How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
A rhythmic and unanimous sound, punctuated by the barking of orders, rose from the Zeltnergasse. It was sunrise, and the armored vanguard of the Third Reich was rolling into Prague. (1)
Right from the first paragraph, we get the historical context for this story. We also get a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs. The Third Reich was notorious for targeting and persecuting Jews during World War II, so we know where this is headed.
Quote #2
On the nineteenth, the authorities received a report from an informer. (2)
In Nazi-controlled Europe, you could be reported to the authorities just for being Jewish.
Quote #3
He was unable to refute even one of the Gestapo's charges: His mother's family's name was Jaroslavski, he came of Jewish blood, his article on Boehme dealt with a Jewish subject, his was one of the accusing signatures appended to a protest against the Anschluss. (2)
The charges against Jaromir aren't really crimes: he's in trouble with the Nazi authorities primarily because he's Jewish. During World War II, the Nazis sought to control and eventually wipe out the Jewish population of Europe in an act of genocide known as the Holocaust.
Quote #4
"[T]wo or three adjectives in Fraktur were enough to persuade Julius Rothe of Hladik's preeminence, and therefore that he should be put to death – pour encourager les autres. (2)
Jaromir's "crime" – of being a prominent Jewish intellectual – is, under Nazi rule, enough to have him put to death. Ugh.
Quote #5
That delay (whose importance the reader will soon discover) was caused by the administrative desire to work impersonally and deliberately, as vegetables do, or planets. (2)
This sentence is a little strange. We expect that condemning someone to death would be a really personal act: it's not at all like the growth of a vegetable, or the orbit of a planet. But that's how the Nazis in this story try to treat the execution of Jewish people – like the operation of a machine, or an act of nature.
Quote #6
He noticed that the soldiers' eyes avoided his own. (9)
The soldiers who are scheduled to execute Jaromir can't look him in the eye. Is that because they want the act to remain impersonal? Or because they feel sorry for him? Maybe a bit of both?
Quote #7
To make the wait easier, the sergeant handed him a cigarette. Hladik did not smoke; he accepted the cigarette out of courtesy, or out of humility. (9)
Even though the sergeant is about to order Jaromir's death, their last few minutes together are marked by an act of kindness and graciousness between the two men. The sergeant offers Jaromir a cigarette; Jaromir politely accepts. What gives?
Quote #8
Someone was afraid the wall would be spattered with blood; the prisoner was ordered to come forward a few steps. Absurdly, Hladik was reminded of the preliminary shufflings-about of photographers. (10)
This is weird. Not the most profound observation, but it's true. All this shuffling around seems really silly, even though the situation is mortally serious. What effect does this mix of funny and horrifying have on the reader?