Chapter 39: Entrance Exam – Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Werner arrives in Essen to take the entrance exam for the National Political Institutes of Education, held in a sweltering dance hall filled with oversized radiators and Nazi banners. One hundred recruits are divided by age group; Werner is among twenty-seven fourteen-year-olds. He and the other boys are stripped of their clothes and given identical white uniforms. The first morning is spent filling out a genealogical questionnaire—110 questions about lineage, eye color, parents’ birthplace, and more. Werner can only answer sixteen with certainty; the rest are guesses.
The following days are a blur of physical tests: running, obstacle courses, rope climbs, shuttle runs, calisthenics, wall-scaling, and wind sprints. Werner places ninth in the shuttle run but second-to-last in the rope climb, acutely aware that he is shorter than most boys, not blond, and the only one wearing eyeglasses. He remembers Frau Elena’s sad, proud farewell and Jutta’s accusing silence after he smashed the radio.
On the second day, the recruits undergo raciological exams. Technicians measure Werner’s skull circumference, lip thickness, finger length, eye color (himmelblau, sky blue), and hair color (schnee, snow—lighter than the lightest sample on the board). They test his vision, draw blood, and take fingerprints. Verbal exams follow, testing knowledge of Nazi ideology, Olympic champions, the Treaty of Versailles, and the führer’s birthday.
Each day more boys drop out. By the eighth day, only a handful remain. The final test: each recruit must climb a ladder nailed to the wall, step onto a tiny platform twenty-five feet high, close his eyes, and leap backward into a flag held by the other boys. One boy from Herne freezes, faints, and falls sideways, breaking both forearms in a sickening crack. Werner looks away but remembers his father lost in the mines. He climbs the ladder, his palms splintering. At the top, he hesitates only a moment, then steps off and lands dead center in the flag. He rolls to his feet unharmed. The examiner clicks his stopwatch and records the result. Werner shouts, “Heil Hitler!” The next boy begins his ascent.
Key Events
- Werner fills out a genealogical questionnaire, guessing most answers about his lineage.
- He performs poorly in physical tests, especially the rope climb, reinforcing his sense of inadequacy.
- Raciological exams measure Werner’s body according to Nazi racial standards, cataloging his hair as “snow.”
- Verbal exams test his knowledge of Nazi doctrine; he fails to name the nation’s fastest airplane or greatest writer.
- Many recruits quit over the eight days; three leave on day five, four on day six.
- A boy falls from the ladder platform, shattering both forearms.
- Werner climbs, jumps, lands safely, and ends with a Nazi salute.
- He recalls Frau Elena’s farewell, Jutta’s silent accusation, and the memory of his father in the mines.
Character Development
Werner Pfennig spends this chapter torn between personal ambition and the guilt of leaving behind his sister and his childhood. The exams force him to lie about his background and suppress his natural empathy. His moment on the ladder is a turning point: he chooses to jump into the Nazi system even as he witnesses the physical and emotional cost of failure. He shouts “Heil Hitler!” not out of conviction but as a necessary performance.
Jutta is not physically present but is a powerful memory. Werner sees her face broken with betrayal over the smashed radio. She represents his moral conscience and the life he is leaving behind.
Frau Elena appears in Werner’s recollection of their parting. Her subdued pride and tears highlight the painful separation and the implicit hope that Werner’s success will lift the family out of poverty.
The unnamed examiner is a cold bureaucrat who watches the ladder accident without intervening. His stopwatch and clipboard symbolize the mechanized, indifferent selection process.
Themes, Symbols, and Motifs Evidenced in This Chapter
- Racial Purity and Scientific Racism: The extensive measurement of skull, lips, fingers, eye and hair color reduces the boys to biological specimens. The “snow” classification for Werner’s hair suggests he is the ideal Aryan type in one respect, yet his short stature and glasses mark him as other.
- Performance and Identity: The white uniforms erase individuality. The constant drills and timed tests force the boys to become interchangeable, obedient bodies. Werner’s shouted salute is the ultimate performance of belonging.
- The Ladder Jump as a Leap of Faith: The final test is an act of trust—both in the Nazi system and in the boys holding the flag. The injured boy’s fall shows that failure leads to brokenness, while Werner’s successful jump mirrors his decision to abandon his past.
- Memory as Guilt: Recollections of Jutta and Frau Elena interrupt every stage of the exam. The smashed radio and Jutta’s accusation haunt Werner, suggesting that ambition and betrayal are intertwined.
- The Smashed Radio: Symbolizes severed communication, both with Jutta and with the illicit hope that Werner could remain the curious boy of Zollverein.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter crystallizes the central conflict of Werner’s arc: the price of escaping the mines is surrendering his authentic self to the Nazi machine. The detailed description of the raciological exams exposes the pseudoscientific cruelty of the regime. Werner’s performance throughout the week demonstrates that he can execute the required acts, but his inner turmoil reveals the cost. The ladder jump is a literal and metaphorical leap: he trusts the flag—the party—to catch him, echoing the blind faith the system demands. The chapter also reinforces the book’s recurring motif of light and seeing: the examiner’s penlight shines into Werner’s pupils, searching for something invisible, while Werner himself cannot see the future he is hurtling toward.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Werner struggle so much with the genealogical questionnaire? Werner can answer only sixteen of the 110 questions because he was orphaned young and knows little about his parents’ backgrounds. He guesses the rest, including writing “Germany” for his mother’s country of origin (though Frau Elena is from eastern Europe, as implied elsewhere). The ambiguity of his lineage makes him an uncertain candidate for a system that demands racial purity, heightening his anxiety.
2. How does the ladder test function as a turning point in the chapter? The ladder test forces Werner to confront his fear of failure and his ambition. Seeing the first boy fall and break his arms reminds him of the physical dangers of the mines. When Werner reaches the top, he suppresses his hesitation by recalling his father’s death and his desire to avoid a similar fate. His successful jump shows that he can perform the necessary courage, but the joyless follow-up—shouting “Heil Hitler!”—reveals that he is now performing for the system, not for himself.
3. What is the significance of Werner’s shouted “Heil Hitler!” at the end? It is the required public declaration of allegiance. Werner had not embraced Nazi ideology before this moment; his interest in science and radio was personal. The shout signals his formal entry into the school’s indoctrination. It also contrasts with his private memories of Jutta, showing that he is willing to perform loyalty even as his conscience is torn. The examiner’s brief glance suggests that the system notices only the act, not the inner conflict.