We Germans, by Alexander Starritt.

 

 

           ‘What did you do in the war, Grandpa?’ was the classic question asked by all young offspring of their grandfathers after the Second World War, and some of the answers were horrifying, heart-stopping adventures, but told with verve and, if the memories weren’t too awful, depending on the age of the grandchild, related in the sure knowledge that they fought to liberate the world from Tyranny and Injustice, and a mad Leader who wanted to destroy civilisation.  For they were on the winning side.

            A young Scotsman asks his German Opa the same question;  Callum’s mother is German but he has been raised in Scotland and, despite being bilingual and having regular holidays with his German grandparents in Heidelberg, he sees himself as a countryman of the Winning Side:  when he asks the question of his Opa, it is in such a way that the old man is irritated and refuses to discuss his experiences.  Callum’s curiosity is not satisfied until after the old man’s death, when a letter from Opa is discovered, addressed to him, which relates in chilling detail exactly what Opa did in the war, the war that started so gloriously for hundreds of thousands of German troops marching East to Moscow, and ended with the starving remnants of those ‘invincible’ forces trying to make their way back to a Germany that was in utter chaos:  ‘this is what I did in the war, Callum.’

            Callum’s Opa went to war as a conscripted Artilleryman in 1940.  His scientific studies at University were interrupted, but he didn’t think he’d be away for very long;  he was sure that he would realise his cherished dream of being a scientist once victory was achieved, and life would be back to a comforting normality with his family.  Now it’s 1944 and he finds himself ‘foraging’ for food in the Polish countryside – any kind of food, with other starving soldiers from the remains of various regiments as they tried to reach the  German border.  He is ashamed, too, to be taking food – any kind of food – from the villages they pass through, for he knows that the inhabitants are starving as well.  But hunger has no morals.  And they know the Russian Army is not far behind:  there will be no mercy from them.

            Opa’s experiences are a classic example of what it was like to be on the losing side, the side that committed crimes of such heinous savagery that the world will never forget;  a cultured nation that will always be branded by the terrible sins of supreme power and blind obedience.  By the end of this powerful narration Callum – and every reader – will know, too.   Alexander Starritt has produced a brilliant, singular morality tale, one that should be taught in schools.  SIX STARS.

                  

 

Katipo Joe series, by Brian Falkner.  Junior Fiction

Book One, Blitzkrieg

Book Two, Spycraft.

 

            Brian Falkner’s wonderful wartime adventure series opens in Berlin in 1938:  Hitler is massing his troops and Germany is preparing for the Thousand-Year Reich and a pure Aryan race.  Joseph St. George is 12 years old and living in Berlin, the son of British Diplomats.  He has lots of friends at school and is envious of them because they are all joining the HitlerJugend, the Hitler Youth – why can’t he?

            His parents explain to him very succinctly why he can’t, especially after Kristallnacht, The Night of the Broken Glass, when Jews and their property were beaten and smashed:  on the surface Deutschland sparkles; behind the glitter are horrible undercurrents which culminate in a midnight visit to their home from the Gestapo, who drag Joe’s father off for questioning.  Joe finally realises that his idyllic childhood in Germany is over, especially when he and his mother are forced to flee to a series of Safe Houses on their way to Switzerland and eventual safety in Britain – where his mother immediately sends him home to her brother in New Zealand because he will be safe there.  Outrageous!

            Joe doesn’t believe he can survive without his mother.  He still doesn’t know what happened to his father, and he has no idea what kind of work she does in Whitehall, but he is determined to get back to her whichever way he can – and after three years he does, stowing away on a cargo ship, nearly drowning when a U boat torpedo strikes, but he does make it back to London – just in time for the Blitz, and to find that his Mother is spying for Churchill.

            Brian Falkner keeps up a cracking pace throughout Book One;  his research is top-notch and he provides a glossary and relevant photos as Joe is eventually recruited by Whitehall to train as a Junior Spy;  he is tall and fair, the perfect Aryan specimen, and his language skills are exemplary.  After the right training he will be sent back to Berlin – as an assassin:  no-one would ever suspect a tall, handsome Aryan Hitler youth as a murderer of one of their own.

            Spycraft, Book Two, is set in Bavaria in Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s planning and social centre:  once again Joe has been parachuted into Germany to replace a HitlerJugend lad who mysteriously disappears from the train that Joe must take to join other young girls and boys who are the cream of the Hitler Youth.  They are to appear in a movie by acclaimed film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, a propaganda film to show the German public – and the world – the perfection of German Aryan youth under the Third Reich and, as with Book One, there is more to Joe’s mission (and more life-and-death risk) than he could possibly imagine;  the suspense and excitement never falters, and Falkner’s portrayal of all the monsters of history is first-rate.  At this stage of the series, Book Two should be classed as Young Adult as themes and the story change, but the only criticism I have so far is the lack of Book Three.  I need to know what happens!  SIX STARS!!

 

Exit, by Belinda Bauer.

 

          Felix Pink is a widower who lives a very quiet life with his rescue dog Mabel in a small Devon town.  He is a retired accountant and his days are orderly and structured – he would never say ‘boring’, but oh, how he wishes that his Margaret were still with him – in her right mind.  For his wife gradually succumbed to dementia, leaving him entirely alone in the world, their beloved son having died many years before from cancer in what should have been the prime of his life.  No-one knows the meaning of the word ‘solitary’ better than Felix, or the terrible, on-going grief he experiences on his weekly visits to the cemetery to replace the flowers on his loved ones’ grave.  He wonders how long it will be before he will join them permanently, but until that longed-for day arrives, he will try to live an upright, decent life, as Margaret would have wanted him to.

            And to that end, he has joined a very discreet society called The Exiteers, a group of dedicated people who help people to end their lives – providing said people meet certain criteria:  they must be terminally ill, leave a Will and/or very clear instructions and be able to administer a dose of a certain gas (provided by the Exiteer) themselves;  the Exiteer will be there purely for moral support, and to ‘clean up’ the scene after death, so that a verdict of suicide is patently obvious in the Coroner’s Report.  Felix has ‘assisted’ at quite a number of deaths, and as the story opens, he is about to assist with a new recruit, a young woman who nervously reveals that this is her first time, and she decided to ‘join up’ because her Nan died a horrible, lingering death and she wants ‘to make amends’. 

            Fair enough.  Except that, unbeknownst to them the house they visit has not one, but two patients who appear to be terminal and, after the young woman botches things irretrievably with # 1, # 2 makes his presence known by querulously demanding from another bedroom ‘Was anyone going to get on with the job?’

            Belinda Bauer has combined high tragedy with low comedy in this ruthless examination of the British version of the Swiss euthanasia clinics;  she examines the ‘system’ from every angle, including the corruption that is rife and so easily flourishes in the most unlikely sections of society – until decent, boring (yes, boring, Felix!) people take a stand.  Great characters, great story, FIVE STARS.