Pennies for Hitler book review
Pennies for Hitler is a realistic an dramatic story written by Jackie French in the setting of Germany around the time before ww2 as it tells the story of a boy who has been separated from his family because of an dramatic event during an assembly where his dad and other people were supposedly killed. The whole story is 309 pages long along with some other pages for epilogue, authors opinion and others, 309 pages isn’t much but is not little either. Along with the history you must know before reading I recommend this book for people ages 13 and over.
The story is a 3rd person view of a young boy called Georg who lived in Germany with his dad who was born in England and his mother born Germany. At the time all he wanted was to be a perfect boy in Hitler’s eyes which now wouldn’t be a good thing these days but at his time it would be all anyone ever
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wanted. When he goes to an assembly one day along with his family the head boy starts yelling “Jews out!” in German and the other boys start frowning innocent people out the window of the building simply because they might have had Jewish grandparents, Georg’s dad tries to stop them and then he gets frown out as well. As his dad was getting frown out Georg’s mother took him and then Georg had to run away separated from his family and his home just to be safe as he goes from France to England to Australia so on. The plot doesn’t have an ending as the author wrote how “boys just grow up” which I don’t personally like, it would have been nice if the author found some way of ending it then instead of that statement. When it comes to what I think of this book I feel like it did really well showing how innocent lives were affected by Hitler and how much they had to go through to get out of their country just to be safe. The way they show how a child would of though in these situations work well as it shows how he is confused and thinks he will see his family again even though he won’t which is something only the reader and more older characters know. Even though there are German words in it the reader can still find out what they mean which is a good thing. The main character Georg is relatable for kids around the age of 10-13 which is also on the plus side since that is the recommended age. On the down side I feel like there is only one interesting event in the story which was the assembly which is basically the main event that started the whole story. I thought it was the only interesting one since it had a lot of suspense and makes you want to keep reading but other than that the rest of the book is kind of boring. There is only one other thing about this book which I dislike which I already mentioned before which is that there is no ending to the story. Pennies for Hitler book review The theme of this book to me is loss since the story is focused around the fact that Georg was separated from his family which the book keeps reminding you about time and time again when it says how Georg wants to be with his family or thinks they will meet him where he is going.
The tone and mood of this story is pretty dark when it comes to the main event in the assembly when Georg’s dad and other innocent people were killed. I personally think the main purpose of this book is to teach the reader how not only Jews were affected horribly during this time but many other innocent people and also to show the things these people would of done to be safe, for example, in the book Georg had to stay still in a suit case for a whole night so he could get on a train that is leaving the country, during that time he was not being allowed to move he would be in pain but he cannot make a sound either since he could get caught so he just had to me cramped in a suit case for hours in pain unable to speak. I personally feel like this part truly in depth showed what people went through just to be
safe. Overall this book in depth shows the reader what horrific and dramatic things people would of went through during this time of Hitler’s Dictatorship while in Germany. The start of this book lures the reader to read more to see what will happen to the main character Georg and if he will be safe, later on there are some parts here and there that make you want to read a bit more but other than that there is not much more to it for people who enjoy more suspenseful and action type stories. For people who like dramatic and historical stories I do recommend this book, but Because of the history you must know before reading this I recommend this book for people over the age of 13.
Dieter, a fifteen year old German soldier, is going into war even though his parents don’t want him to. He has no idea what real war is going to be like and he thinks that Germany has done no wrong no matter what the other, elderly soldiers tell him, he doesn’t believe it. The other boy, Spence, is sixteen and he drops out
On Hitler’s Mountain is a memoir of a child named Irmgard Hunt and her experiences growing up in Nazi Germany. She herself has had many experiences of living during that dark time, she actually met Hitler, had a grandfather who hated Hitler's rule, and had no thoughts or feelings about the Nazi rule until the end of WWII. Her memoir is a reminder of what can happen when an ordinary society chooses a cult of personality over rational thought. What has happened to the German people since then, what are they doing about it today and how do they feel about their past? Several decades later, with most Nazis now dead or in hiding, and despite how much Germany has done to prevent another Nazi rule, everyone is still ashamed of their ancestors’ pasts.
The essay begins with Griffin across the room from a woman called Laura. Griffin recalls the lady taking on an identity from long ago: “As she speaks the space between us grows larger. She has entered her past. She is speaking of her childhood.” (Griffin 233) Griffin then begins to document memories told from the lady about her family, and specifically her father. Her father was a German soldier from around the same time as Himmler. Griffin carefully weaves the story of Laura with her own comments and metaphors from her unique writing style.
The story takes place through the eyes of a German infantryman named Paul Baumer. He is nineteen and just joined up with the German army after high school with the persuasion of one of his schoolteachers, Mr. Kantorek. Paul recalls how he would use all class period lecturing the students, peering through his spectacles and saying: "Won't you join up comrades?"(10). Here was a man who loved war. He loved the "glory" of war. He loved it so much as to persuade every boy in his class to join up with the army. He must have thought how proud they would be marching out onto that field in their military attire.
In my opinion the internal conflict faced by the narrator is Elie Wiesel´s struggle with his religion when he arrived at the camp. The repetition of ¨never shall I forget¨ is important because he's never going to be able to forget leaving his mother and sisters, and seeing the small children being burned to death when they hadńt done anything wrong, and having to decide wether he's going to take his own life or not. Heĺl never forget the horrors of the holocaust. Its important to remember the holocaust because innocent lives were lost for no reason other than the nazis trying to find the better race when the only race in my opinion should be the human race, and if we forget this then it would probably be pretty easy for another genocide to
The Jews are taken out of the normal lives they have led for years and are beginning to follow new rules set by the Germans.... ... middle of paper ... ... Their lives are only about death.
...urvivors crawling towards me, clawing at my soul. The guilt of the world had been literally placed on my shoulders as I closed the book and reflected on the morbid events I had just read. As the sun set that night, I found no joy in its vastness and splendor, for I was still blinded by the sins of those before me. The sound of my tears crashing to the icy floor sang me to sleep. Just kidding. But seriously, here’s the rest. Upon reading of the narrators’ brief excerpt of his experience, I was overcome with empathy for both the victims and persecutors. The everlasting effect of the holocaust is not only among those who lost families÷, friends,
The violent actions of the Germans during this event force an image upon them that conveys the message that the Germans had little respect for the life of a person, specifically that of a follower of Judaism, and their capability to act viciously. If the Germans are acting so cruel and begin to act this way as an instinct towards the Jews, they are losing the ability to sympathize with other people. This would be losing the one thing that distinguishes a human from any other species, and this quote is an example of the dehumanization of the victim, as well as the perpetrator. Later on in Night, all the Jewish prisoners discover their fate at the camps and what will happen to people at the crematorium. They respond by saying to the people around them that they “...can’t let them kill us like that, like cattle in the slaughterhouse” (Wiesel 31). This simile develops the theme by comparing the Jewish prisoners to cattle in a slaughterhouse and emphasizes what little value their lives had to the Germans, implying they are not worthy of human qualities. The Germans are once again not able to emphasize with the Jews that are around them and being murdered, which over the course of the novel leads to them being
The heavily proclaimed novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a great story that can help you understand what living in Nazi Germany was like. Throughout the story, the main character, Liesel goes through many hardships to cope with a new life in a new town and to come to the recognition of what the Nazi party is. Liesel was given up for adoption after her mother gave her away to a new family, who seemed harsh at first, but ended up being the people who taught her all the things she needed to know. Life with the new family didn’t start off good, but the came to love them and her new friend, Rudy. As the book carried along, it was revealed that the Hubermanns were not Nazi supporters, and even took in a Jew and hid him in their basement later on in the book. Liesel became great friends with the Jew living in her basement, Max, who shared many similarities which helped form their relationship. Both of
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a memoir about his time as a Jewish child in multiple ghettos and death camps in and around Germany during World War II. The author shares about his reunions with family and acquaintances from the war in the years between then and now. Buergenthal wished to share his Holocaust story for a number of reasons: to prevent himself from just being another number, to contribute to history, to show the power and necessity of forgiveness, the will to not give up, and to question how people change in war allowing them to do unspeakable things. The memoir is not a cry for private attention, but a call to break the cycle of hatred and violence to end mass crimes.
A fifteen-year old boy, Elie Wiesel, and his family are overwhelmed by the thought of uncertainty when they are forced out of their home; as a result, the family would be forced into a cattle car and shipped to Auschwitz. At first, the Jews have a very optimistic outlook while in
The mood of Night is harder to interpret. Many different responses have occurred in readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the holocaust victims. Some encounter disgust as the realization occurs that if any one opportunity had been utilized the horror could of been avoided. Those missed moments such as fleeing when first warned by Moshe the Beadle, or unblocking the window when the Hungarian officer had come to warn them, would have saved lives and pain.
I really enjoyed this book because it was not a story about the middle of the Second World War. Instead it was right before, when things were not as bad, but they were bad enough. It helped me understand how people lived before the hatred grew and how families were torn apart right from the beginning. Likewise, it gave me hope to see that not everything was destroyed and that some people were able to escape. I would recommend this book more for boys but for girls as well, between the ages of 13-15. Even though Karl’s age throughout the book is 14-17, the novel was written more for my age group. Once again this was an amazing book that I could not put down, and I am sure many others were not able to either.
The audience’s focus was meant to be on the experience and life of a fun-loving German boy named Bruno. Surrounding this eight-year-old boy were conspicuous Nazi influences. Bruno is just an example of a young child among many others oblivious of buildings draped in flags, and Jewish civilians who are seen briefly being forced out of homes and into loading trucks.... ... middle of paper ...
...Bendemann's life abruptly changes with the death of his mother. However, along with this change, Georg has to deal with the many torments of the relationship with his father as well as the relationship with himself. Eventually, Georg loses the struggle with his father and allows himself to succumb to his subservient side by committing suicide. As a result, the emotional impact of this dramatic and complex story on the reader is a profound one.