As the title suggests, The German Girl is preoccupied with the question of what it means to be German. In 1939 Berlin, anti-Semitic sentiments are taking root, and Jewish Germans are told that they are not “pure” Germans. Hannah’s mother Alma, however, tries to instill in Hannah’s head that she is every bit as German as those who tell her that she is “impure.” Hannah is eventually thinks that the “pure” people are “the ones who should leave. They were not from here. We were. We were more German than they were” (9). It is a sign of strength, growth, and character in Hannah’s family that they reclaim the designation “German.” It is important to Alma to think of herself as German and not merely Jewish.

This situation is complicated, however, by Hannah’s ability to pass as a “pure” German. She is afforded special privileges simply by looking more Aryan. A photographer of political propaganda mistakes her for a “pure” type, not knowing that she has a Jewish heritage, and her photo lands on the cover of a prominent magazine popular among the “pure” girls at Hannah’s school. The novel derives its title from this mistake, which also points to the inherent ambiguity behind what it means to be German at the time.