The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. Short summary

5 seconds

The main characters are Hannah Schmitz and also Michael Berg. The couple met when Berg was still in school and Schmitz was working as a conductor on a streetcar. A romantic relationship developed between them.

1 minute

The main characters in the piece are Hannah Schmitz and also Michael Berg.

The first acquaintance of the pair took place when the representative of the stronger sex was studying in an educational institution of the secondary level, while the lady worked as a conductor in a streetcar in the city of Heidelberg. Soon feelings flare up between them. Hanna asked Michael to read books to her as often as possible, since she herself was illiterate. A couple of months later, Mrs. Schmitz disappeared without a trace.

Eight years passed. Michael, as a law student, finds himself at a show trial where the overseers of the Auschwitz concentration camp are on trial. They were accused of not helping the Jews during the fire. The boy is surprised to see Hannah among the accused women. He understands that the lady is not guilty of anything, since she was illiterate and could not have written the report supposedly serving as proof of the crime she committed. Berg wishes to help her beloved, but does not do so.

She is soon sentenced to life imprisonment.