Unlikely Warrior: The Jewish Soldier in Hitler's Army

by Suzanne Collins




Reviewed by David Tang

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Unlikely Warrior: The Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army by Georg Rauch

ISBN#:978-0-374-30277-1

THE STORY:

A city boy, named Georg Rauch, who has seldom seen the outside world, and has very little conviction on matters aside from what he has been told as a child. When Nazis invade Austria, he instantly becomes labeled as a “quarter-jew,” and is as a result shunned by society. However, Georg is spared from the holocaust, on the account of his german father. This does not mean that Georg is away from danger though.

As he grows up, he helps his mother stow away less fortunate jews in the attic of their house, despite the risk of prosecution if the Nazis find out. When he becomes eighteen, he is forced out of his home, drafted into the German Wehrmacht army, and thrust into the Russian trenches.  Among the long waits and the the mind numbing boredom, the threat of bullets and disease weigh heavy upon his neck. As the course of the war drags Georg through Russia's frozen plains, Romania’s hot and humid back lines, and the suffering of Russian POW camps, Georg gains the fortitude of a warrior, and the strength of a survivor.

MY OPINION:

When I first opened this book, I felt that the book, while quite sophisticated with some very interesting but controversial topic. However, I had trouble understanding some of the vocabulary the book introduced as the story went along, and a few of the more crucial points in the plot were lost on me, because of the varying pacing of the book, and the aforementioned sophistication. The book’s story though, over all wasn’t lost on me. The book very successfully conveyed the hopelessness of war, the miserableness of the narrator, the adrenaline of battle compared to the numbing mindlessness of the trenches, and the joy of simple commodities when all else is lost. The book’s delving into deeper topics such as the taking of lives and the morality of terms such as “might makes right” gives it interesting subject matter for more mature and sophisticated audiences, while the quick witted humor and the generally unexplored topic gives younger readers something latch on to. I would suggest this book to high schoolers and young adults, as some of the book may be lost on younger audiences. I think the book deserves an eight and a half out of ten.

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. What do the Nazi banners in Vienna say?

1a. The banners say “Might comes before Right” (pg. 17)

2. What does Georg trade away for the goose?

2a. George trades away his colorful neck scarf for the goose (pg. 28)

3. At what date does Georg send home his first letter to his mother?

3a. Georg sends his first letter home on December 4, 1943 (pg. 45)

4. How many men survive Georg’s first encounter with Russian Soldiers at Marinovka?

4a. Twenty one out of two hundred and fifty men survive the attack on Marinovka. (pg. 79)

5. Where are the eggs concealed when the owners of the houses leave?

5a. According to Haas, eggs are usually in a container under the grain, flour, or beans, or sometimes buried in the dirt near the house. (pg)

Apparatus (pg. 8)

Regime (pg. 15)

Unsavory (pg. 33)

Depreciation (pg. 57)

Goulash (pg. 74)

MIDDLE SECTION

6. How does Haas escape the war?

6a. Haas is shot in the knee, and thus leaves the front line due to injuries. (pg. 117)

7.How does Georg escape the encircled city?

7a. He, along with Kondrad and about thirty other people, leave via airplane. (pg. 127-28)

8. In Romania, who does Georg romance with?

8a. Goerg enjoys a “very intense romance” with a girl named Ana. (pg. 141)

9. How did Georg get rid of the flies inside his bunker?

9a. Georg laid out honey on a piece of paper. When a huge amount of flies went there to feast on the honey, Georg used a piece of cardboard to smash them all in one giant whack. He repeats this two or three times. (pg 163)

10. What type of forbidden letters did Georg use?

10a. Georg used a forbidden type of communication called “funk eigenheiten.” (pg. 185)

Partisan (pg. 115)

Inebriated (pg. 139)

Marjoram (pg. 147)

Liverwurst (pg. 163)

furlough (pg. 179)

                               

LAST SECTION

11. Who asks Georg to fix a radio?

11a. A female slavic officer asks Georg to fix their broken radio after Georg is captured by the Russians. (pg. 224)

12. What happened to captured members of the Waffen SS?

12a. Waffen SS members were found through the tattooed blood types on their shoulders. They were then executed. (pg. 237)

13. What job do the Russians offer to Georg?

13a. Georg is offered a job as a spy for the Russians inside the POW camp, and his job as a spy was to find and rat out any prisoners that were part of the Nazi party. (pg 249)

14. Why did the prisoners vomit after the hungarian feast?

14a. The prisoners, being malnourished and thin, did not have the stomach capacity to keep in the amounts of lavish food at the feast. As such, they regurgitated most of the food afterwards. (pg. 297)

15. What is the first thing that Georg’s Mother does after the war when he comes back?

15a. Georg was stripped of his clothing and was put into a warm bath. His mom fixed him some warm farina pudding. (pg. 316)

kasha (pg. 220)

dirge (pg. 229)

latrine (pg. 239)

delicatessen (pg. 268)

stanza (pg. 289)