Summary

Helmuth recounts many early, character-shaping memories during these first episodes of his life which serve to shape his evolving thoughts throughout the novel. This also begins the first flashback of the story, which takes readers back to 1928, and perhaps one of Helmuth's earliest memories. As he sits and shivers within the cell walls of Plotzensee prison in Berlin, Germany, Helmuth remembers himself as a young boy, aged just three-years-old.

Helmuth and his mother, Mutti (Emma), walk up Luisenweg, the Hammerbrook street in their hometown of Hamburg, Germany. It is there that they live in a small flat next to his grandparents, Oma and Opa. Just up ahead of them are Helmuth's two half-brothers, Gerhard (age 7) and Hans (age 8). Helmuth strains to pull away from his mother, who is firmly holding his hand. Mutti pulls him back, saying she doesn't want...