Chapter 1

Summary
Brodeck says that he is not guilty of ‘something’. The other villagers wanted him to write the report, because Brodeck knows how to write and he has the typewriter. He tells ‘the Anderer’, a stranger, settled in his village after the war. Right after the Ereigniës (the thing that happened), Brodeck was informed at the Schloss’in (sort of café) by the villagers to write the report, Brodeck agreed with this.

Important quotes

• ‘My name is Brodeck, and I had nothing to do with it. I insist on that. I want everyone to know. I had no part in it, and once I learned what had happened, I would have preferred never to have spoken of it again, I would have liked to bind my memory fast and keep it that way, as subdued and still as a weasel in an iron trap.’ (page 1)
  - Foreshadowing, what had happened?
  - Also a methaphor “weasel in an iron trap”
  
  
• ‘Now we will never know. It’s too late, and no doubt better that way.’ (page 2)
  
  
• ‘I repeat: I could have remained silent, but they asked me to tell the story, and when they made the request, most of them had their fists clenched or their hands in their pockets, where I imagined them grasping the handles of their knives, the very knives which had just…’ (page 3)
  - Foreshadowing, what had happened with the knives?

Characters

• Brodeck = ?
• The Anderer = the other, a person who came into the village who was different
• Father Peiper = owner of the church
• Schloss = owner of the Schloss’ in
• Siegfried Knopf = they call him a lawyer, but actually he is a clerk
• Jenkins = the policeman, died in the war, he was the first to go
• Widow Bernhart = woman who is owner of the village’s grocery
• Hans Orschwir = mayor of the village
• Fédorine = fosterer of Brodeck
• Poupchette = Amélia’s daugter
• Amélia = Brodeck’s wife