117 pages 3 hours read

Alan Gratz

Projekt 1065

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016

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Chapters 50-76Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 50 Summary: “Surrender or Die”

Fritz and Michael are participating in their first assignment for the Hitler Youth Patrol Force—i.e., the SRD. Fritz points out the boy who wasn’t allowed to take the Hitler Youth tests because his parents were unpatriotic. The boy is now among the SRD, and Fritz explains he got there by turning his own parents in. Michael, horrified, thinks a “coldhearted weasel” (155) who would betray his own family “belong[s] in the SRD” (155).

Trumbauer, the Nazi who almost discovered Simon at the embassy, addresses the SRD members. Trumbauer calls Michael out by his full name and congratulates him for choosing the SRD, then he tells the group they’re going to raid a pool hall where the Edelweiss Pirates gather. Fritz volunteers to lead the Hitler Youth into the pool hall, where they’ll take the Pirates into protective custody. Fritz yells “‘Surrender or die, Edelweiss pigs!’” (157) as he storms into the pool hall, with the rest of the Hitler Youth close behind.

Chapter 51 Summary: “Quex”

The pool hall quickly becomes a “wreck” of “broken bottles” and “bloodied patrons” (158), with Fritz leading the arrests of teenage Pirates. Horst, the Youth leader who was so cruel to Fritz, is beating an unconscious boy with a chair leg, and Fritz calls him out.