The Reader
Courtney Allred, Ketaki Deo, Tarika Sivakumar, Vanessa
Ma, Kristine Chen
Post WWII
Soviet invasion of Germany left terrain
completely devastated
Germany was also economically struggling
60 million casualties over the course of the war
(2/3rd of which were civilians, including 6
million Jewish people)
Yalta Conference
GOALS:
a) destructure Germany
b) administer policy of denazification- getting
rid of Nazi culture
RECOVERY
Initially, the Allied powers
played huge role in (West)
German internal affairs
RECOVERY PT. 1
Administered Marshall Plan to help struggling
Germany
called Wirtschaftswunder, or “economic
miracle”)
Several 5 Year Plans in GDR
RECOVERY PT. 2
Several trials against Nazis
Nuremburg Trials
GERMAN INVOLVEMENT
Eventually, German became
far more involved in the
process of recovery
GERMAN INVOLVEMENT PT 1
Germans became more aware of horrors of
past & established pacifist attitude
Large protests in the 1950s-1990s when
Germany/GDR began to build armies for
NATO/Warsaw Pact
GERMAN INVOLVEMENT PT 2
Trials where German judges persecuted
anyone with Nazi affiliation (~70% of
population)
It was not uncommon to see a
friend/relative at trial
GERMAN INVOLVEMENT PT 3
Recovery process also involved 2nd generation
Attempt to teach children about horrors of
past (1946 documentary)
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT...
How do you teach an entire generation about the war
crimes that their parents, grandparents, etc.
committed?
About 50% of German youth interviewed today had
little understanding of what the Holocaust was, as the
lesson plan focuses more on the Third Reich as a
whole. Is this right? Is there any good way to teach
a genocide?
Post WWII German Culture
● Denazification (Entnazifizierung): Allied
initiative to rid Germany of any remnants of
Nazi ideology from German society, culture,
press, economy, and politics
Post WWII: Denazification
○ removed past Nazi party
members from positions of power
○ restricted past Nazis to manual labor
○ removed physical symbols of Nazism
(swastika)
○ millions of Germans questioned, tried, and
punished
Split into 5 categories
■ V. Persons Exonerated-No sanctions.
■ IV. Followers- Possible restrictions on travel, employment,
political rights, plus fines.
■ III. Lesser Offenders- Placed on probation for 2–3 years
with a list of restrictions. No internment.
■ II. Offenders- Activists, Militants, Profiteers, or
Incriminated Persons- Immediate arrest and imprisonment
up to ten years, plus reparations or reconstruction work
■ I. Major Offenders- Subject to immediate arrest, death,
imprisonment with or without hard labour
Post WWII: Denazification
○ US Army also used media to denazify
○ By July 1946- Information Control Division
of the US Army took control of German
newspapers, radio stations, theaters,
cinemas, magazines, book publishers, and
book dealers and printers
○ art related/dedicated to Nazism also taken
into custody
Post WWII: Collective Guilt
● Kollektivschuld- idea of “collective guilt” that
was popular post-Holocaust period.
○ later established, did not occur right away
○ increased sense of responsibility after
footage of concentration camps released
Case Study
The Case of Maria Kaufman
Born in a small town 50 miles north of Berlin on
May 26th, 1921.
Loving parents and five sisters - Brother fought
during World War I and died
Maria’s family experienced extreme poverty due
to the German Great Depression post World
War I.
Not able to receive an education due to low social standing
- Maria tried to hide her illiteracy. Films of German
Propaganda and Hitler’s speeches emerge and for once
she feels more than adequate; she feels superior.
Recruited by Hitler’s Youth
Formerly a victim of insecurity, felt important being part of
Hitler’s ‘superior race’
War Crime
Helped transport Jewish people in between
concentration camps.
In one case, Maria transported women and
children to a building that was gassed by other
German officers while the prisoners were
sleeping.
She claims not to have been involved in the
initiation of the gassing.
ORDER IN THE COURT
Examine perspectives.
Post War German Literature
During WWII, the Nazi party censored much of German
Literature and exiled many authors. Post WWII, many
authors who experienced the nazification from both sides
emerged.
Because Germany was split into the Western and Eastern
sectors, literature advanced at different paces due to the
divide.
The censorship apparent in the USSR after the Russian
Revolution was apparent in East Germany, contrasting
the freedoms the West Germans had.
West Germany
● Heinrich Böll (West Germany) 1917-1985
○ Refused to join Hitler’s Youth
○ Credited with helping revitalize German Literature
● Günter Grass (West Germany) 1927-2015
○ Was a prisoner of war in America
○ The Tin Drum; most popular work, explores magical
realism - “fables portray the forgotten face of history”
○ Awarded Nobel Prize in 1999
● Holocaust Literature
○ Survivors of the Holocaust began publishing their
works - narrations of the horrors
East Germany (GDR)
○ Greatly influenced by socialist realism and the
communist party in the USSR
○ East German literature less advanced than West
German literature
○ Provides the most accurate insight into life in East
Germany
○ Post- denazification - very anti-fascist. Written by many
authors exiled by the Nazis
○ Reflects Socialist Realism (1949-1961) - culture, art,
educating the masses
Popular Terms and Themes
● Aufbau - “building up” - elevates the status of an ordinary
working man to that of a hero
● Vergangenheitsbewältigung - the process of coming to
terms with the past
● Major Post WWII Themes ○ characters with wavering identities
○ recall of memories from during the war
○ opinions on the reunification of Germany
○ pride (or lack of it) within the German culture
○ shame caused by the Holocaust
Questions to consider as you read...
How does Schlink incorporate some of these
themes? (ie. pride and shame?)
How does Michael’s identity develop throughout
the course of the novel? What role does
Hanna play in these developments?
Bernhard Schlink
● July 6, 1944 in Bielefeld, North RhineWestphalia, Germany
Careers
Also wrote many detective novels
main character’s name = Selb, play on German word for
“self” (selbst)
first is titled Self’s Punishment, cowritten with Walter
Popp in 2004 (British)
The Reader: 1995
1988 became judge at Constitutional Court of North RhineWestphalia
Professor of public law/philosophy of law at Humboldt
University (Berlin) since 2006
Self-Identification
●
●
●
●
German father, Swiss mother
Youngest of four
Married Hadwig Arnold, had son (Jan), then divorced
Sees himself as part of the “Second generation”, post
WWII
● Father lost job as theology professor b/c of Nazis, became
pastor afterward
● “I am now much more distanced than my parents and
some of my siblings from the church. But I still belong
and I want to belong to the church”
More Identification
From a friend: “We never talked about girl or anything like
that, our subject was how to live and other highbrow
things, such as the meaning of life. On our first meeting I
remember arguing with him [Schlink] all the way home
about whether or not Germany was the guilty party at the
start of the first world war”
Schlink: “I always hated, and still hate, mass events”
His perspective:
“It is definitely not a book about the Holocaust. It is a book
about how the second generation attempted to come to
terms with the Holocaust and the role in it played by their
fathers’ generation.”
Main theme: Generational divide and accommodating for
history
“A masterly work that [...] speaks straight to the
heart.” George Steiner (US Critic)
“the vilest novel I have read [...] There is a lie in
the marrow of the Reader.” Cynthia Ozick
"no-one could recommend The Reader without
having a tin ear for fiction and a blind eye for
evil". Frederick Raphael
Cultural Controversy and Reception of the Book
Case Study: Many German high schoolers read this book in
their curriculum. How might their understanding and reception
of this book be different than yours?
Why do you think their teachers choose this book? What is
Schlink trying to teach?
Why does Schlink sexualize a generational divide?
Demonstrates the seductiveness of power
sexualized personal history
secret family heritage of Natzism
deformation of post WWII Germany and the
burden of guilt the preceding generation
deals with.
As you read ask yourself:
How is my cultural lense effecting my perceptions?
What is the role of shame?
How is silence used? Does this supress the generation preceding Nazi
Germany?
Are you responsible for the people you love? If so who?
How do each of these characters evolve?
What similarities and difference are there between Michael and his father?
Does this change overtime?
Can you ever escape the past?
Is this a love story?
Scale of 1-5 strongly disagree to strongly agree
What others think:
from student generated websites: “All saw the relationship… as a love
story; some did not notice, others downplayed the age difference between
the partners.”
Why is this important? (note all the graphic descriptions Schlink
includes)