Summary of Rebecca Donner's All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 In December 1939, an 11-year-old German boy named Paul von Mende was evacuated from Berlin to Norway with his mother. They waited for a message from his father, who was part of a department that had no official name or organizational structure.

#2 The boy was a spy, in the language of espionage. He visited a woman’s apartment and talked about the books he was given there. She helped him with his coat and slip a piece of paper into his knapsack.

#3 On July 29, 1932, Mildred exits the U-Bahn station and heads north on Friedrichstrasse, a leather satchel in her hand. She is on her way to the University of Berlin, where she lectures twice a week. She can’t believe she will not be invited back to teach in the fall.

#4 The Nazi Party was the official name of the party, but Mildred wrote to her mother that it was called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or NSDAP. It was a lie, as the party had nothing to do with socialism or the Ku Klux Klan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669381099

IRB Media

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Insights on Rebecca Donner's All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In December 1939, an 11-year-old German boy named Paul von Mende was evacuated from Berlin to Norway with his mother. They waited for a message from his father, who was part of a department that had no official name or organizational structure.

#2

The boy was a spy, in the language of espionage. He visited a woman’s apartment and talked about the books he was given there. She helped him with his coat and slip a piece of paper into his knapsack.

#3

On July 29, 1932, Mildred exits the U-Bahn station and heads north on Friedrichstrasse, a leather satchel in her hand. She is on her way to the University of Berlin, where she lectures twice a week. She can’t believe she will not be invited back to teach in the fall.

#4

The Nazi Party was the official name of the party, but Mildred wrote to her mother that it was called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or NSDAP. It was a lie, as the party had nothing to do with socialism or the Ku Klux Klan.

#5

The German university administrator, Mildred, was told she could not return to her job after she had given a speech critical of the school’s administration. The students had covered her desk with flowers, a gesture of respect.

#6

Opernplatz is a large public square in Berlin near the University of Berlin. In the evening, wealthy operagoers spill out onto the square, and beggars trail raggedly behind them, stretching out open palms. The square is the whole of German society condensed.

#7

The Reichstag, Germany’s parliament, is a cornerstone of democracy. In 1928, the Nazi Party got less than 3 percent of the vote in a Reichstag election. In 1930, it got 18 percent. And in 1932, fascism is on the rise in Germany, but it still seems possible to defeat it.

#8

After the Nazi Party gets 37 percent of the vote, Hitler demands that President Hindenburg appoint him chancellor of Germany. President Hindenburg refuses.

#9

Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926. In 1932, it wasn’t read widely in Germany. Many German newspapers mocked Hitler’s ramblings.

#10

As Hitler’s popularity increased, the Münchener Post, a mouthpiece of the Social Democratic Party, published articles criticizing him and his followers. But many readers didn’t believe the newspaper, and continued to support Hitler.

#11

In Alexanderplatz, Mildred sees a bloody confrontation between unemployed factory workers and police officers. The SS, an elite corps of officers in a private paramilitary force, are driving a tank.

#12

Mildred’s father, William, was a horse trader. He never held a job for long, and when the novelty wore off, he would quit on short notice and return to horse trading. He and his family moved frequently.

#13

William and Georgina had a difficult time getting along, and eventually, they had a huge fight. William sold all his horses, and a few weeks later, he died alone in an empty barn during a blizzard.

#14

When Mildred got home from school, Harriette’s little girls would greet her, curious as cats. Everywhere she went, Janey wanted to go too.

#15

It was September 1, 1932. In exactly seven years, the Second World War would begin. This morning, by comparison, is not noteworthy. For Mildred, it begins like any other morning, when she rises from a simple, wood-frame bed to draw back the curtains and let in the light.

#16

After meeting in Germany, Arvid returned to his home country to finish his PhD, and Mildred went to live in Baltimore and teach English there. They wrote letters to each other, and when they finally met again six months later, they got married.

#17

Arvid and Mildred were very much in love. They went hiking in the Harz Mountains, and read poems to each other. They were happy to be together.

#18

Mildred was excited to begin her new job at the Berliner Städtisches Abendgymnasium für Erwachsene, or the Berlin Night School for Adults. She would be teaching German students, who were mostly unemployed and from poor families.

#19

Mildred has lived in Berlin for many years now. She loves the city’s diversity and its culture. She has never visited Italy or Greece, but she has been to France and London.

#20

Germany has the most newspapers of any industrialized nation. There are four thousand seven hundred weeklies and dailies, many with morning, midday, and