chapter 1-

1. What is Anton’s attitude to the Assault in this chapter and why? in this chapter Anton finds out that his parents never went to prison, they were taken hostage in the night of the assault and they have gotten shot along with twenty-nine other hostages. I guess Anton was in shock when he heard the news, but 'he had the feeling that he had known it all along.'(p56) later on Anton found out that peter got shot in the same night...'by then it seemed like a message from prehistoric times, hard to imagine.' (p57)
2.  how does Anton remember the war? 'it was on this distortion of time that he later blamed his inability to explain to his children what the war had been like. his family had escaped from his memory, had retreated to a forgotten region of which he had brief and random glimpses - as when he looked out of the window in school, or out of the rear platform on the trolley car- a dark region of cold and hunger and shooting,blood,flames,shouts,prison cells, hermetically sealed somewhere deep inside him. at such moments it was if he remembered a dream, but not so much what the dream had been about, as simply the fact that it had been a nightmare.' (p57)
3. what is his relationship with his aunt and uncle? ' his uncle and aunt were childless and treated him as if he were their own son- or really with more consideration and less friction than if he actually had been their real child.' (p56) ... so they treat him well. 
4. how does he feel when the war is over and why? 'his entire universe had become that other one which now fortunately had come to an end, and about which he never wanted to think again. nevertheless it was part of him, so that all in all, he didn't have much left.' (p56) .... basically he wanted to die.
5. what memories does he have of the events of that night? he remembers his parents getting taken away and his brother running away, last but not least the shooting.

chapter 2- 

1. how does Anton feel about returning to haarlem? he feels like someone going to a whorehouse for the first time.
2. what is the significance about the conversation between the students? they are like any other group of teenagers. the war has not effected them, because most teenagers act the same way.

chapter 3- 

1.  in what ways does he compare the gap left by his home? he compared the small patch of vegetation to unplowed fields in France. these fields later became graveyards for war veterans.
2. what is the reaction to his old neighbors and why?he felt dis-comfortable to know that these people did not leave and it confused him.
3. what does he find out, and how does he react to each thing he learns? he found out both his parents got killed, he was at shock.