Chapter 5, Herr Kremer and Fraulein Ilse, Part 1 Summary

The schoolteacher who defended the Jews at the synagogue, is a German who fought in the previous war and suffers still from physical and emotional wounds. He thinks facism is a temporary insanity and that the bad boys will be sent back to school or to the bars. When the synagogue is burned down and he sees the Jewish children targeted, his opinion changes. At first he does nothing, but his sensitive heart causes him to step in to prevent hostilities toward the Jewish children. Soon hostile messages are left on his classroom blackboard calling him a Jew lover. Herr Kremer strikes back at the intolerance of the Jewish people in his own quiet way. He invites Ernie Levy and Ilse Bruckner for tea for their accomplishments in German and singing...