Tim Forster Ms Phipps C Block March 20th 2024 Leadership in Times of Crisis: The Journey to Safety with Three Refugees Stepping up in a difficult situation makes a leader. In the book Refugee by Alan Gratz, the three characters, Isabel, Mahmoud, and Josef, are all running away from their home country trying to get to safety. They run into many problems trying to get away. During these problems, the characters learn that taking charge when no one else is willing to is what makes a leader. Josef had to step up many times for his family as a leader. Josef is a Jewish boy living in Germany during World War II. Due to the Holocaust, Josef's family is forced to leave Germany or they will be sent to a concentration camp. Josef's dad went to the Dachau concentration camp, which caused him to have extreme PTSD. Josefs family was so broken and “Suddenly, Josef was the man in the family, the only adult in the family” (167). Josef's mom took a sleeping pill and his dad is very unwell after going to the concentration camp. Josef has to step up and take responsibility for his little sister Ruthie and the rest of his family. This was not the only time that Josef stepped up as a leader for his family. After Josef, his mom and his sister made it off the St. Louis where they landed in France, Josef and his family were caught by the Nazis …show more content…
In all three stories, the characters face many ups and downs when trying to seek refuge. Mahmoud was stuck in the middle of the Mediterranean, Joseph was stuck on a ship in Cuba where they wouldn’t accept him, and Isabel was in the ocean for five days trying to get to Miami. The connection between the three books is that an officer who saved Josef's dad's life is known as Officer Padron and is Lito in Isabel's story. Then when Mahmoud's family finally made it to Germany, the people they were staying with happened to be Ruthie, Josef's little