Motherland Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Systematic Euthanasia and our BookBrowse Review of Motherland.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. How much did you know about German families in the Third Reich before reading Motherland? How did the book change your perspective?
2. Readers experience Motherland through the points of view of several characters: Liesl, Frank, Uta, Hans, and Ani. How did seeing the book's events through different eyes affect your understanding of what happened to the family?
3. Many scenes of Motherland take place in the house, in a private domestic sphere, instead of on battlegrounds. How and where did you notice the war and all its terrors infiltrating the lives of mothers and children?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Counterpoint Press. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.