Lit Circle Blog

Korrina the main character is trying to stay loyal to the Germans. Hearing her mother talk about how she doesn't care about whats going to happen makes Korrina angry. She has this thought about turning her mother in for even talking like that. Then her parents make the choice to hide Jews behind her wardrobe. It angers her but she soon learns to get over it. The Gestapo (the officers who come and check if Jews are in the house) come to check Korinnas house in the middle of the night. Korrina has this fear of getting caught, now she knows she cannot be loyal if there are Jews in the house.

The conflict in this book is man vs self. I know this because Korrina is deciding with herself if she should turn in her parents or not. Also she wants to be loyal to German but she has Jews behind her wardrobe, she already knows to herself she has betrayed the German. In the story it says "Hadn't she recently told her mother she had nothing to fear from anyone  because she was a loyal German? Now she was a traitor and it seemed she feared almost everyone". It also says "'And our Führer is going to do all this?' 'Of course' Frae Rehme put down her sewing 'At whose expense? At what cost?' Korrina stood up 'Mother, I can't believe your talking like this!'"

Holocaust Response

Many people stood bystanders in the Holocaust because they didn't say anything to help and stick up for Jews, so they thought they didn't think it was okay to have a right to say anything now. I believe they stood quiet because if they stood up for a Jew, they had the fear of being killed. Jews resisted against the Nazi's because they were tired of being treated horribly in the ghettos. They resisted by rising up and attacking the Nazi's in the ghettos, shooting at them, and shooting at their tanks. I might have been a bystander because if they're not bothering me, I won't do much, I would try keeping myself alive. But, at the same time, I would be an up stander because I like to help people when I'm happy, and if we make it through the whole war with them alive, I would feel happiness because I helped someone who could've died.