Franz’s first burglary with Pums’s gang marks the point at which his return to crime becomes an actual, organized undertaking rather than a possibility. On a Saturday night into Sunday morning, he takes part in a carefully prepared theft, contributes his strength to moving the stolen goods, and receives money from Pums. The job also changes what he can tell Mieze: after keeping the crime from her for two days, he gives her his earnings and admits where they came from.

Preparation and Setting

Before the burglary, Waldemar Heller has surveyed large fashion shops in Kronenstrasse and Neue Wallstrasse. Paid for his expenses by Pums, he learns the entrances and exits, the arrangement of the buildings, who is present, and where the time clocks are. His reconnaissance makes the theft appear less like an impulsive break-in than a planned operation based on detailed knowledge of commercial premises.

The crew has also prepared the route into the building. The night before, three men enter a floor above the printers, carrying a ladder and an oxy-acetylene torch concealed in boxes. They hide the equipment behind bales of paper, and one of them drives the car away. At eleven, the others enter. The account describes a building of offices and shops, with the burglary carried out from above into a shop below; it does not identify that particular premises by name. The gang keeps watch on both the window and the yard while the tinsmith uses the torch to cut through the floor. An umbrella is pushed into the opening to catch falling debris, limiting the chance that the work will draw attention below.

The Burglary

Franz is there for the first time, seated in the automobile as the operation gets under way. By then, everyone has an assigned part. At midnight Heller descends first because he knows the premises. Another man follows using an eight-foot steel ladder, which the gang extends by bringing tables beneath it. Franz remains above the opening, lying on his stomach. As the others pass up bolts of cloth, he sweeps them aside with his one remaining arm, placing them where another gang member can collect them.

His disability does not prevent him from doing strenuous work. The narration emphasizes the force of his grip and notes that even Reinhold is impressed by what he can manage. In this operation Franz is not simply present or waiting for instructions: he becomes a productive member of the crew, assigned a task that depends on his strength. The stolen goods are gathered into baskets, and Reinhold patrols the yard exit while another man watches it. The gang avoids confronting the night watchman, reasoning that he is unlikely to risk himself for the small amount he is paid. They leave money beside his time clock rather than interfere with him.

The work is completed in about two hours. The men wait for the car, eat breakfast without drinking enough schnapps to make noise, and leave. Franz and Heller are described as making their first trip out with the gang that day. A coin toss sends Heller back down into the darkened shop; Franz’s part in the theft has already been carried out above the opening. After the gang unloads, it undertakes one more quick job, extending the night’s criminal work beyond the first premises.

The Road Back and Its Reversal

On the return journey, the car strikes and kills a dog. Pums, who likes dogs, is upset and reproaches the tinsmith, who is driving. The others treat his concern as excessive, and Franz and Reinhold laugh at his reaction. The episode briefly disrupts the gang’s businesslike account of the night: Pums’s concern for the animal sits uneasily beside the crew’s theft and their indifference to the people whose property they have taken. The incident also gives the successful return an unwelcome consequence, though the burglary itself has proceeded without interruption.

Payment and Confession

Franz says nothing at home about the burglary for two days. His silence ends when Pums sends him two hundred-mark notes, telling him he may return them if he does not need them. Franz can use the money, including to give some to Herbert for Magdeburg, and brings it to Mieze. The payment makes his participation concrete: he has taken part in the crime and now has earnings to hand over.

Franz first presents the notes to Mieze tenderly, then explains that he earned them and that the job was with Pums and Reinhold. He tells her not to tell Herbert or Eva, fearing that they would reject him if they knew. His confession connects the burglary to his insecurity about his missing arm and his inability to earn a living as other people do. He says that he has to work or risk going to prison. In his account, the theft is therefore at once criminal income and evidence that he can still provide something.

Mieze does not respond with uncomplicated happiness. She kisses and embraces him, but her attention to the money changes the mood; she turns pale, sits looking at the tablecloth, and cries quietly. Franz does not understand what he has done wrong and offers the money as a chance for the two of them to take a trip. She agrees, but remains overwhelmed. The scene leaves their closeness intact while making the cost of his new source of income visible in her distress.

Significance

The burglary gives Franz a place in the gang through a specific, effective task, and payment helps him imagine himself as a provider despite his disability. Yet the job’s apparent success does not settle his anxieties: he hides it from two people whose judgment matters to him, then discloses it to Mieze in a scene where money and affection cannot be cleanly separated. The passage also sets the crew’s planned movement through commercial buildings against the city’s ordinary systems of work and transit. Elsewhere, trams link districts and fares distinguish adult passengers from students and other reduced-fare riders; at Alexanderplatz, tram routes cross a square being torn up for the underground railway. Against that changing urban network, the burglary turns familiar business premises into a route for illicit work. Franz’s entry into the gang is thus both a practical achievement and a step into a life he cannot yet acknowledge openly.