--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Then he picked up the pen and said…" description: "\"“Then he picked up the pen and said softly, but clearly, \"The first sentence of our first card will read: Mother! The Führer has murdered my son.\"…At t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b7/hans-fallada-29374_declaration-of-war_then-he-picked-up-the-pen-and-said-softl_367668.jpg" --- # Then he picked up the pen and said softly, but clearly… ![“Then he picked up the pen and said softly, but clearly, "The first sentence of our first card will read: Mother! The Führer has murdered my son."…At that instant she grasped that this very first sentence was Otto's absolute and irrevocable declaration of war, and also what that meant: war between…” quote by Hans Fallada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b7/hans-fallada-29374_declaration-of-war_then-he-picked-up-the-pen-and-said-softl_367668.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b7/hans-fallada-29374_declaration-of-war_then-he-picked-up-the-pen-and-said-softl_367668.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b7/hans-fallada-29374_declaration-of-war_then-he-picked-up-the-pen-and-said-softl_367668.jpg) > ““Then he picked up the pen and said softly, but clearly, "The first sentence of our first card will read: Mother! The Führer has murdered my son."…At that instant she grasped that this very first sentence was Otto's absolute and irrevocable declaration of war, and also what that meant: war between, on the one side, the two of them, poor, small, insignificant workers who could be extinguished for just a word or two, and on the other, the Führer, the Party, the whole apparatus in all its power and glory, with three-fourths or even four-fifths of the German people behind it. And the two of them in this little room in Jablonski Strasse.”” [Hans Fallada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-fallada/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A desperate declaration of personal resistance against an oppressive regime, highlighting the power of words and the moral weight of defiance. **In simple terms:** A small act of defiance can challenge a huge oppressive system. Key Takeaway Speak truth even when dangerous. Themes resistance oppression morality power individualism Mood defiant tense hopeful Type literary political historical When to use this quote - political protest - personal diary - secret meetings - underground resistance Key Concepts totalitarianism speech act psychology of fear Questions to Reflect On - What risks are you willing to take for truth? - How does language become a weapon? A Different Perspective The act may provoke harsher retaliation from the regime. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Declaration of war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/declaration-of-war/) [First Car](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-car/) [Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel/) [Meant War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meant-war-278714/) [Mother Führer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother-f-hrer-3360510/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Sentence Otto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentence-otto-3360512/) [War Meant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-meant-2345917/) [Word Führer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/word-f-hrer-3360511/) ## Related quotes > [“She consoled herself with the thought that the pictures were graphic enough to shake people up, stop them being complacent about what was happening,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tatjana-soli/she-consoled-herself-with-the-thought-that-the-pictures-were-graphic/) [Tatjana Soli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tatjana-soli/) > [If people who say they love their children meant it, would there be war? 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/a-bargain-is-in-its-very-essence-a-hostile-transaction-do-not-all-men/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [“The Fifth Congress had recessed in July 1798 without declaring war against France, but in the last days before adjourning it did approve other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cokie-roberts/the-fifth-congress-had-recessed-in-july-1798-without-declaring-war/) [Cokie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cokie-roberts/) > [The twentieth century had dispensed with the formal declaration of war and introduced the fifth column, sabotage, cold war, and war by proxy, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/the-twentieth-century-had-dispensed-with-the-formal-declaration-of/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) [Browse all 47 Declaration of war quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/declaration-of-war/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Then he picked up the pen and said softly, but clearly, \"The first sentence of our first card will read: Mother! 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