Contents
Chapter 67 - The Snows of Stalingrad
Overview
Michael Holtzapfel returns from Stalingrad, wounded and aged, and announces his brother Robert’s death. He inadvertently gives Rosa hope that her estranged son in Russia may be alive. Death narrates Robert’s brutal end, while Liesel reads to the devastated Frau Holtzapfel, offering a small mercy amid the war’s collapse.
Summary
In January 1943, Liesel goes to read for Frau Holtzapfel but is turned away by an unfamiliar, wounded man with a bleeding, bandaged hand. Hours later he summons her, identifying himself as Michael Holtzapfel. Outside, he reveals his injuries came from Stalingrad and struggles to light a cigarette, which Liesel helps with.
Rosa arrives, recognizes Michael, and he bluntly announces that his brother is dead. Rosa, shaken, invites him in, but Michael insists Liesel read to his mother. Before leaving, he mentions hearing that Rosa’s son is in Russia and, as far as he knows, alive—briefly lifting and dropping Rosa’s hope.
Inside the Holtzapfel kitchen, Liesel begins to read while Frau Holtzapfel silently weeps. Death interjects, recounting Robert Holtzapfel’s fate in Stalingrad: his legs were blown off at the shins amid snow and ruin. A comrade, Pieter, found him, and Robert survived in agony for three days as Michael sat with him in a makeshift hospital.
Death describes finally taking Robert’s soul beneath a shattered roof as snow—and blood—seemed to fall from the sky. Michael had promised Robert he would wait to return home. The narration returns to the kitchen, where grief coats everything like snow while Liesel continues reading, providing the only comfort she can after the snows of Stalingrad.
Who Appears
- Liesel MemingerGoes to read for Frau Holtzapfel; aids Michael with a cigarette; offers comfort through reading amid news of Robert’s death.
- Michael HoltzapfelReturns wounded from Stalingrad; reports brother Robert’s death; suggests Rosa’s son may be alive; struggles with his injury.
- Frau HoltzapfelGrieving mother; listens silently as Liesel reads after learning Robert died in Stalingrad.
- Rosa HubermannShocked by Robert’s death; momentarily buoyed by Michael’s hint that her son in Russia may live.
- DeathNarrates Robert’s final hours in Stalingrad and frames the scene with stark imagery of snow and blood.
- Robert HoltzapfelMichael’s brother; loses his legs in Stalingrad and dies after three days in a field hospital.