Three- June 1940
-Two days after fleeing Paris, Marie and her father arrive at Evreux. Almost everything is boarded up. There is no mail service and telephone lines are down. So they're pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The house they have traveled so far for is burning and people are stealing things.
-We find out that Marie's father was supposed to hand "Sea of Flames" over to Francois Giannot but Giannot fled to London (omfg you only had one job!!)
-They end up spending the night in an abandoned barn and Marie's dad tries to cheer her up by pretending it is a hotel.
-They travel to Marie's great-uncle Etienne and meet Madame Manec the housekeeper who spoils Marie with food.
-In Werner's eight-day entrance exam, applicants must prove that they are willing to sacrifice everything for Hitler and Nazi Germany. He goes through a medical examination where Nazis inspect his hair and eye color to see if he matches the ideal description of the perfect German.
-Applicants must jump from a platform to a flag. Werner sees how dangerous the jump it is but is determined to avoid the coal mines. Werner makes the perfect jump and screams "Heil Hitler!". He gets accepted into a school at Schulpforta and everyone is proud of him except for his sister Jutta.
-Back in Marie's world, Marie and her father are settling into Etienne's home. They find out that Germans are now occupying France.
-When Marie meets Etienne for the first time, she thinks he's insane. Etienne was a soldier who served during World War I and he is still traumatized by his experiences. He confesses that at times he feels lost and out of touch with reality and that his life is aimless. Marie relates to him and his description of "insanity".
-Before Werner leaves for Nazi school, Jutta tells him that she's worried that the Nazis would change him to be as cruel as the other Nazi boys she's met. Being the badass that she is, Jutta still listens to the illegal foreign radio broadcasts and tells Werner of all the "atrocities" the Germans have been doing in other countries.
-Werner of course refuses to listen to Jutta's nonsense and believes that the Nazi propaganda is right, that the other countries are the enemies, not Germany. Jutta asks Werner if it's right to follow the crowd but Werner ignores the question. Like come on man listen to your lil' sis.
-Werner soon finds out that life at Nazi school is tough. He shares a bunk with a guy named Frederick who has a thing for birds. They become best friends and is Werner's only friend so far.
-We meet Nazi sergeant Reinhold von Rumpel who oversees the Nazi confiscation of gems. He is determined to find the Sea of Flames.
-The Germans are beginning to occupy Saint-Malo and Marie's father bans Marie from leaving the house. He promises that they will return to Paris soon.
-Marie spends her time listening to Etienne read stories to her.
-Etienne shows Marie a radio transmitter in the attic. He tells her of how he and his brother Henri (Marie's grandpa) recorded radio shows about science until Henri died in World War I. After Henri died, Etienne used to broadcast shows in memory of Henri. These broadcasts were listened to by Jutta and Werner when they were growing up.
-In Werner's Nazi School at Schulpforta, Dr. Hauptmann (technical sciences teacher) discovers Werner's talent.He starts teaching Werner trignometry every night. An older student named Frank Volkheimer is also at these late night lessons and Hauptman promises that Volkheimer will look out for Werner.
-Werner writes letters to Jutta and tells her how happy he is at the Nazi school and how dedicated he is to Hitler. But in real life, Werner is starting to doubt himself. During World War II, mail was censored so many words in Werner's letters were blacked out.
-A perfumer aka the biggest snitch in the world (Claude Levitte) sees Marie's father measuring the streets of Saint-Malo and reports to the Germans. He's only trying to build a model for his blind daughter!!!
-Marie's father works on the model as life worsens in France. Madame Manec says that it's "the time of the ostriches" because everyone is burying their heads in the sand. Manec says that everyone's unwillingness to acknowledge the cruelty of the Nazi regime fuels Hitler's power.
-The Germans are forcing the French to surrender their radios. Madame Manec and Marie's father hands over all of the house's radios. They don't know about the radio in the attic and Marie does not tell them (because she's a badass like Jutta).
-During Werner's physical training a commandant asks a boy to choose a member who he thinks is the weakest. The boy that he chooses is given a head start running before everyone else chases him. Thankfully, he isn't caught. We don't know what the consequences would be if the kid got caught but let's assume that it'd be bad.
-Werner is not sure if he pities the boy that gets chased and wonders if he wanted the boy to be caught.
-Von Rumpel (haha von Rump) visits the museum and demands for the "Sea of Flames". The museum officials insist that they do not have it but von Rump threatens their families. They lead him to the safe where one of the replicas is stored.
-Etienne finds out that Marie didn't turn in the radio in the attic. He fears that the Nazis might search the house and find it so he moves a large wardrobe to block the door the attic.
-Marie's father is summoned to return to Parisian museum (uh-oh, did von Rump find out that the "Sea of Flames he has is a fake?). However before Marie's father makes it to Paris he gets arrested and sent to a concentration camp in Germany.
-Before Marie's father left the house, he hid the "Sea of Flames" inside the finished model of Saint-Malo.
-In the next physical training a kid named Helmut Rodel says that Frederick (Werner's best friend) is the weakest. The boys chase and end up catching poor Frederick. The commandant orders Rodel to beat Frederick with a hose. Werner watches and desperately wants to help his best friend but knows he can not.
-Werner tries to escape the guilt by remembering his times at home but his memories only remind him that what he is dealing with is so wrong.