The Plum Tree (54 page)

Then, over twenty years later, after
another
conversation with a close friend (ironically one of my former high school teasers) about how much responsibility the average German held for bringing Hitler into power, inspiration struck. I needed to write a novel about what it was like for an average German during the war, while still being sensitive to what the Nazis did to the Jews. But I also knew my book needed a twist if I wanted to sell it. Then I remembered how James Cameron used a love story to tell the bigger story of the ill-fated
Titanic
. And so the romance between a young German woman and a Jewish man was born. Together with stories from my mother’s life in Nazi Germany, I knew the entire novel, from beginning to end. I finished the first dreadful draft of my novel in three days, in longhand, on a legal pad. After that, it took over four years of research and revisions before it was ready. While the wartime experiences of my main character were those of an ordinary German, what she did trying to save her Jewish boyfriend is extraordinary. In reality, she very likely would have died for her efforts. But that wouldn’t have made for a very satisfying story.

You said the book is loosely based on your mother’s life growing up in Germany during the war. Which of the events are true?

It’s probably easier to say what isn’t true, which would be the main character’s having a Jewish boyfriend and being sent to Dachau. The poverty, hunger, bombings, jumping in a ditch to avoid being shot by Allied planes, risking their lives to put food out for the Jewish prisoners, not knowing if her father was dead or alive for two years, his escape from a Russian POW camp—all of that is true. After the war, American soldiers occupied Oma’s house, and she did throw away the can of peanut butter they left because she thought it was poison.

What kind of childhood did you have?

Thankfully I have very few memories of my real father, because none of them are pleasant. Once my mother remarried, I had a wonderful childhood, traveling extensively, boating, swimming, reading, and playing outdoors. I had a vivid imagination back then, imagining terrifying creatures around every corner: kidnappers, ghosts, vampires, monsters from the deep. One of my favorite things to do was walk to the general store to buy a nickel candy bar and a scary comic book. As a teenager I devoured Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Dean Koontz. I suppose that explains my fascination with the monsters who ran the concentration camps. I always thought my first novel would have an element of paranormal or horror, but I guess you can’t get much more horrific than WWII and the Holocaust.

Did you study creative writing?

I went to a tiny school, four hundred students in K–12, and there were no creative writing classes offered. I didn’t go to college either, choosing instead to be a wife and mother.

Did you have a mentor?

After years of working alone on my writing, I wanted to find out if I was wasting my time. I had no idea if I had any writing talent to speak of. After all, I’d never taken a creative writing course, there were no local writers’ groups, and I don’t have a college degree. The only place I had to turn to was the Internet. I will be forever thankful that my search led me to William Kowalski, award-winning author of
Eddie’s Bastard
(HarperCollins). He became my editor, teacher, mentor, and friend. His faith in my work bolstered me during difficult times and pushed me to believe in myself.

How many rejections did you receive before you found an agent?

Seventy-two, over a period of two years.

What roadblocks did you have to overcome to get your book published?

In November 2008, a few months before I started sending query letters to agents, my husband and I lost our business due to some very unpleasant circumstances beyond our control. Closing our business forced us into bankruptcy, both for the business and ourselves, and we had to look for jobs for the first time in twenty-six years. It was an extremely difficult time, but I was determined to follow my dream. In between worrying about our future and talking to lawyers, I sent out queries. During the first round, the manuscript was rejected twice because of word count (280,000). I stopped querying and spent ten months cutting and revising, during which time, while we were still in the midst of financial and legal battles, my sister passed away. For a while, I couldn’t write. But then I realized I’d worked too long and hard to give up. Somehow I found a way to cut the manuscript down to a reasonable length and started querying again. Around this time we realized we had to sell our home of twenty years and began a seven-month stint of DIY renovations so we could get as much as possible from the sale. By January of 2011, I’d gotten seventy-two rejections and was about to give up. Then I thought I’d try one more time. That query was the one that got my agent, who sold my novel in three weeks, just two months after we sold our house. Now, looking back, I realize writing and trying to sell my novel is what kept me sane.

Who would you like to see play Christine and Isaac if
The Plum Tree
is ever made into a movie?

Scarlett Johansson and Jake Gyllenhaal. And I think Leonardo DiCaprio would make a great SS villain.

A READING GROUP GUIDE

THE PLUM TREE

Ellen Marie Wiseman

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading of
Ellen Marie Wiseman’s
The Plum Tree
.

Discussion Questions

1.
Christine and her family were not members of the Nazi Party. When the war started in 1939, the population of Germany was over 80 million, with 5.3 million being members of the Nazi Party. The party reached its peak in 1945 with 8 million members. Many of these were nominal members who joined for careerist reasons, but the party had an active membership of at least a million, including virtually all the holders of senior positions in the national government. Not all Germans or all military were party members. Does this surprise you? Did you think all Germans were members of the Nazi Party? What do you think most people believe? Why?

2.
Christine works as a domestic for a Jewish family, where she falls in love with Isaac. What brings them together? What do you think it was like the first time they met? Do you think they fell in love instantly or over time? How do you think Isaac felt about her family, knowing how the Nazis felt about Jews? Do you think Christine was envious of his family’s wealth, or did she give it little thought?

3.
The first anti-Jewish poster Christine sees explains who is a Jew and who isn’t, and forbids Jews to enter public places like banks and post offices. It is said that Hitler drew his first ideas about how to treat the Jews from blacks being denied civil rights in the South. What do you think are the differences? Why was the KKK kept in check while the Nazis were not?

4.
Christine offers to hide Isaac before the Nazis take him and his family away. Would you have taken the opportunity to go with her, or would you have stayed with your family? Do you think Isaac’s decision was based on loyalty to his parents and sister, or was it made because he thought they’d be okay since he had no idea how bad it was going to get?

5.
The Nazis said they were going to “relocate” the Jews. What if this was happening where you live? How far would you be willing to go to protect your friends and neighbors? Would you risk your life or the lives of your children to save someone else?

6.
We live in a world where global news and information is instant. During WWII in Nazi Germany, public information was manipulated and limited. Propaganda was used to sway public opinion. There were only two Nazi-run newspapers available, and the Nazis controlled the radio. Listening to foreign broadcasts was a crime punishable by death. After the Nazis were defeated, most Germans found out by word of mouth that Roosevelt had died, that the Wehrmacht had unconditionally surrendered, and that the atom bomb had been dropped on Japan. How do you think the availability of information affects the way people think and act? Do you think the Holocaust could have been stopped if information had been more readily available? Do you think the war would have ended sooner? What differences would better access to information have made?

7.
Lagerkommandant Grünstein is loosely based on a real SS officer, Kurt Gerstein, who tried to tell the world what the Nazis were doing. After the war, Gerstein turned himself over to the French and gave them a detailed account of what had happened in the camps. Before his trial, he was found dead. There is some speculation that other imprisoned SS might have killed him. If he’d been given the chance to go to trial, should he have been punished with the rest of the SS or set free?

8.
Christine thinks of her mother as key to their survival and the last thread to anything familiar and normal. From food in their stomachs to clean clothes and warm baths, Mutti provided the only bits of comfort to be had. During the war, Germany was made up of women, children, and old people struggling to survive food shortages and air raids while the men were off fighting. What do you think it was like in Germany for the women left behind? What differences would there have been between single women and those with children to take care of? At one point Christine mentions that some women sell themselves to feed their children. How far would you go to keep yourself and your children alive?

9.
How do you think Christine changed over the course of the novel? What about Isaac, Maria, Heinrich, and Karl? Even though siblings are raised together, sometimes they turn out differently. What differences do you see in Christine and Maria? Heinrich and Karl?

10.
Christine and the
Lagerkommandant
talk about what the prisoners will do to stay alive, from spying on each other to pushing their fellow Jews into the ovens to burn. How far would you go to stay alive in a place like Dachau? Do you think you would be strong enough to keep going like Hanna and Christine, or do you think you’d give up?

11.
The Americans bombed Christine’s village and shot at her and her little brother. How do you think she felt when they occupied her village? Do you think she saw them as saviors or monsters? Why?

12.
When Christine and Isaac are sent to Dachau, she worries that he has lost his will to live. Discuss the will to live. Do you think it’s the same for everyone, or is it stronger in some than others?

13.
Discuss the significance of the plum tree. What does it symbolize, both as a pit when it’s first planted and later, as a blossoming sapling at the end of the book?

14.
Do you think Christine and Isaac’s secret meetings are romantic or frightening? Do you think fear of the future made their love stronger and more passionate? They didn’t have sex because they were afraid she would become pregnant. Do you think that is realistic, or do you think the author used it to add more tension to the story? When Isaac puts an end to their meetings, Christine only tries to see him twice. Would you have agreed to wait and see what happened, or would you have gone to his house more often, Gestapo or no Gestapo?

15.
Mutti agrees to put food out for the passing Jewish prisoners even though it’s dangerous and she can barely feed her family. Why do you think she does it? Would you have done the same thing?

16.
When the Gestapo finds Isaac in Christine’s attic, they spare the rest of her family out of respect for her father’s military service. Do you think that would have happened, or do you think they would have shot her family or taken them all away?

17.
After the war, Christine’s friend Kate doesn’t believe her when Christine tells her about the camps and Stefan’s role as an SS guard. Do you think Kate is in denial because she is in love and wants to get married, or do you think she really doesn’t believe Christine? When Christine tries to expose Stefan in church, again no one wants to believe her. Do you think people were in denial, were too busy with their own problems, or just didn’t want to talk about it? Do you think they felt guilty?

18.
When Christine gets off the train from Dachau, she doesn’t realize where she is. How do you think Christine felt when she realized she was already home? How do you think she felt when she saw her house was still standing and her family was alive? How do you think it feels to survive something so horrific when so many others didn’t? She tastes the grass in the goat’s milk and thinks even chickens are beautiful. Do you think almost dying makes a person more aware and grateful for the little things?

19.
Maria hates herself because the Russians raped her. She thinks no one will ever love her. When she finds out she is pregnant, she is devastated. Do you think she died by accident trying to get rid of the baby, or do you think she killed herself? What would you have done in her situation?

20.
If Christine hadn’t found out Isaac was alive, do you think she would have ended up with Jake? Do you think she would have left her family to go to America? What would Christine’s and Jake’s future have looked like?

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