It’s been a while. I have had trouble finding a book that engaged me until I was browsing the new book shelves at my local library and I saw Fatherland. One of my favorite films this year was Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glaser. The film is loosely based on the book by Martin Amis (which I have not read) and is about the family of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess. It is incredibly well done and explores their life of privilege and luxury while they benefit and enact the hell and torture on their victims.
Fatherland is a different and deep look at the author’s grandfather, Karl Goenner, who was a Nazi schoolteacher and party chief in Nazi-occupied France. Bilger seeks to understand his grandfather, his beliefs, and his life.
I don’t want to give too much away because the book is incredibly well-written and deeply researched. I was amazed at how much Bilger was able to find out about his grandfather’s life before, during, and after the war. So much of what I have read about Nazis or wartime focuses solely on the atrocities but Bilger seeks to understand his grandfather fully. He at times is unsympathetic, adhering to Nazi idealogies including espousing anti-Semitism, and at other times deeply empathetic and rejecting any political mechanations.
During a time in our own making when it is easy to see political ideologies in black and white terms, this feels like a poignant read.
Lazy Reader Jane 