Volkheimer knowing

[roselyn]

Towards the end of the book after Werner and Volkheimer have been trapped underground for several days, Werner believes Volkheimer already knew he had found out about Marie-Laure and the transmitter. Do you think his assumption is true and Volkheimer really did know? If so why do you think he didn't say anything about it?

[Carolyn]

I think that Volkheimer did know but he didn't say anything because he trusted Werner. If Werner thought that the transmitter was bad/it needed to be destroyed he would have destroyed it, but since he didn't Volkheimer didn't see a reason to bring it up. There are endless possibilities why Volkheimer didn't say anything if he knew about it, maybe it had some special meaning to Werner, Volkheimer didn't know why Werner didn't destroy it but he trusted that it didn't need to be destroyed.

[iancernitz]

I believe Volkheimer did know that Werner had found a transmission but that the whole situation came down to trust. Werner and Volkheimer had a somewhat long history together and had been through a lot. On their missions, Werner would often find transmissions and Volkheimer would track them down. Throughout all this, Volkheimer must have learned how to tell when Werner had found something. On the other hand, all their time together must have created an underlying bond of trust. I think Volkheimer may have known, but not said anything, about the transmission Werner finds when they are in the basement, because of his trust for Werner. If Werner had found something he should know about, Volkheimer knew he would have told him.

[isabelleansberry]

I definitely believe Volkheimer knew about the transmission all along, but he chose not to do anything about it. I agree that trust played a big part in this situation, and Volkheimer knew Werner well enough to understand that he didn't want this transmission to be discovered. Also, every time Werner found a transmission, that meant they had to track the people down, and Volkheimer and the other men had to kill them. After a while, I think Volkheimer got tired of these missions, and of the war, and he simply was done hurting people. This is common with long wars, where people forget what they are fighting for, and they just want it to be over and to be able to go back home, and I think that was the case for Volkheimer.