Auslander by Paul Dowswell
Drew Bjorn
Summary
Peter is a boy who's parents were killed and was sent to live in an orphanage. While there, Nazi officers took him to be tested and observed to see if he was good enough to represent the Aryan race. He was especially up to their standards, being blonde haired, blue eyed, tall and handsome. They measured and observed him in very strange and evil ways, which he didn't like. He didn't want to be a Nazi, but he had to learn to pretend to be like them or his life would be in danger if he didn't.
Three things I learned
1. Nazi's used innocent boys and brain washed them into believing that everyone should be a perfect Aryan blonde hair blue eyed boy. In the story they took boys and observed them to see if they were "perfect" enough to represent the Aryan race.
2. Kids were taken to be observed and tested for no logical reason. An example from the book is that, Nazi's basically kidnapped the children to see if they were "racially valuable" to move them and teach them to be like and think like Nazi's.
3. I learned that people would try to help feed and hide Jews from Nazi officers because they new what they were doing was wrong. In Auslander, Anna (Peters friend) and her family helped jews that were trying to escape capture by the Nazi's. This was very dangerous for people to do because if you were caught, you would most likely be killed.
Quotes
"He loves Hitler so much, he even has a little Hitler mustache. And how he loves his little power". This quote from peters thoughts are kind of mocking Hitler. It shows that he think Hitler is dumb and silly looking. He dislikes Hitler and his beliefs, which this quote foreshadows.
"I don't care if they feed us golabki and pierogi with golden spoons, I don't want to go to Germany. Not with the Nazi zboks..." This was said by another boy being examined, and it shows that they all didn't like the Nazi's and didn't want to be like them.
"I told the orphanage this and I asked them who would look after the farm, but they just waved me away" This quote shows his resentment towards the people in the orphinage after his parents had passed away. He wanted to leave which he got to do when the Nazi's took him, and learned he didn't really want to after all.
"I don't care if they feed us golabki and pierogi with golden spoons, I don't want to go to Germany. Not with the Nazi zboks..." This was said by another boy being examined, and it shows that they all didn't like the Nazi's and didn't want to be like them.
"I told the orphanage this and I asked them who would look after the farm, but they just waved me away" This quote shows his resentment towards the people in the orphinage after his parents had passed away. He wanted to leave which he got to do when the Nazi's took him, and learned he didn't really want to after all.
The Swastika
Nazi symbol
Auslander book cover
Paul Dowswell
Author
Reflection & Recomendation
Overall The Auslander was a good book that tells a story of a boy deciding whats right and wrong. It shows that sometimes you must decide if you don't believe in what other people are doing that you should stand up for whats right. I think this is a very good theme and a story worth reading. I would suggest that everyone should read this because it helps give a good look into the history of the Holocaust and shows what people went through. Although it has a good story, some people may not want to read it because of sensitive topics are spoken of in the book, like pearl harbor, the Holocaust of course, and weird inspections of children.