Summer of My German Soldier

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. In 1941, the US officially entered World War II (WWII). What event led to the US formally joining this war? Which countries did the US fight with and fight against? How did the population in the US view those who were considered to be the “enemy”?

Teaching Suggestion: This question invites students to consider their prior knowledge of the historical context: life in the US during WWII. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the US formally entered WWII as one of the Allied powers. In addition to supporting France, the UK, and the USSR in the so-called “European theater” against Nazi Germany and other Axis Powers, the US was primarily engaged with fighting Japan in the “Pacific theater.” Other than civilians who were present at Pearl Harbor, most non-enlisted Americans had no interaction with enemy forces. Greene’s novel, therefore, centers on an aspect of war that many Americans would find unfamiliar: the presence of Nazi soldiers on US soil. As a young American Jewish girl, her story is further problematized as she is sympathetic to her new German friend and refuses to view him only as an enemy to her people.