DOCSLIB.ORG

The Orphan's Tale Introduces Two Extraordinary Women and Their Harrowing Stories of Sacrifice and Survival

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Orphan's Tale Introduces Two Extraordinary Women and Their Harrowing Stories of Sacrifice and Survival The Orphan’s Tale (Questions) 1. Noa and Astrid’s rivalry changes into a close friendship despite significant differences in age and circumstances. How did this evolution happen? What do you think it was that drew them together? Have you ever found yourself in such a close but unlikely friendship? 2. Even in WWII-torn Europe, the circus was still allowed to perform. Did this surprise you? How did the setting impact your reading of the novel? What deeper meaning do you think there is behind the circus burning down in the end? Who did you initially think was the narrator in the opening chapter? How did the opening chapter shape your reading experience? 3. With whom did you identify more closely, Astrid or Noa? Why? What were Noa’s and Astrid’s greatest strengths and their greatest flaws? Were there choices you wish Astrid and/or Noa had made differently throughout the book? 4. Noa is disowned by her family and in turn has her child ripped from her arms. Astrid leaves her family for a husband who abandons her. How do you think Astrid and Noa were each defined by their pasts? What role does the notion of family play throughout the story? What are some of the other themes in the book? 5. What do you think drew Astrid and Peter together so powerfully? Noa and Luc? How do these two relationships differ from one another? Do you think either of these relationships could have lasted a lifetime under different circumstances? 6. What do you think of Peter’s decision to continue with his mocking act toward the Reich? How do you think the story would have differed if Peter had refrained from doing the act? 7. How did you feel about the ending? Were you surprised? Satisfied? 8. What will you remember the most about The Orphan’s Tale? https://www.bookmovement.com/bookDetailView/50107/The-Orphan%27s-Tale-By-Pam-Jenoff The Orphan’s Tale (About the Author) Updated:Aug. 30, 2012 Pam Jenoff PERSONAL INFORMATION: Born c. 1971 in Silver Spring, MD; married; children: three. Education: George Washington University, B.A.; Cambridge University, M.A.; University of Pennsylvania, J.D. Memberships: Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America. Addresses: Home: Haddonfield, NJ. Agent: Scott Hoffman, Folio Literary Management, 505 8th Ave., Ste. 603, New York, NY 10018. Office: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers School of Law--Camden, 217 N. 5th St., Camden, NJ 08102. E-mail: [email protected]. CAREER: Attorney, diplomat, and author. Has worked as a special assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Army; U.S. State Department, U.S. Consulate, Krakow, Poland, diplomat and government official, 1994-98; former attorney in private practice, Philadelphia, PA; Rutgers School of Law, Camden, NJ, professor of law. Former member of board, Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern New Jersey; fellow, Salzburg Seminar. AWARDS: U.S. Commission for the Preservations of America's Heritage Abroad honors; Quill Award nomination, best romance category, for The Kommandant's Girl. NOVELS Sidelights The seeds of author Pam Jenoff's interest in fiction writing were planted during her childhood, but it was through her adult career as a government official and diplomat that she found the motivation and material for her first novel. After college, Jenoff was appointed as a special assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Army. In this position, she had the "unique opportunity to witness and participate in operations at the most senior levels of government," according to her home page. Next, Jenoff was assigned to diplomatic duties at the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. There, she "developed her expertise in Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust," while working on issues such as the "preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland." "I was profoundly affected by my experiences in Poland, and by the many close relationships I developed with both Jewish and Gentile Poles," Jenoff also commented on the M.J. Rose Web log. "For several years after my return to the United States, I wanted to write a novel that reflected these experiences," Jenoff continued on her home page. Guided by an image of a "young woman nervously guiding a child across Krakow's market square during the Nazi occupation," Jenoff's interest in writing the novel was cemented by a chance meeting with an elderly couple during a train ride from Washington, DC, to Philadelphia. They were both Holocaust survivors who were thoroughly familiar with the Polish resistance during the war. Their story, coupled with a sense of reassessment of priorities following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks spurred Jenoff to enroll in a writing class. This led to her debut novel, The Kommandant's Girl, which became an international best seller. Since then, Jenoff has continued her career as a novelist and has also become a lawyer and law professor. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.lapl.org/apps/doc/H1000176604/LitRC?u=lapl&sid=LitRC&xid=fad225e4. Accessed 9 Apr. 2020. The Orphan’s Tale (Reviews) Publishers Weekly Bestselling author Jenoff (The Kommandant’s Girl) depicts two disparate women thrown together by destiny, each hiding a secret from the Nazi regime. Noa’s Dutch family kicks her out of the house after an affair with a Nazi soldier leaves her pregnant. She gives up the child, but in her new life as a train-station washerwoman, she finds a boxcar full of Jewish infants. She rescues one and flees, nearly freezing to death in a distant forest where she is rescued by a member of the famous German Circus Neuhoff; Noa claims the baby is her brother. Astrid Sorrell (born Ingrid Klemt) is forced to separate from her German officer husband when the Reich forces all Jewish intermarriages to be dissolved. A former star in her now-depleted Jewish family’s circus, she, too, finds refuge with the rival Circus Neuhoff, where her Jewish identity will be hidden, and now her boss forces her to teach the pretty Noa the art of the trapeze. Will Noa be able to perform and keep her baby safe? Will anyone discover Astrid’s true identity? Despite their different backgrounds, they find comfort and trust in each other’s friendship. Against the backdrop of circus life during the war, the author captures the very real terrors faced by both women as they navigate their working and personal relationships and their complicated love lives while striving for normalcy and keeping their secrets safe. (Feb.) Book Companion A New York Times bestseller! A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival. Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of … Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night. Library Journal Noa becomes pregnant by a soldier and is compelled to give up both baby and home. Living above a railway station she cleans to pay her bills, she discovers a boxcar full of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp and steals one, joining a traveling circus to cover her tracks. Over-the-top imagination. https://www.bookcompanion.com/the_orphans_tale_links2.html https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7783-1981-8 https://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/fiction/10917-orphans-tale-jenoff?start=2 The Orphan’s Tale (Enhancements) The setting of the German circus, where Noa, the female protagonist is sheltered from harm during World War II and is trained to be an aerialist. Following is a brief historical look at the German circus and its heroes during that era. “The Ringmaster who helped Jewish acrobats escape the Nazis” (The Daily Beast, 4/20/18) The circus is a family business and the Althoff dynasty traces its roots back to the ​ ​ late-seventeenth century, not long after the circus as we know it first arrived in ​ ​ Germany. Dominik Althoff founded his own show in 1905 and married a haute ecole rider, Adele Mark, with whom he had eight children. Adolf, the baby of the family, was born in 1913 on the grounds of his parents’ circus as carnival music played outside. By the time he was 17 he was working as his parents’ publicity ​ ​ director and as a talented horse and elephant trainer. At 23, he was running his own show in partnership with his sister, a production whose signature attraction was a tiger riding on horseback. He married a member of another well-known circus family, Maria von der Gathen, and began a thirty year run as ringmaster of the Circus Adolf Althoff, later recalled as “one of the most technically proficient circuses in the world and what was one of Germany’s most popular shows” By the outbreak of World War II, he was employing 90 artists and crew. ​ ​ As a group, circus artists were not considered potentially subversive to the Nazis the way artists and writers were, and indeed German circuses were often sent on international propaganda tours by Joseph Goebbels. But troupes were harshly purged of Jewish performers, a community that had a community that had been a significant part of the German circus for generations.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sarrasani Between the Fable and the Epic
    SARRASANI BETWEEN THE FABLE AND THE EPIC by Gustavo Bernstein 1 2 To my father, inspirer and instigator behind these pages. 3 4 Homeland is wherever I pitch my tent. Trude Stosch-Sarrasani 5 6 INDEX INTRODUCTION Letter from Trude Stosch-Sarrasani PREFACE By Jorge H. Bernstein SENIOR An early orphanhood………………………………………………………………… Dreams of an artist……………………………………………………………… The court jester………………………………………………………………… Tradition and nostalgia………………………………………………………………… Sensationen! Sensationen!………………………………………………………………. The princess of Elbe (and her “Golden Palace”)…………………………………… A convoy of artists……………………………………………………………………… Europe in flames…………………………………………………………………………. From the Bolshevik Revolution to a gala dinner………………………………………. The conquest of the Americas (or a German in the tropics)…………………………..... The Queen of the Río de la Plata (or the whims of a diva)…………………………… Circus sinks on the high seas…………………………………………………… Arabian Nights (the mirage of technique)…………………………………………… Crash (the tentacles of Wall Street)……………………………………….........…… A typical Freudian cast…………………………………………………..……………… Judenzirkus (or early murmuring of the Third Reich)……………………………… Friday 13th (the Führer’s shadow)…………………………………………………... Stowaway on board (and the siren’s song)……………………………… A thread of light at sunset………………………………………………………… Elephants wear mourning, too………………………………………………………… JUNIOR The show must go on…………………………………………………………………… Junior’s first journey to the New World (including: the fundamental pact with the minister, the purging of the staff, the new agile and swift
    [Show full text]
  • Sylvia Ziegner Der Bildband Dresden
    Sylvia Ziegner Der Bildband Dresden – eine Kamera klagt an von Richard Peter senior. Teil der Erinnerungskultur Dresdens Der Bildband Dresden – eine Kamera klagt an von Richard Peter senior. Teil der Erinnerungskultur Dresdens INAUGURAL-DISSERTATION zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde des Fachbereichs Germanistik und Kunstwissenschaften der Philipps-Universität Marburg vorgelegt von Sylvia Ziegner, Dresden Marburg an der Lahn 2010 Vom Fachbereich Germanistik und Kunstwissenschaften der Philipps-Universität Marburg als Dissertation angenommen am 25.11.2010. Tag der Disputation: 19.05.2011 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Lutz Heusinger Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schütte Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung ............................................................................................................................. 3 2 Ein Arbeiterfotograf? – Zur Vita von Richard Peter senior ....................................... 14 3 Der Bildband Dresden – eine Kamera klagt an ............................................................ 39 3.1 Trümmerfotografie .................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Dresden 1945 ............................................................................................................. 55 3.3 Entstehungsbedingungen und Entstehungsgeschichte ........................................ 62 3.3.1 Die Dresdener Verlagsgesellschaft .................................................................. 62 3.3.2 Vorgeschichte ....................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The American West and the World
    THE AMERICAN WEST AND THE WORLD The American West and the World provides a synthetic introduction to the trans- national history of the American West. Drawing from the insights of recent scholarship, Janne Lahti recenters the history of the U.S. West in the global contexts of empires and settler colonialism, discussing exploration, expansion, migration, violence, intimacies, and ideas. Lahti examines established subfields of Western scholarship, such as borderlands studies and transnational histories of empire, as well as relatively unexplored connections between the West and geographically nonadjacent spaces. Lucid and incisive, The American West and the World firmly situates the historical West in its proper global context. Janne Lahti is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Helsinki and the editor of American Studies in Scandinavia. THE AMERICAN WEST AND THE WORLD Transnational and Comparative Perspectives Janne Lahti NEW YORK AND LONDON First published 2019 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Taylor & Francis The right of Janne Lahti to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
    [Show full text]
  • Friedrich Kurt Fiedler Aus Dem Leben Eines Dresdner Gebrauchsgraphikers Inhaltsverzeichnis
    Friedrich Kurt Fiedler Aus dem Leben eines Dresdner Gebrauchsgraphikers Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Biografie 1 1.1 Friedrich Kurt Fiedler ......................................... 1 1.1.1 Leben ............................................. 1 1.1.2 Eine historische Besonderheit ................................ 3 1.1.3 Nachlass ........................................... 3 1.1.4 Literatur ........................................... 3 1.1.5 Einzelnachweise ....................................... 3 1.1.6 Weblinks ........................................... 4 2 Heimat und Familie 5 2.1 Eichbusch (Dresden) ......................................... 5 2.1.1 Geografie ........................................... 5 2.1.2 Geschichte .......................................... 5 2.1.3 Personen ........................................... 6 2.1.4 Siehe auch .......................................... 6 2.1.5 Einzelnachweise ....................................... 6 2.1.6 Weblinks ........................................... 6 2.2 Frank Fiedler ............................................. 6 2.2.1 Leben und Wirken ...................................... 7 2.2.2 Schriften (Auswahl) ..................................... 7 2.2.3 Literatur ........................................... 8 2.2.4 Weblinks ........................................... 8 2.2.5 Einzelnachweise ....................................... 8 2.3 Edmund Schuchardt .......................................... 8 2.3.1 Ausbildung .......................................... 9 2.3.2 Leben ............................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Sarrasani Circus in Opole. on Entertainment in the City in the First Decades of the 20Th Century1
    Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 64(1), 93–110 (2019) DOI: 10.1556/022.2019.64.1.6 The Sarrasani Circus in Opole. On Entertainment in the City in the First Decades of the 20th Century1 Kamila Baraniecka-Olszewska Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw Abstract: The article presents outcomes of the transformation of ethnographic shows into circus acts at the example of Sarrasani Circus performances in Opole (German: Oppeln) in the beginning of the 20th century. The author examines how circus performances created experience of the extraordinary on stage by presenting faraway, distant, exotic cultures. Thus ethnographic shows in the Sarrasani Circus were an element of magic world of wonders performed at arena. The circus visited Opole thrice: in 1913, 1928 and 1933 becoming one of the main attractions in the city. Each time the shows were preceded by a huge advertising campaign in the local German- and Polish-language press. Press articles, notes and advertisements along with scarce archival data constitute the main source for the analysis, though they offer a very specific image of the past. Taking this into account, the author focuses on the manner of conceptualizing exotic cultures to make them attractive to the city audience. Such an approach enables research on the process of presenting exotic ethnic groups within a framework of city entertainment in the first decades of the 20th century. Therefore what the author describes is a way in which distant cultures become a stage attraction, a circus trick and an element co-creating a fantastic reality on arena. Keywords: circus, ethnographic shows, exotic cultures, Sarrasani, stage performance 1 The research that became the basis for the present article was financed by the National Science Centre, Poland 2015/19/B/HS3/02143.
    [Show full text]
  • Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations, Volume I, 1932-1934
    Includes the complete text of Domarus’ original German 4-volume set, and the 4-volume English translation on CD The Complete HITLER A Digital Desktop Reference to His Speeches and Proclamations 1932–1945 Max Domarus Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. Wauconda, Illinois USA The Complete Hitler A Digital Desktop Reference to His Speeches and Proclamations 1932-1945 Max Domarus © 2007 Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. 1000 Brown Street Wauconda, IL 60084 USA www.bolchazy.com Produced in the United States of America 2007 by Media Services ISBN 978-0-86516-658-5 HITLER Speeches and Proclamations VOLUME I HITLER Speeches and Proclamations 1932–1945 Volume I 1932–1934 Volume II 1935–1938 Volume III 1939–1940 Volume IV 1941–1945 MAX DOMARUS HITLER Speeches and Proclamations 1932–1945 THE CHRONICLE OF A DICTATORSHIP VOLUME ONE The Years 1932 to 1934 BOLCHAZY-CARDUCCI PUBLISHERS TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY MARY FRAN GOLBERT Published by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers 1000 Brown Street, Unit 101 Wauconda, IL., 60084 United States of America Copyright © 1990 by Wolfgang Domarus Originally published in German: Hitler. Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945. Copyright © 1962, 1963, 1973 by Max Domarus, 1987 by Wolfgang Domarus English translation copyright © 1990 by Wolfgang Domarus Licensing by Domarus Verlag Postfach, D-8700 Würzburg 21, West Germany All rights reserved The copyright includes the entirety of Adolf Hitler’s words as translated and cited in this work. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • Circus Krone, Neben Circus Sarrasani Ein Füh- Relevance
    CIRCUS. FREIHEIT. GLEICHSCHALTUNG. Circus. FREEDOM. ENFOrceD AlignMent. CIRCUS IN GESCHICHTE & GESELLSCHAFT Circus IN HistORY & SOciETY Der Circushistoriker Jewgeni Kusnezow definierte The historian Jewgeni Kusnezow defines circus as Circus als »Einheit der Vielfalt«. Die artistischen Num- the »unity of diversity«. The individual acrobatic acts of mern eines Circusprogrammes können zwar einzeln a circus program may well be performed independent- gezeigt werden, bilden zusammen allerdings eine neue ly, together however, they gain a new overall quality. Gesamtqualität heraus. The origins of circus artistry lie in jester’s shows, Die Ursprünge der Artistik waren GauklerInnen-Darbie- presented at town fairs. After the beginning of the tungen auf Jahrmärkten. Diese wurden ab Beginn des 16th century the blooming of trade turned those into 16. Jahrhunderts durch das Aufblühen des Handels events of major economic and social significance. zu ökonomisch und gesellschaftlich zentralen Ereig- Tightrope-walking, fire-eating, juggling, acrobatics and nissen. Dort waren zur Vergnügung vor allem Seiltanz, the dressage of small animals provided entertainment Feuerschlucken, Jonglage, Akrobatik und die Dressur for the general public. von Kleintieren zu sehen. With the beginning of industrialization, in the middle of Mit Einsetzen der Industrialisierung Mitte des 18. the 18th century, the town fairs’ importance dimini- Jahrhunderts verloren die Jahrmärkte an Bedeutung. shed. Conditions of life and labor changed everywhe- Die Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen der Menschen re. Additionally, the horse, which had been essential veränderten sich stark. Auch die Bedeutung des Pfer- for the forming of the circus in its modern shape, was des, welches Ausgangspunkt für die Entstehung des seen in a different light, as now horse acrobatics emer- Circus im heutigen Sinne war, wandelte sich durch die ged as an art form that was presented in a circular Circus Strassburger in Mannheim 1933 Entstehung der Kunstreiterei und seiner Präsentation manege.
    [Show full text]
  • Turnier-Datenbank / Tournament Database: 1920-1939
    TURNIER-DATENBANK / TOURNAMENT DATABASE: 1920-1939 GR: greco-roman Style, F: Freestyle; CACC: catch-as-catch-can Date City Winner 1920 Brandenburg (Havel) / Germany ? 1920 Dusseldorf / Germany Ernst Erlenkamp World Heavyweight Championship 1920 Torun (Thorn) / Poland Theodor Sztekker 1920 Lublin / Poland Theodor Sztekker 1920 Lwiw (Lemberg) / Ukraine ? 1920 Krakow (Krakau) / Poland ? 1920 Pskow / Russia Tomas Cziruchin 01.1920 Berlin / Germany Paul Westergaard-Schmidt 01.1920 Brussels (Brüssel) / Belgium Alphonse Steurs 31.01.1920 Munich (München) / Germany Franz Sauerer 02.1920 Dortmund / Germany Ernst Erlenkamp 02.02.1920 Wilhelmshaven / Germany Iwan Romanoff 15.02.1920 Wiesbaden / Germany ? 25.02.1920 Freiburg (Breisgau) / Germany Fritz van der Heyd 03.1920 Jablonec nad Nisou (Gablonz) / Czechia ? 03.1920 Aachen / Germany ? 03.1920 Berlin / Germany ? Albert Hein ? 03.1920 Warsaw (Warschau) / Poland Theodor Sztekker & Lutow 01.03.1920 Wroclaw (Breslau) / Poland Karl Saft 03.03.1920 Brno (Brünn) / Czechia Gustav Fristensky 14.03.1920 Munich (München) / Germany Franz Sauerer & Paul Möbus 21.03.1920 Prague (Prag) / Czechia Josef Steinbach 04.1920 Usti nad Labem (Aussig) / Czechia Josef Steinbach 04.1920 Krnov / Czechia ? 04.1920 Nuremberg (Nürnberg) / Germany Servanne Christensen 04.1920 Ludwigshafen / Germany Franz Sauerer 06.04.1920 Hamburg / Germany Fred Marcussen European Heavyweight Championship 15.04.1920 Berlin / Germany Georg Strenge 15.04.1920 Bremen / Germany Samson (Paul) Bahn 16.04.1920 Erfurt / Germany Willy Metzner 30.04.1920 Dortmund / Germany Sambuco 05.1920 Halle (Saale) / Germany Oswald Buchheim 05.1920 Berlin / Germany Georg Strenge 05.1920 Berlin / Germany ? 05.1920 Plzeň (Pilsen) / Czechia ? 02.05.1920 Bratislava / Slovakia Gustav Fristensky 15.05.1920 Barmen (Wuppertal) / Germany Ernst Erlenkamp 15.05.1920 Berlin / Germany Reinhold Hintze 30.05.1920 Hamburg / Germany Hans Schwarz Sr.
    [Show full text]