A young German and proud Nazi who briefly serves as Father’s apprentice, a few years before the war. During his time at the watch shop, Otto begins to abuse Christoffels with almost sociopathic violence, tripping him and even hitting him when he’s outside the safety of the Beje. Christoffels is too proud to tell Father, but when Otto smashes his nose Father discovers what’s been happening and fires Otto. Willem explains to the family that Otto’s behavior stems from the Nazi ethos, which denigrates the old and physically weak as “useless” to society. This episode is Corrie’s first encounter with Nazi intolerance.
Otto Quotes in The Hiding Place
The The Hiding Place quotes below are all either spoken by Otto or refer to Otto. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Watch Shop
Quotes
Willem shook his head. “It’s very deliberate,” he said. “It’s because Christoffels is old. The old have no value to the State. They’re also harder to train in new ways of thinking. Germany is systematically teaching disrespect for old age.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Otto Quotes in The Hiding Place
The The Hiding Place quotes below are all either spoken by Otto or refer to Otto. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Watch Shop
Quotes
Willem shook his head. “It’s very deliberate,” he said. “It’s because Christoffels is old. The old have no value to the State. They’re also harder to train in new ways of thinking. Germany is systematically teaching disrespect for old age.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis: