Summer of My German Soldier

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. To see the German prisoners of war (POWs) transiting to new camps (Chapter 1)

2. A man named Grover (Chapter 1)

3. Bergen’s Department Store (Chapter 1)

4. The grandmother shows how mature she thinks Patty is by “how much wine she pour[s]” into Patty’s glass. (Chapter 2)

5. She says, “God is on America’s side and anybody who’s against us is on the devil’s side, and that’s the truth.” (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. Patty’s family consists of her mother, her father, her sister Sharon, and their African American housekeeper Ruth. Patty has a secure and loving relationship with Sharon and Ruth; however, she struggles to relate to her parents. (Chapter 1)

2. On the way to Patty’s grandparents’ house, Patty tries to make conversation with her parents and joke; however, her parents ignore her. When her sister makes a joke, they laugh and engage with her. Patty becomes reflective about the way she is and blames herself for this lack of parental love. (Chapter 2)

3. In contrast with Patty’s parents, Patty’s grandparents are loving and kind. Her grandfather praises her for a letter she wrote to a magazine, and her grandmother wants to spend the day with her and give her money. Meanwhile, her mother complains about not going on vacation and her father continues to ignore Patty. (Chapter 2)

4. Frederick Anton Reiker, or Anton, is a German POW who translates for the German soldiers who are visiting the Bergen Department Store. The two strike up a conversation, and she realizes that he is a good person and that she wants to be his friend. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. Because it is “only for Baptists” (Chapter 5)

2. A permanent wave (Chapter 6)

3. Because she is Jewish and he is German (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. In an innocent game with Freddy, a rock hits a window of a moving car. Patty initially runs away and later confesses to Ruth what happened, and Ruth gives her money to pay the family. Before she has time to find the owners of the car, her father returns home in a rage and beats her. (Chapter 5)

2. Patty sees a headline that eight Nazi spies had been caught with explosives and cash in both Florida and New York. She panics at the thought of the consequences if Anton is discovered. (Chapter 8)

3. “Hitler’s first layer is an undeniable truth, such as: The German worker is poor. The second layer is divided equally between flattery and truth: The German worker deserves to be prosperous. The third layer is total fabrication: The Jews and the Communists have stolen what is rightfully yours.” He used this method of deception in order to escape from the POW camp by convincing a guard he was wealthy with a diamond pin he bought from the Bergen Department Store. (Chapter 8)

Chapters 9-13

Reading Check

1. To investigate the “escape of the prisoner from the POW camp” (Chapter 9)

2. Anton had had other prisoners sit on his bed for palm readings, which confused the bloodhounds. (Chapter 9)

3. “P.B.” (Chapter 10)

4. Because her mother’s employer stole Ruth’s savings (Chapter 12)

5. Ruth and Anton (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. Charlene Madlee is a reporter from Memphis’s Commercial Appeal who is looking to write a story about the escaped prisoner (i.e., Anton). She is impressed with Patty’s intellect and invites her to come to the interview at the prison where she asks the warden about the prisoner’s escape. Patty learns how to be a reporter and Charlene invites her to visit the Appeal’s office. (Chapters 9-10)

2. Patty gives Anton a shirt she bought for her father the previous year. She recalls being excited to shop especially for the gift, even customizing the shirt with her father’s monogrammed initials; however, he merely said “Thank you,” with very limited interest in the shirt itself. (Chapter 10)

3. Anton is concerned for Patty after he sees her father beating her for speaking to Freddy. He tells Patty that he overheard her father repeating “Nobody loves me. In my whole life nobody has ever loved me,” after watching Ruth and Patty go back into the house. Patty is surprised by this information and the pair embark on a discussion about the nature of cruelty, particularly how “a man who is incapable of humor is capable of cruelty,” using Hitler as an example. (Chapter 11)

4. Patty decides that since Anton must leave their premises, she will run away from home and accompany him. After her family goes to sleep, she prepares to leave for the night; however, Anton tells her that although he loves her, she should not come with him. He gives her an heirloom ring and the two briefly kiss. (Chapter 13)

Chapters 14-18

Reading Check

1. He gave her the ring because he wished that “God had seen fit to give me a daughter exactly like you.” (Chapter 15)

2. He fires Ruth. (Chapter 17)

3. They shout “Nazi,” “Jew-Nazi,” and “Jew Nazi-lover.” (Chapter 18)

4. Charlene Madlee (Chapter 18)

Short Answer

1. Patty wears Anton’s ring around her neck. One day she brags to Sister Parker that she got the ring from an old man in exchange for food. When Patty’s father overhears this conversation, he hits her and immediately assumes she was sexually assaulted; however, the Sheriff determines that Patty is not lying and gives her the ring back. (Chapters 14-15)

2. Her father brings home two FBI men who question her about the “old man” she received the ring from. Although she is able to maintain the story, after they pull out the blue monogrammed shirt she gave Anton, she notices a blood stain and demands to know what happened to him. The FBI now have a confession, and they reveal to her that Anton has been shot and killed. (Chapter 16)

3. After her confession and at her father’s request, the FBI agents take her to Memphis for further questioning, where she stays at her grandparents’ house. When Charlene visits Patty at her grandparents’ house, she hypothesizes that although it is unlikely that Patty will be convicted under the Treasons Act, she could still be prosecuted for a lesser charge as well as sent to reform school. (Chapter 18)

Chapters 19-21

Reading Check

1. To the Arkansas Reformatory for Girls at Bolton, Arkansas, for a 4-6 month sentence

2. She imagines that once she is 18 and out of the house, she will visit Mrs. Reiker in Germany. (Chapter 20)

3. “Natz,” “Nazi,” or “Spy” (Chapter 20)

4. A subscription to the Commercial Appeal (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. Patty’s father wants Mr. Kishner, a Jewish lawyer, to take his daughter’s case; however, he initially turns the case down and advises the Bergen family to hire a non-Jewish lawyer. Mr. Frank of Beth Zion is able to encourage Mr. Kishner, who begrudgingly takes the case and tells Patty, “Young lady, you have embarrassed Jews everywhere. Because your loyalty is questionable, then every Jew’s loyalty is in question.” (Chapter 19)

2. Ruth visits Patty at the Reformatory and informs her she has a new job as the housekeeper for the African American schoolteacher in their town and that her mother said that Ruth was the only person who could “handle” Patty. In addition to fried chicken with hush puppies and ginger snaps, Ruth brings Patty the ring that Anton gave her. (Chapter 20)

3. In the last chapter, Patty shares a heartfelt goodbye with Ruth at the Reformatory, who reminds her that things will get better in the future. In the moments after Ruth leaves, Patty stands there “[n]ot really moving. Barely managing to tread water” and she wonders: “Was it possible for a beginning swimmer to actually make it to shore? It might take me my whole lifetime to find out.” (Chapter 21)