Previous
Shmuel
Kurt Kotler is a nineteen-year-old German soldier at Auschwitz who frequents Bruno’s home. He is well-dressed, over-cologned, and has striking blond hair—seemingly the ideal “Aryan” of Nazi ideology. Gretel develops a crush on him, and Mother strikes up a friendship (and likely an affair) with the young handsome soldier. He is cruel to the prisoners, and taunts Bruno by calling him “little man,” something the boy despises. Kotler is eventually transferred away from Auschwitz when Father discovers that Kotler’s father, a literature professor, fled from Germany in 1938 at the start of the war.
Lieutenant Kotler Quotes in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The The Boy in the Striped Pajamas quotes below are all either spoken by Lieutenant Kotler or refer to Lieutenant Kotler. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
“Young man,” said Pavel (and Bruno appreciated the fact that he had the courtesy to call him ‘young man’ instead of ‘little man’ as Lieutenant Kotler had), “I certainly am a doctor. Just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer, you know.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
What happened then was both unexpected and extremely unpleasant. Lieutenant Kotler grew very angry with Pavel and no one—not Bruno, not Gretel, not Mother and not even Father—stepped in to stop him doing what he did next, even though none of them could watch. Even though it made Bruno cry and Gretel grow pale.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Striped Pajamas LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lieutenant Kotler Quotes in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The The Boy in the Striped Pajamas quotes below are all either spoken by Lieutenant Kotler or refer to Lieutenant Kotler. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
“Young man,” said Pavel (and Bruno appreciated the fact that he had the courtesy to call him ‘young man’ instead of ‘little man’ as Lieutenant Kotler had), “I certainly am a doctor. Just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer, you know.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
What happened then was both unexpected and extremely unpleasant. Lieutenant Kotler grew very angry with Pavel and no one—not Bruno, not Gretel, not Mother and not even Father—stepped in to stop him doing what he did next, even though none of them could watch. Even though it made Bruno cry and Gretel grow pale.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
