In what ways do you feel community is expressed in this book? Which expressions are positive and which are negative?
Its expressed in the amazing support, love and friendship of those who spent time at the clubs and it continued outside the club. Acceptance was the most positive part of that expression. Its unfortunate Bertie and Sophie didnt realize they could have had a community with their elderly neighbor.
The importance of a sense of community plays an integral part of this book. Tolerance and acceptance were crucial to the positive experiences the characters had in their community. I loved the way the author expressed this community in the book.
I was relieved and happy when Frau Bauer helped to hide Bertie. That is community!
Community is an important theme in the book, illustrated in both positive and negative ways.
Bertie was part of a tolerant, supportive, and loving community of people who were rejected by society but found acceptance, solace, and belonging when they found each other. Bertie and Sofie never lost that sense of community after they escaped to Ulm, and Bertie continued to mourn having lost it and dream about again finding it.
In contrast, Nazi Germany was characterized by a community of hate, bigotry, antisemitism, judgment and condemnation, and the infliction of atrocities. Those who refused to become part of that community paid the ultimate price. Bertie is wracked with guilt and shame, noting that during the War, “we never stood up and declared our resistance.” Sofie quickly reminds him that to do so “would’ve been suicide.” Thus, they became part of a community of silence (& escape) in order to survive which caused Bertie to feel extreme shame, remorse, and regret. Bertie is convinced he could and should have done more to save members of his community at the Institute, second-guessing himself as a characteristic of his extreme survivor’s guilt. The phenomenon has been studied and written about extensively, including in historical fiction.