Brainwashed Across Germany

Brainwashed Across Germany

Part I

Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi begins in 1919 just after World War One ended and Germany is suffering from an economic downfall; soldiers coming home to their families are defeated and bitter. Germany has much devastation, high unemployment, and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, helps to fuel the Nazi party. The author takes you back to a time when the Nazi party is coming to power and how they systematically murdered approximately 6 million Jews. What makes this story so tragic is how a small German town and its German people in the small communities are able to look the other way or collaborate with the Nazi soldiers to persecute their neighbors and once friends because they are Jews. Ursula Hegi having chosen Trudi Montag as the main character and heroin; shows how she is rejected from her peers and community throughout her youth because she is dwarf.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germa...

Mussolini (left) and Hitler sent their armies to N...

English: Adolf Hitler as a soldier during the Firs...

She has few friends and feels like an outsider even though she is of German heritage. Trudi's stature and isolation helps builds her character and gives her the compassion and courage to help her Jewish neighbors escape the atrocities that await them if they are taken away by the Nazi's.

Part II

The book Stones from the River is set in 1919 just after World War I at a time when Germany has a stressed economy and soldiers who have fought in this war are coming home to their small towns and villages. The Treaty of Versailles, which was an agreement of the winning allies; the Big Four: Britain, France, Italy and the United States, this treaty is created to decide what to do...