Beneath a Scarlet Sky

by

Mark Sullivan

General Leyers Character Analysis

General Leyers is a high-ranking member of Organization Todt, the civil and military engineering branch of Nazi Germany. He is in direct contact with Hitler, as well as many other high-ranking members of the SS. After Pino joins Organization Todt, Leyers recruits Pino as his personal driver. Together, the two of them drive around Milan and its surrounding areas to perform various duties. These include meeting with Mussolini, checking up on defenses, and overseeing the various laborers whom the Nazi have enslaved. Although at times Pino cannot help but like General Leyers, he also despises him for his callousness and cannot understand why he would allow such atrocities to take place. Unlike some of his colleagues, such as Walter Rauff, Leyers does not endorse barbaric violence. He explicitly opposes deploying the firing squad that kills Tullio, as well as the Nazis’ scorched earth policy. At one point, he even rescues a few Jewish children from a cattle car. However, after he does so, he makes the children memorize his name, likely for his own self-interest. Toward the end of the novel, Mimo tells Pino that he must arrest Leyers and give him over to the partisans. Pino complies and does as he is told. Later, Major Knebel orders Pino and Carletto to drive Leyers to the Austrian border. He tells them that Leyers is a hero and that they need to keep him safe. Pino agrees to take on the mission, but only because he plans to assassinate Leyers on the way to Austria. Indeed, Pino does pull a gun on Leyers, largely because he blames him for Anna’s death, but he ultimately decides against pulling the trigger. In the final moments of the novel, Leyers shakes Pino’s hand and whispers “Now you understand, Observer.” “Observer” is Pino’s codename, and the fact that Leyers knows it suggests that he may have known Pino was spying on him all along.

General Leyers Quotes in Beneath a Scarlet Sky

The Beneath a Scarlet Sky quotes below are all either spoken by General Leyers or refer to General Leyers. 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:
War and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 15 Quotes

They were all emaciated, filthy, with scraggly beards and long tangled hair. Many of them had vacant, dead eyes and wore ragged gray trousers and tops. There were letters on their chests he couldn’t make out. Manacled, they moved at no better than a shuffle until the guards tore into them, hitting a few with the butts of their rifles. As lorry after lorry emptied, there were soon three hundred of the men, maybe more, moving en masse to the stadium’s north end.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Related Symbols: Gray Men
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

He glanced in the mirror at the general and realized he hated Leyers. He was a Nazi slave driver. He wants Italy destroyed, and then rebuilt in Hitler’s image. He works for Hitler’s architect, for God’s sake.

Part of Pino wanted to find a secluded spot, get out, pull his gun, and kill the man. He would head for the hills, join one of the Garibaldi partisan units. The powerful General Leyers dead and gone. That would be something, wouldn’t it? That would change the war, wouldn’t it? At some level?

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Related Symbols: Gray Men
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

“Doing favors,” Leyers said. “They help wondrously over the course of a lifetime. When you have done men favors, when you look out for others so they can prosper, they owe you. With each favor, you become stronger, more supported. It is a law of nature.”

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella
Page Number: 274
Explanation and Analysis:

“It would be surprising if you didn’t hate me for what I’ve had to do today. A part of me hates myself. But I have orders. Winter is coming. My country is under siege. Without this food, my people will starve. So here in Italy, and in your eyes, I’m a criminal. Back home, I’ll be an unsung hero. Good. Evil. It’s all a question of perspective, is it not?”

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella, Anna Marta, Walter Rauff
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

Three little fingers stuck out of a crack on the rear wall of the last cattle car. The fingers seemed to wave at Pino as the train gathered speed. He stared after the train, seeing the fingers in his mind long after he couldn’t see them anymore. His urge was to go after the train and set those people free, get them to safety. Instead, he stood there, defeated, helpless, and fighting the urge to cry at the image of those fingers, which would not fade.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Page Number: 286-287
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

The general opened the rear door and looked in at them, smiling. “Vorarbeiter, tell them my name is Major General Hans Leyers of the Organization Todt. Ask them to repeat that, please.”

“Repeat it, mon général?”

“Yes,” Leyers shot back, irritated. “My name. My rank. The Organization Todt.”

Pino did as he was told, and they each repeated his name, rank, and the Organization Todt, even the little sick girl.

Related Characters: Pino Lella (speaker), General Leyers (speaker), Cardinal Schuster, Walter Rauff
Page Number: 349
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Pino felt chills go through him as Leyers drove them out of San Babila and toward the address Mimo had passed along from the partisan commanders. He had no idea why he was supposed to bring Leyers to that specific address, and he didn’t care. He was no longer in the shadows. He was no longer a spy. He was part of the rebellion now, and it made him feel righteous as he barked directions and turns at the general, who drove stoop shouldered.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Page Number: 400
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

Someone put a toy scepter in Mussolini’s hand. Then a woman old enough to have been the crone in Dolly’s apartment building waddled out. She squatted over Il Duce’s mistress and pissed on her face.

Pino was repulsed, but the crowd went feral, sinister, and depraved. People were laughing hysterically, cheering, and feeding on the anarchy. Others began shouting for more desecrations while ropes and chains were being rigged. A woman darted forward with a pistol and put five rounds in Mussolini’s skull, which provoked another round of jeers and catcalls to beat the bodies, to tear the flesh from their bones.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers, Benito Mussolini, Major Knebel
Page Number: 456-457
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

The general looked at him without remorse and added, “If there’s anyone directly responsible for Dolly and Anna’s death, Pino, it’s you.”

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella, Anna Marta, Dolly Stottlemeyer
Page Number: 479
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34 Quotes

Now you understand, Observer.

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella, Albert
Page Number: 490
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Beneath a Scarlet Sky LitChart as a printable PDF.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky PDF

General Leyers Quotes in Beneath a Scarlet Sky

The Beneath a Scarlet Sky quotes below are all either spoken by General Leyers or refer to General Leyers. 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:
War and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 15 Quotes

They were all emaciated, filthy, with scraggly beards and long tangled hair. Many of them had vacant, dead eyes and wore ragged gray trousers and tops. There were letters on their chests he couldn’t make out. Manacled, they moved at no better than a shuffle until the guards tore into them, hitting a few with the butts of their rifles. As lorry after lorry emptied, there were soon three hundred of the men, maybe more, moving en masse to the stadium’s north end.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Related Symbols: Gray Men
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

He glanced in the mirror at the general and realized he hated Leyers. He was a Nazi slave driver. He wants Italy destroyed, and then rebuilt in Hitler’s image. He works for Hitler’s architect, for God’s sake.

Part of Pino wanted to find a secluded spot, get out, pull his gun, and kill the man. He would head for the hills, join one of the Garibaldi partisan units. The powerful General Leyers dead and gone. That would be something, wouldn’t it? That would change the war, wouldn’t it? At some level?

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Related Symbols: Gray Men
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

“Doing favors,” Leyers said. “They help wondrously over the course of a lifetime. When you have done men favors, when you look out for others so they can prosper, they owe you. With each favor, you become stronger, more supported. It is a law of nature.”

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella
Page Number: 274
Explanation and Analysis:

“It would be surprising if you didn’t hate me for what I’ve had to do today. A part of me hates myself. But I have orders. Winter is coming. My country is under siege. Without this food, my people will starve. So here in Italy, and in your eyes, I’m a criminal. Back home, I’ll be an unsung hero. Good. Evil. It’s all a question of perspective, is it not?”

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella, Anna Marta, Walter Rauff
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

Three little fingers stuck out of a crack on the rear wall of the last cattle car. The fingers seemed to wave at Pino as the train gathered speed. He stared after the train, seeing the fingers in his mind long after he couldn’t see them anymore. His urge was to go after the train and set those people free, get them to safety. Instead, he stood there, defeated, helpless, and fighting the urge to cry at the image of those fingers, which would not fade.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Page Number: 286-287
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

The general opened the rear door and looked in at them, smiling. “Vorarbeiter, tell them my name is Major General Hans Leyers of the Organization Todt. Ask them to repeat that, please.”

“Repeat it, mon général?”

“Yes,” Leyers shot back, irritated. “My name. My rank. The Organization Todt.”

Pino did as he was told, and they each repeated his name, rank, and the Organization Todt, even the little sick girl.

Related Characters: Pino Lella (speaker), General Leyers (speaker), Cardinal Schuster, Walter Rauff
Page Number: 349
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Pino felt chills go through him as Leyers drove them out of San Babila and toward the address Mimo had passed along from the partisan commanders. He had no idea why he was supposed to bring Leyers to that specific address, and he didn’t care. He was no longer in the shadows. He was no longer a spy. He was part of the rebellion now, and it made him feel righteous as he barked directions and turns at the general, who drove stoop shouldered.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers
Page Number: 400
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

Someone put a toy scepter in Mussolini’s hand. Then a woman old enough to have been the crone in Dolly’s apartment building waddled out. She squatted over Il Duce’s mistress and pissed on her face.

Pino was repulsed, but the crowd went feral, sinister, and depraved. People were laughing hysterically, cheering, and feeding on the anarchy. Others began shouting for more desecrations while ropes and chains were being rigged. A woman darted forward with a pistol and put five rounds in Mussolini’s skull, which provoked another round of jeers and catcalls to beat the bodies, to tear the flesh from their bones.

Related Characters: Pino Lella, General Leyers, Benito Mussolini, Major Knebel
Page Number: 456-457
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

The general looked at him without remorse and added, “If there’s anyone directly responsible for Dolly and Anna’s death, Pino, it’s you.”

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella, Anna Marta, Dolly Stottlemeyer
Page Number: 479
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34 Quotes

Now you understand, Observer.

Related Characters: General Leyers (speaker), Pino Lella, Albert
Page Number: 490
Explanation and Analysis: