Chapter+04

=**Chapter 4: Not Asleep, Not Awake**=


 * Memorable Passage(s): **


 * "Why should they live for four or five years, and then die? They bring little joy to their parents. They just take up their time. And eat. So the parents and other children have even less to eat. It would be better if they never lived. I'm sure their parents think so." (77)**


 * "It's not the most expensive watch, but the most reliable. One does not guarantee the other, Johann. Remember that. The gold is not the most important part of a watch, that is just the outside. You must judge the inside of a thing, not the outside." (69)**


 * Summary: **

In chapter four, Helga Brenner is at her apartment, noticing everything is destroyed. Though there are holes in the ceilings and no electricity, she is still living there, sad and alone. Helga's building is the only one still standing between two collapsed buildings. Two more weeks and it will be winter, which means it is only going to get colder. She had sold most of her clothes, but she couldn't part with Johann's valuables. Helga felt betrayed and confused. She is unsure if Johann might have a secret. Conclusively, she moves to Karlsruhe with her sister. In a flashback, we learn about how Johann received his gold watch and also how he received the pocket watch he took with him to war. His father gave him the gold watch for his fourteenth birthday. Meanwhile, Johann was becoming mature, serious, and independent. When he turned 19, he got the pocket-watch that he took to war from his parents. After war, he came home to find that his parents had aged tremendously. His father has become slightly forgetful and has frequent outbursts, while his mother, Otillie, has begun to hoard food and worries constantly about Germany's future. Johann and Helga plan to get married at the end of the chapter, a spark of light in so much darkness. Helga knows she may be pregnant, but she is afraid to confess this to Johann at this moment when he has so many other struggles.


 * Characters **

Helga Brenner (67) Ottilie Brenner (70) Fredrich Brenner (74) Professor Schonauer (78)


 * Vocabulary: **
 * Munich** (85)- capital city Bavarian


 * Wirrwarr** (73)- confusion


 * Policlinic** (67)- department of a hospital at which outpatients are treated


 * Briquettes** (68)


 * Monogrammed** (69)


 * Chastise** (69)- to inflict punishment on


 * Shunting** (71)- to divert


 * Parried** (71)


 * Outflanked** (72)- to get around the flank (side) of an opposing force


 * Cannonades** (73)- a heavy fire of artillery or an attack (as with words)


 * Lamented** (74)- mourned for


 * Swindler** (76)- a person who obtains money or property by fraud


 * Endocrinology** (78)- a branch of medicine concerned with the structure, function, and disorders of the endocrine glands.


 * Tantalizing** (79)- possessing a quality that arouses or stimulates desire or interest, also: teasingly out of reach


 * Vagabonds** (86)- homeless person, hitchhiker, wanderer


 * Key Concepts & Events: **

__Linzertorte__(70) - Austrian torte with lattice design on top of the pastry: [|Linzer Torte]

__Gymnasium__ (71) High school. More info at this link: [|Gymnasium]

__Secunda__ (71) -secondary

__Prima__ (71) - Primary/Great

__Pahlendorf__ (72)- Pohl village

__Pfennig__ (72) -penny; Defined here: [|Pfennig]

__Praktikum__ (73) -internship

__Kaiser__ (75)- leader

__Botanischer Garten__ (76) botanical garden; Modern [|Botanical Garden] in Miunic

__Ruhr__ (82) Ruhr district- urban are in north rhine west phalia Germany: History of the [|Ruhr Valley]

__Herr__ (82)-Mr

__Reichsbank__(82) central bank of Germany 1876-1945; Reichsbank at the [|holocaust research project]

__Douai__ (83) -division of french republic home to one of the regions most impressive belfry (bell tower)

__Bavaria__ (85)- state of Germany

__Influenza Outbreak__- Killed 20 to 40 million people most devastating epidemic in world history also known as spanish flu or la grippe more info at this link: [|Influenza]

__Racial Hygiene__- German Society for Racial Hygiene (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Rassenhygiene) was formed on June 22, 1905 by Dr. Alfred Ploetz in Berlin, Germany. The main goal of the organization was to return society to a healthy, strong, and beautiful life. "Purity" was to be regained through selective reproduction and sterilization. The society directly influenced important laws after the adoption of their ideas by the National Socialist movement. more info at these links: [|Racial Hygiene] [|Racial Hygiene Part II]

__Sterilization__- The United States was the first country to undertake compulsory sterilization programs for the purpose of eugenics. By far California sterilized more people then any other state in the United States. A book was written concerning California's sterilization practices by eugenicists E.S. Gosney and Paul Popence, which was said by the Nazi government to be "of key importance in proving that large-scale compulsory sterilization programs were feasible". more info at this link: [|Murder of the "Unfit"]

__Eugenics__- Eugenics is the science that deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities of a race or breed, such as through control of human mating. In the early 20th century, eugenics was widely popular. The First International Congress of Eugenics in 1912 was supported by many prominent persons, including Leonard Darwin and Winston Churchill who were president and vice-president, respectfully. By the mid-20th century eugenics had become unfavorable. A large portion of the public as well as sections of the scientific community have associated eugenics with abuses committed by the Nazis such as "Racial Hygiene", human experimentation, and extermination of "undesirable" groups. more info at this link: [|Euthanasia Program]