- inmatenounChapter 1 →
A person who is confined and must live in an institution such as a prison or mental hospital, not free to come and go as they please.
“Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight”
- keepernounChapter 1 →
A person employed to guard or supervise someone confined in an institution, responsible for watching over them at all times.
“my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown”
- peepholenounChapter 1 →
A small hole cut into a door or wall through which a guard can secretly observe someone inside a room without being seen.
“there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can never see”
- hankeringverbChapter 1 →
Having a strong, persistent longing or craving for something, especially something from the past that cannot be recovered.
“Not that I am one of those who are forever hankering after the lost paradise of childhood; I have no wish to go back.”
- gendarmerienounChapter 2 →
A military-style police force, especially one operating in continental Europe, responsible for law enforcement in rural or regional areas.
- KashubianadjectiveChapter 2 →
Relating to Kashubians, a Slavic ethnic group from the region of northern Poland near Danzig, with their own distinct language and folk culture.
- SkatnounChapter 3 →
A popular German card game played by three people, considered the national card game of Germany and widely played in the Danzig region during this period.
“They played Skat as though the cards were the only reality, as though outside the circle of lamplight there was nothing”
- prodigynounChapter 7 →
A child who displays an extraordinarily advanced skill or talent far beyond what is normal for their age, often attracting special attention from adults.
“I kept my reading a secret, for I had no wish to be thought a prodigy and packed off to school ahead of time.”
- rostrumnounChapter 6 →
A raised platform or stage used by a speaker or performer to address a large crowd, here specifically a speaker's platform at a Nazi Party rally.
“No one thought to look beneath the rostrum for the saboteur; they were all too busy looking up.”
- saboteurnounChapter 6 →
A person who deliberately disrupts or destroys an organized event or operation, here someone who secretly undermines a Nazi rally from below.
“No one thought to look beneath the rostrum for the saboteur; they were all too busy looking up.”
- polkanounChapter 6 →
A lively Central European dance in fast duple time, originally from Bohemia, widely popular at public gatherings and celebrations in the Danzig region.
“The march became a waltz, the waltz became a polka, and the polka dissolved into something no bandmaster could have named.”
- discreetadjectiveChapter 5 →
Careful to keep one's actions or knowledge secret so as not to attract attention or cause embarrassment to oneself or others.
“The glaziers of Danzig had reason to be grateful to me; I was their best, their most reliable, and certainly their most discreet customer.”
- glaziersnounChapter 5 →
Tradespeople whose job is to cut and fit glass into windows and frames, and who profit whenever glass is broken and needs replacing.
“The glaziers of Danzig had reason to be grateful to me; I was their best, their most reliable, and certainly their most discreet customer.”
- confinedadjectiveChapter 9 →
Restricted within a small, enclosed space with little room to move, pressed tightly together with no way out.
“They were packed tight, they were fighting over the confined space, the head was alive with them.”
- mess tinsnounChapter 10 →
Small metal containers issued to soldiers for cooking and eating their food in the field, used here as improvised cups for coffee.
“Roswitha, my Mediterranean beauty, could read the future in the coffee grounds of the soldiers' mess tins”
- Atlantic WallnounChapter 10 →
The massive system of Nazi German coastal fortifications built along the western coast of Europe during World War II to defend against Allied invasion.
“The Atlantic Wall was supposed to last a thousand years; it smelled of damp concrete and the future”
- pogromnounChapter 13 →
An organized, officially tolerated violent attack on a particular ethnic or religious group, especially the mass destruction of Jewish property and lives by Nazis.
- KristallnachtnounChapter 13 →
The Nazi-organized nationwide attack on Jewish people, businesses, and synagogues in Germany and Austria on the night of November 9–10, 1938, named for the broken glass left in the streets.
- propagandanounChapter 10 →
Information, often misleading or one-sided, spread by a government or organization to promote a particular political cause and shape public opinion in its favor.
- stuntedadjectiveChapter 16 →
Prevented from growing to a normal or expected size, here referring to Oskar's deliberate halt of his own physical development at the height of a three-year-old.
- delinquentsnounChapter 12 →
Young people who regularly break the law or behave in ways that violate social rules, here a gang of Catholic teenagers committing nighttime crimes.
- stonemasonnounChapter 19 →
A craftsperson who cuts, shapes, and works with stone, typically producing gravestones, monuments, or architectural elements.
- committedverbChapter 20 →
Officially sent by legal or medical authority to live in a psychiatric institution, typically because a person is judged to be mentally ill or dangerous.
- potato-blossom violetphraseChapter 1 →
A faded, pale purple color resembling the flower of a potato plant, used to describe the worn, dull hue of an old peasant skirt.
“she wore the outermost one of faded potato-blossom violet, and beneath it three skirts of a similar cut”
The Tin DrumNovel by Günter Grass