Book Thief by Markus Zusak ~ March Book Club Online

[JoanP]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  everyone is welcome to join in.

 

The Book Thief -  March Bookclub Online
Everyone is invited to join in!  

"Fortunately, this book isn't about Death; it's about death, and so much else."   "Some will argue that a book so difficult and sad may not be appropriate for teenage readers. "The Book Thief" was published for adults in Zusak's native Australia, and I strongly suspect it was written for adults. Many teenagers will find the story too slow to get going, which is a fair criticism. But it's the kind of book that can be life-changing, because without ever denying the essential amorality and randomness of the natural order, "The Book Thief" offers us a believable, hard-won hope. The Book Thief is a complicated story of survival that will encourage its readers to think." (Bookmarks Magazine) "How can a tale told by Death be mistaken for young-adult storytelling? Easily: because this book's narrator is sorry for what he has to do. The youthful sensibility of "The Book Thief" also contributes to a wider innocence. While it is set in Germany during World War II and is not immune to bloodshed, most of this story is figurative: it unfolds as symbolic or metaphorical abstraction. "The Book Thief" will be widely read and admired because it tells a story in which books become treasures. And because there's no arguing with a sentiment like that." (New York Times)

Discussion Schedule: March 1-2 ~ Prologue March 3-7 ~ Part I & II (the gravedigger's handbook; the shoulder shrug) March 8-14 ~ Part III & IV  (mein kampf; the standover man)               March 15-21 ~ Part V & VI (the whistler; the dream carrier)                 March 22-28 ~ Part VII & VIII (complete duden dictionary; the word shaker) March 29-April 4 ~ Part IX & X (the last human stranger; the book thief)

Some Questions for Your Consideration

March 3-7 ~ Part III & IV  (mein kampf; the standover man)

1. Do you think Hans intended to give that copy of Mein Kampf to Liesel, as his son had suggested he should do, or was he merely trying to get accepted into the Nazi Party membership? Why did he decide to send it to Max Vandenburg instead?  

2.  Why did Liesel  "forget" to deliver the laundry to the the mayor's wife the week following the bonfire?  What do you think of this woman who does not speak - or smile?  How does Zusak portray her,  using very few words?  What do you know of her husband, the Mayor?

3.Were you surprised that Ilsa Hermann allowed the unkempt little Himmel Street waif into her house, into her magnificent library?  How can you tell that Liesel's reading skills are improving?

4. Why does Fran Diller, the cold, bloodless candy shop lady,  regard her paying customers with such contempt?  "The triumph before the storm," we're told.  How did the children "triumph"?  Do you anticipate Fran Diller will take part in the coming storm?

5.  How does Max answer Liesel's question whether Mein Kampf  is a good book?  Have you ever  read it?

6. Do you notice how Death's comments give an indication as to who will survive the coming devastation and who will not?  How are we made to understand that Rudy Steiner will be among the survivors?

7.  Why had Hans not previously joined the NSDAP as the majority of his neighbors had done?  How did Erik Vandenburg's accordion save Hans from ostracism?   Why does he change his mind and reapply  for membership now?
 
8. The wildcard.  Do you think Hans was surprised at mama's reaction to the challenge of hiding a Jew in the house? Were you?  Max  says he would never die a slow painful death like his uncle did, but isn't that what he's doing now in the Hubermann's  freezing cold basement?

9.  How does Hans convince Liesel of the  need for absolute secrecy about Max?  What of his threats convinces her most of the need for absolute secrecy?

10. Is Max beginning to take Hans' place as Liesel's "standover man." How are her 12th birthday gifts from Hans and Max similar?  

Relevant Links:

Readers' Guide Questions: Prologue; Parts I & II ;   A Brief History of German Rule;   Dachau;   Mein Kampf;   The Book Thief Metaphors ~ Our Favorite Zusak expressions;
  

Discussion Leaders:  JoanP & Andy

[Laura]

Joan P, if the author mentioned the name of the prison and river, I guess we are supposed to know the information!  I think the writing style is causing me to read the book too fast and miss things.  The short sections are keeping me moving quickly to the next section, but maybe too quickly.  I am going to try to read the next part more slowly.

I tried to determine if the second book Liesel steals, The Shoulder Shrug, was a real book.  I couldn’t find that it was.  I think the title is significant.  I thought of people who shrug their shoulders and what they are trying to convey --- I don’t care, I don’t know, I couldn’t be bothered.  I equated those feelings with the attitude of some of the people in towns across Europe who didn’t act as their Jewish friends and neighbors were rounded up.  I’d like to hear what others think the significance of the second book could be.

[ALF43]

Laura- After 463 days Liesel attained her second success story- The Shoulder Shrug. 
She stole it out from under a pile of smoldering ashes.  Like the Phoenix, I thught when I read it, but it was a cuckoo.
The book was a blue book with red writing engraved on the cover and a picture of a cuckoo bird (could that be Hitler?) under the title, also red.

RED-   denotes excitement, energy, passion, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, aggression, all things intense. 

[JudeS]

The cover of the Shoulder Shrug was blue.  Inside were white pages.  The book was saved from the red flames.

Blue and White are the colors of the Israeli flag.  The State of Israel was partially born out of the Holocaust.

Are these musings too fanciful?

It also brings to mind a famous Jewish saying (which may exist in other languages as well):
He who saves one soul saves the world.
Perhaps Liesel saving one book from the millions destroyed during these years was symbolic of saving the world of Knowledge. Or perhaps,saving  her own soul.

[straudetwo]

Since the pages in the second book Liesel stole were white, wouldn't we have to assume that the book was not real but a metaphor?
My big Random Hous dictionary defines the verb shrug as raise (the shoulders) as a gesture of doubt, disdain or indifference.

The names of the town (IMolching) and the river (Amber) are both ficticious.  Could the town of Molching actually be Dachau? Many web pages with reviews of the book, analyses and ongoing blogs testify to the wide interest (and horror) the book has generated. Apparently, there are no specific dates are given in the book.

But some important dates have been recorded, notably about the burning of books - an age-old outrage, in fact.  This is what I found in a German wikipedia on the subject.

The burning of books is the demonstrative destruction by fire of books and other writings on the grounds of  moral, religious, or political objections, as (allegedly) blasphemous, heretical, immoral, obscene, seditious, inciting riots, or treasonous.

An early example is the Ephesians' burning of their books on magic after their conversion by Paul,
depicted in Gustave Doré's painting Paul at Ephesus (1866).  In the Middle Ages there were the book burnings by the Roman Catholic Church during the Inquisition. Remember our discussion of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks last year. And they continued in the 20th century well beyond the Nazis' outrages of 1933.

Earlier today I found a wikipedia entry specifically about the Nazi book burnings in 1933 --- but it went into hiding.  I'll post it as soon as I find it again.

 

[straudetwo]

Trying again
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings

[PatH]

If we're mentioning book burnings in literature, let's not forget "Don Quixote" (we had a terrific discussion of this on the old site), where the priest and villagers hold a sort of kangaroo court, trying Don Quixote's books, and burning most of them.  Books escape for odd reasons--someone met the author, the cover looks nice, whatever.

There's also Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (that being the temperature at which books ignite).

[JoanP]

That linked worked, Traudee - thank you so much.  From that site -

Where they have burned books, they will in the end burn people.(Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.)
— Heinrich Heine ,  Almansor (1821)

PatH - the Inquisition fits right into this conversation, don't you agree?   First the books, then people.  The big bonfire of books, followed by the smoke coming from Liesel's clothing - her chest burning from the smoldering books.  Jude, I don't think your conclusions too fanciful at all.

Laura, I remember looking up the titles of the two books Liesel received for her birthday - "The Lighthouse" and "Faust the Dog."  I found a site, don't remember where, that said both of these titles were fictitious, as was "The Shoulder Shrug."  

The river in the story is not the Amber, but rather the Amper River, which is real.  The actual city of Molching is Olching.  Laura, on p.71 in The Book Thief, (hardcover) - (why are the page numbers so hard to read?  Are yours all smudged?)

" Once there ironing was delivered, thay made their way back to the Amper River, which flanked the town.  It worked its way past, pointing in the direction  of Dachau, the concentration camp...
They sat maybe thirty meters down from it, in the grass, writing the words and reading them aloud, and when darkness was near, Hans pulled out the accordion.  Liesel looked at him and listened, though she did not immediately notice the perplexed expression on her papa's face that evening as he played."

Zusak says so much without actually saying much, doesn't he?

[Ella Gibbons]

Yes, JOAN, he does. 

I was struck by Zusak's definition of "love" - as deciphered by children.  NOT LEAVING = love and trust.  Isn't that sad?  Lisel needs love, "not leaving" - I hope Papa stays.  I'm almost afraid to read further in the book.

I put the book down for awhile, it is very touching and probably much of it is true.  So I went to a mystery instead.

[JoanK]

ELLA: I did the same thing.

[JoanP]

Ella, that is so true.  I find the relationship between Hans and Liesel heartwarming - from the beginning he conveyed this to Liesel - he would not leave her. And so gained her complete trust.  At this point, I'm fearful that he will be taken from her, not that he will willingly leave.

Her mother left her.  We still aren't sure where she is -

 I went back to the page in which  Liesel asks Hans, "Is my mother a communist?"  Listen to what Zusak writes - to what he is actually saying in his response -

" Hans edged forward a little, forming the beginning of a lie.  "I have no idea.  I never met her."

Then Liesel asks him - "Did the Fuhrer take her away.  Another lie was growing in his mouth, but he found it impossible to let it out.  He said, "I think he might have, yes."

[salan]

As I was reading your posts, it occurred to me that for many years (not too long ago), certain books were banned in our own country.  While they were not burned, banning is another way of trying to control what people think.  If you read the list of banned books, it will amaze you.  For years the Catholic church also banned movies.
Sally

[salan]

My page numbers are also smudged and hard to read.  My book is a paper back and I assumed that the paper/ink was a poor quality, but maybe not.
Sally

[straudetwo]

Sally,  that's true. As shown here

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_in_Boston

[straudetwo]

Another example of censorhip and, ultimately, mind control is the Catholic Index of Forbidden books

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum

[straudetwo]

Book burnings have a long history.  The link below enumerates  the sorry details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning

[straudetwo]

More on the time line of actual facts.

The connection with Jesse Owens: The 1936 Olympiad in Berlin was  a colossal, spectecular extravaganza;  Hitler had much to prove to the world.
He shook hands with the members of the German team, all in top form, all expected to win.
 
But there was Jesse Owens - remarkable, stupendous,  a black man !!!,, who walked away with four gold medals.   Owens,  a hero in my book in every way, said later he wasn't snubbed by Hitler but by FDR, who didn't even send a congratulatory telegram.
Well ...
My all girls HS had a special interest in the 1936 Olympics simply because our gym teacher competed in a rowing event.   His team came in fourth    and he left the school soon after.  We were not sorry to see him go because he had worked us to exhaustion on the high bars and the other equipment.

Re danger/menace :  It is the Hubermanns  who ran an enormous risk by harboring a young Jewish man.  I cannot imagine that this could have been possible under the circumstances described.

[Frybabe]

JoanP, Salan, it is not poor printing by the font style they used. It looks like one of the "Grunge" font styles but I am not sure. I didn't have time to research it; there are so many fonts. Also, if the paper is of a poorer quality there is what is called dot gain which is how much the ink spreads out on the paper. That would make font look fuzzier. Mine looks like there is a bit of dirty background behind the font itself. It looks like some one did a cut and paste job. It is intentional I am sure.

[countrymm]

Marking my place. Is there another way to do it?
Rainy day here in San Diego, perfect for catching up on my reading of this wondrous book.  I am captivated.

[JoanK]

"In the late 19th century, American 'moral crusader' Anthony Comstock began a campaign to suppress vice. He found widespread support in Boston, particularly among socially prominent and influential officials. Comstock was also known as the proponent of the Comstock Law, which prevented "obscene" materials from being delivered by the U.S. mail".  (from Traude's Wickapedia arcticle.)

Those "obscene materials" included not only books, but birth control devices, which, at the time, were not available in the United States. Margeret Sanger, in her struggles to provide birth control for the poor women she served as a nurse, many of whom were dying in childbirth after delivering 10 or more children, was always in danger of being jailed by the Comstock Law.

[JudeS]

Talking about banning books...My local newspaper "San Jose Mercury News" has a daily item called "News of the Weird".
A few weeks ago they printed an item that tells of NOW in a small midwestern town where they have removed all the Webster's dictionaries from the schools because parents complained that their children were learning about oral sex from this book.
Can't you imagine the discussion between the parents and the children.
"How do you know about that?"
  "Oh, I learned it from the dictionary in school."
"Well, that book is going to disappear from your school!"
"What will we do without dictionaries?"
"Well, there won't be anymore oral sex around here!"

 

[joangrimes]

LOL.  Sounds just like  everywhere I have ever been or read about.

[Frybabe]

This is way ahead of time, but I just noticed that PBS Masterpiece Classics will be doing The Diary of Anne Frank. It will air on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 11, 2010.

I wasn't watching where I was in the book and found myself into Chapter 4. It's real hard to stop. I really, really want to know who survives at the end of the book, if anyone.

[okietxjenjen]

CallieinOK I live south of the Red River.  We have lived in Wichita Falls for five years.  I grew up in Oklahoma.  Ponca City, Owasso and Oklahoma City.  Ponca City has been one of my favorite places to live.  Very rich in oil history (Marland Mansion).   ( My husband works for Conoco/Phillips)

I like how the author brings life to the books.

The books from the fire, it almost seemed like he equated them to survivors of war.  

Whatever the reason, they were huddled among the ashes, shaken.  Survivors

When I was rereading chapters 1 and 2,  I noticed how the senses play a role in getting to know the characters .  Liesel fell asleep again to the smell of him.  No one had ever given her music before.  The sound of the accordion was safety. Her foster father's eyes were made of kindness and silver.

Again I read dry humor through out the chapters,  The  last lines of chapter 2.
"Quite a few things, however , were most definitely wrong:
smoke was rising out of Liesel's collar."

This brought another chuckle, when the soul speaks about "heil Hitlering" bottom of page 111

[joangrimes]

But there was Jesse Owens - remarkable, stupendous,  a black man !!!,, who walked away with four gold medals.   Owens,  a hero in my book in every way, said later he wasn't snubbed by Hitler but by FDR, who didn't even send a congratulatory telegram.

This does not surprise me at all.  I can remember the time, not well but do have memories of it. I remember my Dad talking about Jesse Owens and his being Black...  Nothing derogatory against Jesse Owens because Jesse Owens   was born in Oakville, Alabama and there was pride  from my Dad that this man from the same state we lived in had achieved this great accomplishment.However my Dad did realize that FDR expressed no National pride in this accomplishment. So I am not surprised that Owens felt snubbed by FDR.

[bookad]

Joan A

just posting to your comment on 'Mein Kampf', listening to on audio a '10  Books that Screwed Up the World by B. Wiler'--would you believe "Mein Kampf was among them.
Deb

[JoanP]

Guten Morgen!

Great posts on book banning - !  I'm thinking bans are only as effective as the consequences of flaunting them.  Have you ever violated a ban?  What happened? I remember - eons ago, when in high school, there was a movie - the title stays with me all these years -(never saw it, it was "banned") - "Forever Amber."   One of our crowd of friends went to see it - and it was all the rage.  Nothing happened to Janet, that's what I do recall. I don't even remember what she told us about it.  Just that there were NO consequences for the violation of the ban.  Did anyone see the movie?  Can you tell me what it was about - and why it was banned?  What is the difference between a ban and an "x" rating?

Sally, Frybabe, it is good to know that both the hardcover and the paperback editions have the smudged page numbers - a grunge font.  Thought it was my eyes - but now believe it is intentional - perhaps to indicate the font was painted with one of Hans paint brushes.  Some of them are hard to read though. Hard to believe there is actually a font for this!

The "Shoulder Shrug"  is one of the banned books - well, at least it was considered "objectionable" enough to be fuel for the bonfire.  I'm sure we will hear more about this book as Liesel begins to read it.  Deb, that was quite symbolic, the image of the smoke rising from Liesel's collar.  The reference to the book as a "survivor."  Do you think this suggests that Liesel will rescue another survivor in the coming chapter?

[joangrimes]

Well my mother would not allow me to read the book "Forever Amber".  I never did read it.  My Mother and my Aunts all read it and decided  it was unfit for me to read.  I overheard enough of them laughing behind their hands to know that it was not something that I even wanted to read.  I think they must have thought I was deaf. LOL.
Joan Grimes

[JoanP]

Aha, JoanG!  "Forever Amber"  - A book!  I'm going to go look it up now!


Today we begin to discuss Parts III and IV and we meet Max Vandenburg.  Isn't this a heartbreaking story? - this poor broken man who dares to set foot in the light of day.  Traude, can you you tell us the danger a young Jewish man would be facing in Germany in 1940?  
And what good it would do him to have a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf in his bag if apprehended?

Has anyone here ever read Mein Kampf?  I was able to locate the Gutenburg electronic version - with some difficulty.  It seems that the US has a copyright  on the text - which means that for 95 years from the date issued, it can not be made available electronically.  But things are different in Australia, right Gum?  Fewer restraints...
If you wish to sample the writing in the Australian version - here's a link - Mein Kampf;  

Why did Hans change his mind and reapply for membership in the Party?  They don't want him, do they?  What exactly did he do?
... Do you think he intended to read Mein Kampf with Liesel as Hans Jr. said he should do?   If not, what did he intend to do with it?

Please continue to post the images and metaphors that catch your eye.  We love to reread them!  

[Babi]

 TRAUDE, taking in that young Jewish man was a great risk, but I
understand that some German families did do that, esp. where children
were involved. And Liesel's foster family seem very 'low profile' and
not likely to draw the attention of the authorities. Still, I hoped the
young man would move on at the first opportunity.

  It seemed to me, JOAN, that Hans joined the Party and bought Mein Kampf
in order to present the image of a loyal Nazi. He needed to do all he
could to divert suspicion from his household.  They were so vulnerable.

[Ella Gibbons]

JOANP:  Isn't this MEIN KAMPF in English?  I am running around quickly today but just happened to see your post.

http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/

[Gumtree]

The link to Mein Kampf is not really to an 'Australian' version but to the Gutenberg Australia Project who state:

this translation of the unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf was first published on March 21st, 1939 by Hurst and Blackett Ltd.

the translation was made by James Murphy who died in 1946. Printed editions are available in Australia.

The 95 year copyright held by the US on the text preventing electronic editions of Mein Kampf in the US begs the question as to whether this is a form of censorship - is Mein Kampf, in fact, a banned book in the US? Are printed copies available? 

[JudeS]

Joan P.

Re: FOREVER AMBER
In 7th grade we had a teacher who would always be busy with her own things and gave us easy assignments.  As long as we were quiet all was OK. Some one brought Forever Amber to school.  The "juicy parts" were dogeared. The book passed from one person to the next-in silence of course.  We all read it but never had a discussion about it afterwards.  Another book that passed around this way was "The Well of Loneliness" which I don't remember exactly except for the name.  It had many less pages dogeared.
Nothing appeals to teenagers like things they are not supposed to do or read.

[JoanP]

 Apparently it was not the book, but the film that caused "Forever Amber"  to be banned in Massachusetts - and then 14 other states -
 

While many reviewers "praised the story for its relevance, comparing Amber's fortitude during the plague and fire to that of the women who held hearth and home together through the blitzes of World War II", others condemned it for its blatant sexual references.[2] Fourteen U.S. states banned the book as pornography. The first was Massachusetts, whose attorney general cited 70 references to sexual intercourse, 39 illegitimate pregnancies, 7 abortions, and "10 descriptions of women undressing in front of men" as reasons for banning the novel

.

[1] Winsor denied that her book was particularly daring, and said that she had no interest in explicit scenes. "I wrote only two sexy passages," she remarked, "and my publishers took both of them out. They put in ellipsis instead. In those days, you know, you could solve everything with an ellipsis."[1]

The book was condemned by the Catholic Church for indecency, which helped to make it popular. One critic went so far as to number each of the passages to which he objected. The film was finally completed after substantial changes to the script were made, toning down some of the book's most objectionable passages in order to appease Catholic media critics

[JoanP]

Ella, the link from the Gutenberg Australia Project is in English too - but the link you brought us is much easier to read,  I have substituted it in the heading.  Do you know where your link came from?  I spent some time reading the first chapter - fascinating reading.  Help me,  a lot of what Hitler writes makes perfect sense to me!

The first chapter speaks of his boyhood.  Hitler's father wanted him to become a civil servant.  Hitler preferred painting and drawing.  As time went on, this interest developed into Architecture.
But as a schoolboy, he excelled in History and Geography.  In Mein Kampf he writes -

Instruction in world history in the so-called high schools is even today in a very sorry condition. Few teachers understand that the aim of studying history can never be to learn historical dates and events by heart and recite them by rote; that what matters is not whether the child knows exactly when this or that battle was fought, when a general was born, or even when a monarch (usually a very insignificant one) came into the crown of his forefathers. No, by the living God, this is very unimportant.
To 'learn' history means to seek and find the forces which are the causes leading to those effects which we subsequently perceive as historical events. Adolf Hitler

What do you think?  Don't you find this to be true?  

I'm not as sure about what he says here of reading/learning:

The art of reading as of learning is this: to retain the essential to forget the non-essential.

Who decides what is essential, what is non-essential?

I read somewhere that the book has been banned in Germany altogether - but that soon - 2015? - it will become available to the German public.  Have you heard anything about this, Traude?

Babi - I can see why Hans would apply for membership in the Party - and agree, they are quite vulnerable - and this is BEFORE their houseguest arrives!
Do you think that Hans intended to read Mein Kampf with Liesel?  Even if he didn't, I'll bet she gets her eager little hands on it!

[countrymm]

I'm ready to post some favorite quotes from the book. Each one is a separate quote from a different page.  Hope this is the place to do it.  Is there going to be a special new page posted for this purpose?

Oh, how the clouds stumbled in and assembled stupidly in the sky.  Great obese clouds.

Pride that more resembled that small pool of felt something in her stomach. And it was anger.....

Liesel was a girl made of darkness.

It was a morning that didn't dare to be rainy.

The words trotted out, involuntarily.

A short grin was smiled into Papa's spoon.

...cooked those eggs to the brink of burndom.

Both he and the paint fumes turned around.

She had cloned Rosa Hubermann's unfortunate, waddlesome walking style....   (my note:  this is one of my favorite quotes)

That was when a great shiver arrived. It waltzed through the window with the draft.  Perhaps if was the breeze of the Third Reich, gathering even greater strength.  Or maybe it was just Erupe again, breathing.  Either way, it fell across them as their metallilc eyes clashed like tin cans inthe kitchen.  (my note: this refers to the eyes of Hans and his son)

[ALF43]

Poor Liesel, full of paranoia just skipped right on by the mayor's house until she was threatened by mama and made to return.  The mayor's wife who looked with "utter distance"  allowed Liesel to enter on her next visit and she was shocked and over whelmed by the multitude of books and their colors.  I know that feeling.  When I walk into a library of someone's home I feel the need to put my hands in my pockets for fear I will reach out and caress the books.  I know exactly how she felt.  It felt like magic to her as she touched the books and accepted the books from the mayor's wife.  What does it mean by:
"She returned to the lady behind her, whose smile gave the appearance now of a bruise...?"

[Ella Gibbons]

Thanks, COUNTRYMM, for putting those sentences here, I loved reading them over again.  Zusak's writing is very appealing isn't it?

Didn't we establish that he is of German parentage?  I wonder how the German people feel about the book?  He does say in the interview in the back of my book that he hopes that readers will take away from the book the knowledge that there were Germans who hid Jewish people and felt that the whole business of Hitler and the Naziis were ridiculous.

Yes, ALF, most readers feel as you do; the instant longing to take those books in your hands and open them to see what the authors have written.

Liesel has learned, to write, to read, to mail letters.  And wonder what has happened to her mother -  who are "they."

That is interesting, JOANP, that Hitler's book has been banned all these years from Germany.  I didn't know that and it seems pointless; as if the German people couldn't obtain a copy elsewhere.  Come on!!

Just as JUDE said that teenagers will find a way to read something banned, so would the German public.

[JoanK]

Have you noticed that once you start reading on a subject, you find it everywhere? Last night, one of my local PBS stations (KCET) broadcast a London musical about the Holocast, "Imagine That". (It's technically a musical because the characters sometimes talk, but the tone of it is more in the operatic tradition, as you can imagine). Very moving.

[Laura]

I don’t think Hans will read Mein Kampf with Leisel.  However, Leisel seems very interested in it while Max is reading it, so she may read it yet.

I have to agree with the world history quote from Mein Kampf.  They say history repeats itself and it’s because we haven’t learned from the past.

What does it mean by:
"She returned to the lady behind her, whose smile gave the appearance now of a bruise...?"

The mayor’s wife has been hurt somehow.  Later in the reading section, we learn that it is likely the memory of Johann Hermann that is causing her pain (pg. 145).  I am guessing he was her fiancée, killed during World War I.