Misha - Main Character “a little child of indeterminate age and background” is a small, short orphan boy who survives by using his size and quickness to steal food and escape danger.[5] Through most of the novel Misha has no recollection of a past and “much less an understanding"
Uri is “scrappy, slightly older boy, with bright red hair” who acts as a ringleader for Misha and the other smugglers.[14] Described as ”fearless on the streets,” Uri often helps Misha escape danger.[15] Unlike Misha and the other orphans, Uri does not live in the ghetto but is found at the Blue Camel, the place where Jackboots live.
Kuba is a boy who Misha calls “the clown.” Has a big obsession with cats.[16]
Ferdi is an orphan boy who Misha calls the “smoke-blowing Ferdi.”[17] When asked questions “[his] answers [are] never long . . . he [blows] more smoke than words.”[18]
Olek is a boy who has one arm. He says a train ran over his arm. He was hanged for stealing food.
Big Henryk is a large boy who will “say yes to everything.”[19] He doesn’t wear shoes but instead wears “gray bank coin bags on his feet.” He appears mentally disabled from the "bellowing" and how he says "yes to everything"[20]
Jon is a boy who doesn’t speak. Misha sees him as “gray.”[21] He was thrown into the cart of dead bodies and taken away.
Mr. Milgrom is Janina’s father. He is a pharmacist who makes medicine, but he stops working a formal job after restrictions are put on Jews.
Mrs. Milgrom is Janina’s mother who is sick. She always is laying on a mattress in the Ghetto.
Janina Milgrom is a small young girl who gets frustrated, upset, mad, and pushy frequently throughout the novel. She is “[a] fiery young friend” of Misha and frequently mimics him. She later becomes Misha's sister.[3] Misha later gives his granddaughter the middle name Janina in memory of his sister.
Uncle Shepsel is Janina’s Uncle who decides that he will convert to Lutheranism so he will no longer be treated as a Jew. He is described by Misha as "looking like Himmler."
Doctor Korczak, The man who took care of orphans who also had a goatee. He is based on a real doctor, named Doctor Korczak who really did take care of orphans.
Vivian is a “normal, sensible person” who enjoys Misha’s mad sounding talk of his past. Later she marries Misha and lives with him for five months before she leaves, pregnant with his child.[22]
Katherine is a friendly “young woman . . . [with] dark brown hair” who is Misha’s daughter. She is twenty-five years old with a daughter of her own named Wendy.[23] Misha “wasn’t sure” about Katherine when Vivian walked out, until she finds him years later.
Wendy is four years old and is Misha’s granddaughter. She calls Misha “Poppynoodle.”
Herr Himmler is a head Jackboot who has “half a little black mustache . . . [and] a scrawny neck . . . [and] looks like a chicken...“.[24]
Buffo is a flop working in the Ghetto. He is seen by Misha as the "worst flop" who "couldn't possibly be a Jew." His favorite way of killing people (He likes killing Children) is to kiss his club, then throw it away and smother his victims in his stomach. He always smelled like mint, so when someone was killed by him, they say that he "smelled the mint". Misha found him after the war was over, but Buffo just shuffled away.
