase to protect it. Michael punches Fritz, and Fritz drops his dagger. Michael thrusts his dagger at Fritz, but Fritz holds up the suitcase to protect it, and the knife slices through the leather and into the bomb. Both boys freeze, “waiting for the bomb to explode” (289).

The bomb doesn’t explode.

Michael and Fritz swing at each other, and Michael stabs Fritz in the arm, causing him to drop the suitcase, which “plummet[s]” (291) down the mountain into the snow. Fritz pummels Michael and grabs his dagger, insisting he’ll kill Goldsmit himself, when a huge explosion sounds. The bomb has detonated, “trigger[ing] an avalanche” (292). 

Michael and Fritz watch as it becomes clear that the “giant clouds” (293) of snow rolling down the mountain are going to hit the tram car. Snow and rocks pound them “like gravel fired from a cannon” (293) as Michael clings to the arm of the car. Finally, the rush of snow abates, and Michael discovers he’s alone on the roof—Fritz has fallen to his death.

Michael is in a train car sitting near Goldsmit, whom he managed to save. The two are heading to the Irish Embassy in Switzerland, passing through a peaceful landscape “untouched by war” (296). Michael, however, realizes that even neutral countries like Switzerland and Ireland will be affected by the war’s outcome—they will all be ruled “by freedom or fascism, by hope or by fear” (296). After all he’s gone through, Michael knows the “depths” (296) that both sides will go to in order to win, and he doesn’t think anyone should “sit out the fight for the fate of the world when they too would live or die by the result” (296).

Michael tells Goldsmit that Simon died “‘to save you’” (297), and he urges the scientist to act in a way that makes his life “‘worth saving’” (297). Goldsmit vows to “‘do his best’” (297).

Michael and Goldsmit finally arrive at the embassy, where Michael is astonished to find his parents waiting for him.

Michael and his parents fly to London, where Michael works with the chief technician of the Royal Air Force to reconstruct the Projekt 1065 plans from memory. Michael tells the technician a joke, honoring Simon again, and thinks that Simon is the one who helped him “hone [his] memory” (301) enough to recreate the plans.

Michael and his parents are heading to Washington, DC, where they’ll be safer, and Ma can work with US Intelligence. Michael wonders if Professor Goldsmit is in the US too, but that information is classified. Agent Faulkner of the Special Operations Executive, Britain’s wartime intelligence agency, warns Michael that he can’t tell anyone about what happened. Michael is disappointed that he can’t share his and others’ brave deeds with the world, but as the novel ends, he’s secure in the knowledge that he, his parents, and the supposedly neutral Ireland have “fought for freedom too” (303).