Catherine’s answer to “What happened to the Sea of Flames stone at the end of the book? Was it still in the sea?” > Likes and Comments
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I thought that scene was misplaced also. I had the thought that the author was getting tired of writing it by that time.
I think this scene was added there to make the reader empathise even more (as if we hadn't empathised enough when Werner dies!) with the grief of war. I agree the scene was out of place but because it came after Werner's death I couldn't feel but sink even more into sadness.
My personal opinon is that the scene exists precisely because this is exactly what happened to the German women as the war wrapped up and Russia overan Germany. It's another layer of subtelty, putting a new light on the war: The Germans are supposed to be the badguys and the Russians, as part of the allies, are goodguys, right?
But the Russians are brutal too. And the German women, in this scene, seem just as trapped as Marie-Laure was in the attic.
War is never pretty. It seemed to me, from reading this book, that the people of Germany were the first victims of the Nazi regiem, and that the rest of Europe followed. This scene emphasies that point acutely.
I completely agree with Eliza -- Doerr wrote the rape scene because he had to, in order to be honest about this time in this place. He wrote it far more gently than it would have been in reality. A book called Savage Continent, about post-war Europe (with a focus on Germany), really brings that point home.
but didn't werner already die when the rapes happened?
Rapes surely happened, and not only in Germany, they happened in places that were liberated by Russians and in the countries that were fighting on the allied side and Russian side as well.
If you want to talk about the truth you need to add the following: Russians were scraping the bottom of the barrel to find any more fighters themselves, from the far away uneducated Cossacks, and kids as well (2 of the 3 in the book were 16 year old, "lunatics ravaged by war"). That is what writer says: "Why (Germans) left this place (Berlin) and tried to go and conquer Russia?
Do you know that more then 20 million Russians died in that war, close to 30 million if you add the dead in the gulags after the war? So, portraying Germans in WWII as clean, educated and disciplined is not really helpful with these (and other not mentioned) numbered of killed. While we are all for redemption for the Germans (who created the war that ravaged the whole world), apply the same to the Russians, who actually fought on the same side as Americans and who were attacked on their own soil. Being attacked on your own soil means destruction of the civilians and everything around, as described in this great book. Our families experienced this in Europe.
Also, remember the carpet bombing by Americans of Berlin and other places (some of the allied Cities and Towns also were completely leveled by such bombing). And, the 2 nuclear bombs. There is a lot of forgiveness needed to go around!
My best friends are Germans and Russians!
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Deb
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Feb 15, 2016 05:51PM
I thought that scene was misplaced also. I had the thought that the author was getting tired of writing it by that time.
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I think this scene was added there to make the reader empathise even more (as if we hadn't empathised enough when Werner dies!) with the grief of war. I agree the scene was out of place but because it came after Werner's death I couldn't feel but sink even more into sadness.
My personal opinon is that the scene exists precisely because this is exactly what happened to the German women as the war wrapped up and Russia overan Germany. It's another layer of subtelty, putting a new light on the war: The Germans are supposed to be the badguys and the Russians, as part of the allies, are goodguys, right? But the Russians are brutal too. And the German women, in this scene, seem just as trapped as Marie-Laure was in the attic.
War is never pretty. It seemed to me, from reading this book, that the people of Germany were the first victims of the Nazi regiem, and that the rest of Europe followed. This scene emphasies that point acutely.
I completely agree with Eliza -- Doerr wrote the rape scene because he had to, in order to be honest about this time in this place. He wrote it far more gently than it would have been in reality. A book called Savage Continent, about post-war Europe (with a focus on Germany), really brings that point home.
but didn't werner already die when the rapes happened?
Rapes surely happened, and not only in Germany, they happened in places that were liberated by Russians and in the countries that were fighting on the allied side and Russian side as well. If you want to talk about the truth you need to add the following: Russians were scraping the bottom of the barrel to find any more fighters themselves, from the far away uneducated Cossacks, and kids as well (2 of the 3 in the book were 16 year old, "lunatics ravaged by war"). That is what writer says: "Why (Germans) left this place (Berlin) and tried to go and conquer Russia?
Do you know that more then 20 million Russians died in that war, close to 30 million if you add the dead in the gulags after the war? So, portraying Germans in WWII as clean, educated and disciplined is not really helpful with these (and other not mentioned) numbered of killed. While we are all for redemption for the Germans (who created the war that ravaged the whole world), apply the same to the Russians, who actually fought on the same side as Americans and who were attacked on their own soil. Being attacked on your own soil means destruction of the civilians and everything around, as described in this great book. Our families experienced this in Europe.
Also, remember the carpet bombing by Americans of Berlin and other places (some of the allied Cities and Towns also were completely leveled by such bombing). And, the 2 nuclear bombs. There is a lot of forgiveness needed to go around!
My best friends are Germans and Russians!
