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The Austrian #1
The Austrian: A War Criminal's Story
What is going through the mind of a war criminal, tried by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg? Regret for his atrocious actions? Frantic desire to defend himself to the end? Desperate longing to be forgiven by his former enemies or craving of human kindness, even though he knows that he doesn’t deserve any… And the strongest of all, the fear to never again see the one, who he risked everything for, the only woman that he still continues to live for. All this is only the tip of the iceberg in the myriad of emotions for Ernst, former leader of the Austrian SS incarcerated in Nuremberg prison, who already knows what fate awaits him. Day after day he recollects his life, trying to understand where he made that wrong turn that changed his whole life and brought him into service of his new masters, who soon dragged his whole country into the most blood-shedding war in history. With agonizing sincerity he analyzes his past, which made him, a former promising lawyer, into a weapon of mass murder in the hands of his new leaders. Self-loathing and torturous doubts are plaguing Ernst’s mind, which together with unwanted hopes for salvation, terrifying visions of the nearing end, and ghosts from the past turn his incarceration into a never-ending nightmare. And yet, at the very edge of the abyss, he’s still clinging to life, because a woman is waiting for him, a woman, whose secret he’s still carefully guarding, and the one who he still hopes to see… Reviewed By Sarah Stuart for Readers’ Favorite The A War Criminal’s Story by Ellie Midwood opens with a short prologue entitled “Nuremberg prison, October 1946.” Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a former leader of the Austrian SS, has been tried by the International Military Tribunal and sentenced to hang. He is preparing to meet his death, ten minutes ahead, with dignity. The chapters that follow recount the events that led to his trial and the verdict. The author has based this novel not only on actual historical events, but has fictionalized many of the main characters who lived and fought for the Third Reich, such as Ernst Kaltenbrunner himself, Martin Bormann, Adolph Hitler’s private secretary, and Heinrich Muller, the Chief of the Gestapo. Ellie Midwood’s historical novel, The A War Criminal’s Story, has a prologue that features the last ten minutes of Ernst Kaltenbrunner's life. It seemed an unlikely start to the story, but the drama had me gripped instantly. The secret lies in the sixteen chapters being sub-divided into sections, each with the place and date stated. This makes it incredibly easy to follow a book written almost entirely in flashbacks. Some of them are set in the years immediately prior to WW2; others recount Ernst’s earliest childhood memories, including the departure of his father to fight in WW1. Still more show him growing to adulthood and his love life, his first interest being a girl with golden hair who is actually a Jewess. Well-written and researched, the whole book is vivid and intriguing. I recommend it to anyone, whether or not they have a special interest in war stories.
376 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2016
About the author
Ellie Midwood
47 books1,203 followersEllie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author, whose works have been translated into 20 languages. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, "The Girl from Berlin." Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her husband and their three dogs.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her husband and their three dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
August 9, 2022
I've been thinking for days about how best to frame a critique of this book that addressed the problems created by the depiction of Nazi war criminal Ernst Kaltenbrunner as a romantic hero, but then I saw, on a happy accident, this excellent takedown by Allie Reads Your Books, that I hope you'll give a read because it needs to be more known.
I've been learning about the Holocaust since I was nine years old, and in all these decades, I've been left this deeply affected only twice. Countless books with horrific stories from eyewitnesses and survivors, photographs, video interviews, documentaries, clandestine pictures of gassing procedures taken in real time, and so on. All of which I saw and watched and read without getting my stomach upset because there was a need to know and understand what had happened and why.
None of my people were Jews, no. Sometimes I wonder if people know about the other groups held in concentration camps, because the times I've talked to people in real life who have told me they thought only Jews were murdered in the camps fills me with despair. I blame it on deficient education, and do my part when I can to tell them about the others, the lesser known victims.
They were Spaniards. A very small group, drops of blood in an ocean of innocent Jewish blood, generally not well-known, but victims nonetheless. In fact, the one very incriminating photograph that shows Kaltenbrunner in the Mauthausen concentration camp that gives the lie to his disgusting I-knew-nothing defence at Nüremberg that this author glorifies was taken by Francisco Boix, a Spanish photographer interned there who took the pictures in secret.
And Ellie Midwood, a Jewish author who claims the Holocaust is, and I quote her, "a sensitive" topic to her, ergo playing the Jewish trump card, presumably to forestall deserved harsh criticism, has made their murderer, SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a hero, a good man, in a romance novel.
Does it sound like I have no cause to feel like vomiting? The feeling of utter disgust runs deep. I'm not even angry, I have no energy to feel angry. I'm deeply sad, and feel unclean. Because someone chose to spit in my people's general direction and write a romance novel in which their murderer:
a) ... has a romance with a Jewish girl, whom he rapes at one point, but who loves him anyway and gives him a son, and excuses his crimes and forgives him. His first love and the love of his life are both Jewish girls.
b) ... is not guilty of anything but being in the wrong place at the wrong time, does everything reluctantly and under pressure, and never takes the initiative. Everything bad that happens is the fault of Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Eichmann, Müller, etc.
c) ... saves Jews. Yes, a veritable Righteous Amongst the Nations, this tall Austrian.
d) ... signs orders that he doesn't read or that he really didn't sign but his subordinates just affixed his signature to. In short, all those thousands of people who died due to Kaltenbrunner's direct orders weren't even worth a skimming the papers sealing their deaths. That's how little their lives mattered to him.
e) ... survives his hanging. In the end, there's not even the closure of justice done because he survives so he can go find his Jewish lover and his son and live the rest of his life protected by US intelligence. So many dead, and he, the murderer, gets the happy ending.
I'm here, staring at the screen and blanking a bit. The book has an opening quote, in which Kaltenbrunner says he needed love but always hid it. Don't we all need love, and some of us hide it? How is that even a good premise for a novel romanticising a Nazi genocide perpetrator escapes me. I could accept this book as a satire, a sort of "Lolita" for Nazis, but Nabokov knew what he was doing in writing from a paedophile's POV, and this author I'm not sure does to judge by the atrocious final product. There's other novels that do this exercise of placing the readers in a Nazi's shoes to try and have them see from his side, and that's fine. Historians have spent decades trying to see from their standpoint, too, in order to, as I said, know and understand. But there's a vast abyss separating trying to understand the mindset of the Nazis and romanticising, woobifying them. It all is in the handling, the motives, the sensitivity, the objectivity. Ron Rosenbaum, who spent years interviewing the "Hitler explainers" (scholars in the business of finding an explanation/cause for Hitler's actions) for his book, wrote that in trying to find an explanation you must be mindful of the danger of ending up making excuses for him instead. This book fell into that trap, unfortunately, and not just that but went running towards the cliff with gusto.
This author has an unhealthy fixation on Nazi/Jew romance, from what books of hers I've read so far: there's a total of four such pairings in her novels. If there's more, I can't tell because I've not read all her books nor, after this, have any interest in checking them out again. And before you ask me why I read them, they were in a pile of 8 WWII books I got as a gift from my fiancé, who thought to surprise me with them for my birthday, knowing my interest in WWII history. And of those four, only one was real (Ilse Stein/Willy Schultz), and that story in Midwood's hands was ended abruptly on a happy note after they run into the forest, conveniently omitting the tragic ending that story had to give the impression that it was a HEA. Furthermore, she also tends to insert romances where none took place (Alma Rosé/Miklos Steinberg), again in a concentration camp. And, even further, she wrote a romance between Soviet and German soldiers who both commit war crimes against the other's people, get into a shouting match over it when they meet on the front, but eventually all is forgiven and they end up happily married and living with Soviet bigwigs' approval in Russia...
Does all the above tell you something? You'd see a pattern at the very least, a penchant for highly problematic romances in a concentration camp/war atrocities context. Of course, there were love stories during WWII even in concentration camps, so the point isn't that they didn't exist in real life. The point is how you depict them. You can write about Mala Zimetbaum and Edek Galinski's love story at Auschwitz to your heart's content, and there's nothing objectionable about it just because of the circumstances, but write a love story with Ernst Kaltenbrunner as the hero and have the Jewish heroine excuse his genocidal actions, and we've got a problem.
I've been on Goodreads for long enough to remember the uproar over Kate Breslin's "For Such a Time," a WWII romance between a camp Kommandant and a Jewish prisoner. I remember the accusations hurled at Breslin for that: anti-Semitism, Nazi apologia, trivialisation of the Holocaust, violence against minorities, erasure of Jewishness... And I wonder at the present case. Is that the author is Jewish what shields her from the same levels of mass negativity? I wouldn't know, my guess is that it's because, unlike Breslin, she's not that famous, hasn't won a prestigious award, and hasn't gotten on the social media denizens sphere's radar yet. Whatever the case, this novel does deserve to be criticised on its own contents, and the author called out on it just as much.
I've been learning about the Holocaust since I was nine years old, and in all these decades, I've been left this deeply affected only twice. Countless books with horrific stories from eyewitnesses and survivors, photographs, video interviews, documentaries, clandestine pictures of gassing procedures taken in real time, and so on. All of which I saw and watched and read without getting my stomach upset because there was a need to know and understand what had happened and why.
None of my people were Jews, no. Sometimes I wonder if people know about the other groups held in concentration camps, because the times I've talked to people in real life who have told me they thought only Jews were murdered in the camps fills me with despair. I blame it on deficient education, and do my part when I can to tell them about the others, the lesser known victims.
They were Spaniards. A very small group, drops of blood in an ocean of innocent Jewish blood, generally not well-known, but victims nonetheless. In fact, the one very incriminating photograph that shows Kaltenbrunner in the Mauthausen concentration camp that gives the lie to his disgusting I-knew-nothing defence at Nüremberg that this author glorifies was taken by Francisco Boix, a Spanish photographer interned there who took the pictures in secret.
And Ellie Midwood, a Jewish author who claims the Holocaust is, and I quote her, "a sensitive" topic to her, ergo playing the Jewish trump card, presumably to forestall deserved harsh criticism, has made their murderer, SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a hero, a good man, in a romance novel.
Does it sound like I have no cause to feel like vomiting? The feeling of utter disgust runs deep. I'm not even angry, I have no energy to feel angry. I'm deeply sad, and feel unclean. Because someone chose to spit in my people's general direction and write a romance novel in which their murderer:
a) ... has a romance with a Jewish girl, whom he rapes at one point, but who loves him anyway and gives him a son, and excuses his crimes and forgives him. His first love and the love of his life are both Jewish girls.
b) ... is not guilty of anything but being in the wrong place at the wrong time, does everything reluctantly and under pressure, and never takes the initiative. Everything bad that happens is the fault of Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Eichmann, Müller, etc.
c) ... saves Jews. Yes, a veritable Righteous Amongst the Nations, this tall Austrian.
d) ... signs orders that he doesn't read or that he really didn't sign but his subordinates just affixed his signature to. In short, all those thousands of people who died due to Kaltenbrunner's direct orders weren't even worth a skimming the papers sealing their deaths. That's how little their lives mattered to him.
e) ... survives his hanging. In the end, there's not even the closure of justice done because he survives so he can go find his Jewish lover and his son and live the rest of his life protected by US intelligence. So many dead, and he, the murderer, gets the happy ending.
I'm here, staring at the screen and blanking a bit. The book has an opening quote, in which Kaltenbrunner says he needed love but always hid it. Don't we all need love, and some of us hide it? How is that even a good premise for a novel romanticising a Nazi genocide perpetrator escapes me. I could accept this book as a satire, a sort of "Lolita" for Nazis, but Nabokov knew what he was doing in writing from a paedophile's POV, and this author I'm not sure does to judge by the atrocious final product. There's other novels that do this exercise of placing the readers in a Nazi's shoes to try and have them see from his side, and that's fine. Historians have spent decades trying to see from their standpoint, too, in order to, as I said, know and understand. But there's a vast abyss separating trying to understand the mindset of the Nazis and romanticising, woobifying them. It all is in the handling, the motives, the sensitivity, the objectivity. Ron Rosenbaum, who spent years interviewing the "Hitler explainers" (scholars in the business of finding an explanation/cause for Hitler's actions) for his book, wrote that in trying to find an explanation you must be mindful of the danger of ending up making excuses for him instead. This book fell into that trap, unfortunately, and not just that but went running towards the cliff with gusto.
This author has an unhealthy fixation on Nazi/Jew romance, from what books of hers I've read so far: there's a total of four such pairings in her novels. If there's more, I can't tell because I've not read all her books nor, after this, have any interest in checking them out again. And before you ask me why I read them, they were in a pile of 8 WWII books I got as a gift from my fiancé, who thought to surprise me with them for my birthday, knowing my interest in WWII history. And of those four, only one was real (Ilse Stein/Willy Schultz), and that story in Midwood's hands was ended abruptly on a happy note after they run into the forest, conveniently omitting the tragic ending that story had to give the impression that it was a HEA. Furthermore, she also tends to insert romances where none took place (Alma Rosé/Miklos Steinberg), again in a concentration camp. And, even further, she wrote a romance between Soviet and German soldiers who both commit war crimes against the other's people, get into a shouting match over it when they meet on the front, but eventually all is forgiven and they end up happily married and living with Soviet bigwigs' approval in Russia...
Does all the above tell you something? You'd see a pattern at the very least, a penchant for highly problematic romances in a concentration camp/war atrocities context. Of course, there were love stories during WWII even in concentration camps, so the point isn't that they didn't exist in real life. The point is how you depict them. You can write about Mala Zimetbaum and Edek Galinski's love story at Auschwitz to your heart's content, and there's nothing objectionable about it just because of the circumstances, but write a love story with Ernst Kaltenbrunner as the hero and have the Jewish heroine excuse his genocidal actions, and we've got a problem.
I've been on Goodreads for long enough to remember the uproar over Kate Breslin's "For Such a Time," a WWII romance between a camp Kommandant and a Jewish prisoner. I remember the accusations hurled at Breslin for that: anti-Semitism, Nazi apologia, trivialisation of the Holocaust, violence against minorities, erasure of Jewishness... And I wonder at the present case. Is that the author is Jewish what shields her from the same levels of mass negativity? I wouldn't know, my guess is that it's because, unlike Breslin, she's not that famous, hasn't won a prestigious award, and hasn't gotten on the social media denizens sphere's radar yet. Whatever the case, this novel does deserve to be criticised on its own contents, and the author called out on it just as much.
March 20, 2017
Sorry, but this is the biggest BS book I have ever read!
Taking a REAL war criminal, who was sentenced to death in the Nuremberg trials, and making him the romantic hero of a historical romance?? Making excuses for him?? Trying to make the reader "connect" to him?? Feel for him?? Maybe fall in love with him???
Brrr
The real Ernst Kaltenbrunner was the highest ranking SS officer to stand on trial at Nuremberg.
He was the successor of Reinhard Heydrich after the latter was assassinated.
Some of the evidence in the trial was papers with his own signature sending people to death and concentration camps, photographs of him with Himmler and other high ranking Nazis IN a concentration camp!
He was the head of the Austrian Gestapo too!
Again, sorry but Hell NO!
And shame on you author.
Taking a REAL war criminal, who was sentenced to death in the Nuremberg trials, and making him the romantic hero of a historical romance?? Making excuses for him?? Trying to make the reader "connect" to him?? Feel for him?? Maybe fall in love with him???
Brrr
The real Ernst Kaltenbrunner was the highest ranking SS officer to stand on trial at Nuremberg.
He was the successor of Reinhard Heydrich after the latter was assassinated.
Some of the evidence in the trial was papers with his own signature sending people to death and concentration camps, photographs of him with Himmler and other high ranking Nazis IN a concentration camp!
He was the head of the Austrian Gestapo too!
Again, sorry but Hell NO!
And shame on you author.
March 17, 2021
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a real person. A devoted anti-Semite, and after the death of Reinhard Heydrich, the man who oversaw the concentration camp system.
In 1943, Kaltenbrunner pushed the Ministry of Justice for an edict mandating compulsory castration for any man found guilty of homosexuality. This was considered too extreme for even the Nazi Ministry of Justice, however Kaltenbrunner, fanatically homophobic continued to prosecute and investigate over 6000 innocent men whose only crime was being gay.
After the Anschluss of Austria, Kaltenbrunner created the Mauthausen concentration camp, a brutal slave labor camp where almost 100,000 prisoners were murdered. He would visit the camp several times throughout his tenure, most infamously in 1943: during this visit 15 prisoners were selected to demonstrate for Kaltenbrunner three methods of killing – by a gunshot to the neck, hanging, and gassing. Fifteen people were murdered for a ‘demonstration’ for him.
After the unfortunate failure of Operation Valkyrie, Hitler summoned Kaltenbrunner to investigate and eradicate those responsible for the attempt on his life. Kaltenbrunner personally oversaw the deportation and murder of 5000 people, some only tangentially related to the would-be assassins.
On February 6, 1945, Kaltenbrunner authorized his men to murder any “disloyal” people at their discretion, without judicial review. Many innocent Germans whose only crime was attempting to flee from the carnage were murdered under these orders.
During his trial, he famously became “The Man without a Signature”, claiming (often to the bemused amusement of his fellow Nazis on trial, especially Hermann Goering, who chuckled several times during Kaltenbrunner’s falsehood-filled testimony) that his adjunct, Heinrich Muller, affixed his signature to many orders that he did not read. This was a blatant lie, as there is much evidence in the form of letters, pictures, orders, and testimony that Kaltenbrunner knew about the Holocaust, personally and enthusiastically participated in it, and did so willingly.
He was found not guilty of conspiracy to wage a war of aggression or crimes against peace but was found guilty of actually waging a war of aggression, of committing atrocious war crimes, and of crimes against humanity.
This is the real man, the real unrepentant murderer who this author would have you believe was a poor sweet misled little boy who did nothing wrong. In a desperate attempt to woobify this murderer to make him palatable as a love interest, the author has essentially taken the lies Kaltenbrunner told at Nuremberg, lies that even his own codefendants mocked for this ridiculousness, and tried to trick you into believing they are truth.
Do not fall for it. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an evil human being, and this attempt to excuse him because “lol he hot look how tall uwu” is disgusting. It’s Nazi apologensia, pure and simple. This is especially on display in Book Three of the Girl from Berlin, wherein the author actually unironically makes the argument that Ernst Kaltenbrunner was ‘just following orders’.
He was not. He was a fanatic. He knew what he was doing and chose to do it. Stop making excuses for disgusting murderers because you think they’re hot. Genocide isn’t hot.
Since the author knows info about Kaltenbrunner that would frankly be impossible to find online since there’s such a dearth of info on him, I will assume she had access to the only biography about Kaltenbrunner, the now out of print 1984 biography by Peter Black. This book now costs a ridiculous amount of money, but I happen to already have a copy that I read an eternity ago.
Now I’m not gonna read the entire thing again because frankly I don't feel like it, but I may glance at it while discussing this series. That being said, from memory I could tell you that the book does NOT claim that Kaltenbrunner was really a good man who just needed wuv unlike that EEEEEVIL Hitler. It merely pointed out his few good actions and personal biases that led him to occasionally stray from the ideological line.
Big whoop, every one of them strayed from the ideological line when personal bias got involved. Hitler saved his Jewish doctor, Heydrich protected his Jewish aunt. Kaltenbrunner is not special because he is a hypocrite, nor because he is human, nor because he wasn’t a comic book villain. All Nazis were human beings. That doesn’t matter: we remember them as evil men, not as monsters. Being human does not make you a redeemable sweetheart. It just means our standards for judgement aren’t absurdly low.
Aside from that barebones issue there are several other problems. A small disclaimer: almost all of these points are based off of books 2 and 3 in this series, namely The Gruppenfuhrer’s Mistress (GM) and the War Criminal’s Widow (WCW). Being honest, the first book was just meh. Heinrich was a serviceable love interest who did have a major issue, but the rest of the series ruined him because after Kaltenbrunner busted in, Heinrich essentially became the living embodiment of this meme. If for some reason you’re just desperate to read this series, I recommend reading the first book and then running for the hills and never returning because the problems with the latter books are many.
This is a general review of the entire series, and so I’ll be leaving this review on every book. I had to suffer, and I’ll tell you why.
Ulrich Reinhard (side note: the naming of this character is confusing because in a book where Reinhard Heydrich is a major character, naming another character ‘Reinhard’ and spelling it in such a distinctive way---Reinhard instead of Reinhardt----is really a mistake).
I shouldn’t have to say this, but making one Nazi a meany rapist puppy-kicker whose cartoonish evilness would make Indiana Jones villains blush does not make your Nazi senpai of choice look better by comparison. It’s an obvious manipulation tactic that doesn’t work, especially when your Nazi senpai of choice also rapes Mary Sue.
It also frankly makes Mary Sue look like an empathy-deprived bitch later when she’s defending all of the Nazis EXCEPT the ones who hurt HER specifically, namely Reinhard and Heydrich (I told you it was confusing).
Apparently the feelings of the Jews her precious Kalty-poo hurt and killed don't matter. SHE likes him so he’s redeemable. The world’s morality is entirely based on the Mary Sue MC and who she likes/does not like. People who hurt her are irredeemably evil, people she likes are just misunderstood.
Oh hey speaking of which, rape in this book? Handled with all the grace of a Tiger tank tumbling into a ditch full of dynamite. So remember how I said Nazi Senpai Kaltenbrunner rapes Mary Sue? Yeah...that happens. And yes, she still falls in love with him.
The rape scene as it occurs in GM (ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS, I REPEAT, ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. SERIOUSLY THIS IS FOUL)
“Even now when my brain was screaming bloody murder, my body was clearly enjoying the rape. I can’t be possibly [sic] enjoying this, I kept telling myself…”No, please!” I knew all my pleadings would be in vain…”You’re so stubborn,” he laughed…”I know how much you’re enjoying this.”
Zoinks Scoob. You wanna talk about problematic, I guess I shouldn’t have a high standard for Nazi-Jewish romance, but I can give some leeway. This? No. This is inexcusable.
And before anyone says “But Allie, some rape survivors orgasm and that’s a big source of shame for them and maybe the author is just---” Yeah, no, that’s not what happens. This isn’t an interesting and heartbreaking exploration of how rape survivors can be betrayed by their bodies and the psychological effects of that, this is meant to be smut. Kalty-Poo saying he knows she wants it? He is portrayed as being right. Silly girl, stop saying no, you know you want it...and she does. And that...that is foul beyond words.
Also sidenote: isn’t it funny that the author tries her darndest to make him into a good person….except he’s also a rapist now? Doesn’t that kind of cancel out all the woobification? How is he a better man than Ulrich Reinhard then, is it because Ulrich Reinhard is ugly?
It's because Reinhard’s ugly, isn’t it?
The Nuremberg Trail scene in this book is actually offensive Nazi apologensia. I don't care if the author is a Jew, this section makes me sincerely doubt that she hasn’t visited at least one Neo-Nazi website and copy-pasted info, all that was missing was the ol “But Dresden was just as bad as Auschwitz!” talking point.
She comes close, though! Comparing the treatment the Allies offered the defendants at Nuremberg, which in reality was humane, to Dachau is pretty up there in terms of stupid whataboutisms and lies.
Sorry you don't believe me? WCW page 109
“I wrapped my arms around him...noticing in horror what the prison had done to him...I felt bones...as if he was incarcerated in Dachau and not Nuremberg prison.”
Oh hey, you want some more? In the prequel book “The Austrian”, the author proclaims that:
“The American, with lifeless grey eyes and the grin...which reminded me of Heydrich...appeared...I had no other choice but to give myself up...I gasped in horror, realizing they had their trump card...they had her...if I decided to get myself killed, they would kill her too.”
[American says] “If I don't come out of here alive, your pregnant whore won;’ see another day. My people have an order to hang her if I don't come back with you in a few hours.”
Aaaaand it gets better! Because then the EEEEVIL Allies threaten to KILL Mary Sue if Kalty-poo doesn’t comply with the trial. Y’know, something they NEVER DID. SOMETHING THAT IS A LITERAL NEO-NAZI TALKING POINT USED TO DISCREDIT THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AT NUREMBERG.
I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt and say she probably didn’t MEAN to use these neo-Nazi talking points and this was done more from stupidity and enlightened centrism than genuine love for Nazis. Still, it needs to be called out because books that make these claims, fictional or not, contribute to the rise in Holocaust denial and revisionism.
4: The victors write the history! Yet another neo-Nazi talking point. Page 269 in Kindle version: “How can they judge us then [sic] if they didn’t know how it all worked?” “They’re the victors,” I shrugged. “They can do whatever they want.”
This is said regarding the non-impartiality of the Nuremberg trials, and the character even suggests on the same page that they should have had Switzerland at the trial to grant some impartiality (because yes: stolen gold harboring Switzerland would have been a perfectly neutral party).
This is stupid for many reasons, not just because “Derp, victors amiright” is such a common alt-right neo-Nazi talking point that the subreddit r/ShitWehraboossay has turned it into a meme, but also because the victors didn’t just arbitrarily make up rules during the trial. The Nuremberg Trials were based on already existing international law and treaties. Nobody who was punished at Nuremberg fell victim to some malevolent unfair reverse grandfathering doctrine. They all knew what they were doing at the time, they just thought they couldn’t get away with it. They couldn’t.
Also, this is a stupid argument in general. If I don't know how the inner workings of the KKK and they beat up a black man, am I suddenly unable to be on the jury for that case? Does the jury need to be made up of 50/50 ex KKK members?
(Plus the entire “Derp victors lol” argument is stupid because the ol’ “victors write the history” canard is an often-inaccurate oversimplification of how history is taught, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms.)
This by the way is also a byproduct of the Peter Black book on Kaltenbrunner, which being outdated and not the be-all-end-all book on history (get three historians in the room and ask them about anything WWII related, then get a goblet to collect the blood once they start killing each other). Black in his section on Nuremberg gave some credence to the idea of the Tribunal of Victors, but even he was wise enough to note that the Tribunal of Victors is not an excuse, does not mean the trials were wrong or invalid, and that the presence of a neutral party would have either been pointless or slanted because there is no truly neutral party in WWII. But whatever, maybe the author wasn’t paying attention when she read that and just saw the phrase ‘victors’ and ran with this weirdness.
5: Auschwitz guards were just frightened little babies who feared for their families. Kindle page 271: “If my brother Norbert was still alive, he would have been tried there too as a war criminal. A Jew with fake papers who was forced to become an Auschwitz guard.”
A: No he wouldn’t have been, the Auschwitz guards were not tried at Nuremberg though Rudolf Hoess did take the stand at Nuremberg as a witness for sweet perfect misunderstood Ernst Kaltenbrunner who lest we forget WAS HIS BOSS. The Auschwitz Trials took place in Poland and for that matter, a lot of guards got off with minor sentences (only 6% of the lower garrison were sentenced to death) so it’s not like that would even be a guarantee.
B: This is a hilariously awful talking point. So there’s a plot point in this series that Cartoonishly Evil Reinhard Heydrich (who we’ll get to in a minute) sends the Mary Sue main character’s brother to be a guard at Auschwitz and then refuses to let him transfer out, leading to the brother committing suicide.
This plotline becomes insidious when you consider that it’s a lie: Auschwitz was a cushy position. Guards who didn’t want to be there could transfer out (even for example SS guard Oskar Groening was transferred to the front per his request.) Himmler cared very much about the mental wellbeing of his SS troops, which is why he started the industrial gas chamber killing process in the first place (Einsatzgruppen mobile killing units who had to get up close and personal with their victims tended to become scarred by the process).
This is an excuse, nothing more, to make these monsters’ actions seem out of their hands, to assign guilt to the few. It’s disgusting. Hitler could never have killed all the Jews he did without the eager assistance of men like those guards at Auschwitz. Look at some of these pictures and tell me if they look traumatized by working at Auschwitz. They wanted to be there. They were happy to be there. To say otherwise is to say that they had no agency, to excuse them. To say otherwise is to lie.
In 1943, Kaltenbrunner pushed the Ministry of Justice for an edict mandating compulsory castration for any man found guilty of homosexuality. This was considered too extreme for even the Nazi Ministry of Justice, however Kaltenbrunner, fanatically homophobic continued to prosecute and investigate over 6000 innocent men whose only crime was being gay.
After the Anschluss of Austria, Kaltenbrunner created the Mauthausen concentration camp, a brutal slave labor camp where almost 100,000 prisoners were murdered. He would visit the camp several times throughout his tenure, most infamously in 1943: during this visit 15 prisoners were selected to demonstrate for Kaltenbrunner three methods of killing – by a gunshot to the neck, hanging, and gassing. Fifteen people were murdered for a ‘demonstration’ for him.
After the unfortunate failure of Operation Valkyrie, Hitler summoned Kaltenbrunner to investigate and eradicate those responsible for the attempt on his life. Kaltenbrunner personally oversaw the deportation and murder of 5000 people, some only tangentially related to the would-be assassins.
On February 6, 1945, Kaltenbrunner authorized his men to murder any “disloyal” people at their discretion, without judicial review. Many innocent Germans whose only crime was attempting to flee from the carnage were murdered under these orders.
During his trial, he famously became “The Man without a Signature”, claiming (often to the bemused amusement of his fellow Nazis on trial, especially Hermann Goering, who chuckled several times during Kaltenbrunner’s falsehood-filled testimony) that his adjunct, Heinrich Muller, affixed his signature to many orders that he did not read. This was a blatant lie, as there is much evidence in the form of letters, pictures, orders, and testimony that Kaltenbrunner knew about the Holocaust, personally and enthusiastically participated in it, and did so willingly.
He was found not guilty of conspiracy to wage a war of aggression or crimes against peace but was found guilty of actually waging a war of aggression, of committing atrocious war crimes, and of crimes against humanity.
This is the real man, the real unrepentant murderer who this author would have you believe was a poor sweet misled little boy who did nothing wrong. In a desperate attempt to woobify this murderer to make him palatable as a love interest, the author has essentially taken the lies Kaltenbrunner told at Nuremberg, lies that even his own codefendants mocked for this ridiculousness, and tried to trick you into believing they are truth.
Do not fall for it. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an evil human being, and this attempt to excuse him because “lol he hot look how tall uwu” is disgusting. It’s Nazi apologensia, pure and simple. This is especially on display in Book Three of the Girl from Berlin, wherein the author actually unironically makes the argument that Ernst Kaltenbrunner was ‘just following orders’.
He was not. He was a fanatic. He knew what he was doing and chose to do it. Stop making excuses for disgusting murderers because you think they’re hot. Genocide isn’t hot.
Since the author knows info about Kaltenbrunner that would frankly be impossible to find online since there’s such a dearth of info on him, I will assume she had access to the only biography about Kaltenbrunner, the now out of print 1984 biography by Peter Black. This book now costs a ridiculous amount of money, but I happen to already have a copy that I read an eternity ago.
Now I’m not gonna read the entire thing again because frankly I don't feel like it, but I may glance at it while discussing this series. That being said, from memory I could tell you that the book does NOT claim that Kaltenbrunner was really a good man who just needed wuv unlike that EEEEEVIL Hitler. It merely pointed out his few good actions and personal biases that led him to occasionally stray from the ideological line.
Big whoop, every one of them strayed from the ideological line when personal bias got involved. Hitler saved his Jewish doctor, Heydrich protected his Jewish aunt. Kaltenbrunner is not special because he is a hypocrite, nor because he is human, nor because he wasn’t a comic book villain. All Nazis were human beings. That doesn’t matter: we remember them as evil men, not as monsters. Being human does not make you a redeemable sweetheart. It just means our standards for judgement aren’t absurdly low.
Aside from that barebones issue there are several other problems. A small disclaimer: almost all of these points are based off of books 2 and 3 in this series, namely The Gruppenfuhrer’s Mistress (GM) and the War Criminal’s Widow (WCW). Being honest, the first book was just meh. Heinrich was a serviceable love interest who did have a major issue, but the rest of the series ruined him because after Kaltenbrunner busted in, Heinrich essentially became the living embodiment of this meme. If for some reason you’re just desperate to read this series, I recommend reading the first book and then running for the hills and never returning because the problems with the latter books are many.
This is a general review of the entire series, and so I’ll be leaving this review on every book. I had to suffer, and I’ll tell you why.
Ulrich Reinhard (side note: the naming of this character is confusing because in a book where Reinhard Heydrich is a major character, naming another character ‘Reinhard’ and spelling it in such a distinctive way---Reinhard instead of Reinhardt----is really a mistake).
I shouldn’t have to say this, but making one Nazi a meany rapist puppy-kicker whose cartoonish evilness would make Indiana Jones villains blush does not make your Nazi senpai of choice look better by comparison. It’s an obvious manipulation tactic that doesn’t work, especially when your Nazi senpai of choice also rapes Mary Sue.
It also frankly makes Mary Sue look like an empathy-deprived bitch later when she’s defending all of the Nazis EXCEPT the ones who hurt HER specifically, namely Reinhard and Heydrich (I told you it was confusing).
Apparently the feelings of the Jews her precious Kalty-poo hurt and killed don't matter. SHE likes him so he’s redeemable. The world’s morality is entirely based on the Mary Sue MC and who she likes/does not like. People who hurt her are irredeemably evil, people she likes are just misunderstood.
Oh hey speaking of which, rape in this book? Handled with all the grace of a Tiger tank tumbling into a ditch full of dynamite. So remember how I said Nazi Senpai Kaltenbrunner rapes Mary Sue? Yeah...that happens. And yes, she still falls in love with him.
The rape scene as it occurs in GM (ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS, I REPEAT, ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. SERIOUSLY THIS IS FOUL)
“Even now when my brain was screaming bloody murder, my body was clearly enjoying the rape. I can’t be possibly [sic] enjoying this, I kept telling myself…”No, please!” I knew all my pleadings would be in vain…”You’re so stubborn,” he laughed…”I know how much you’re enjoying this.”
Zoinks Scoob. You wanna talk about problematic, I guess I shouldn’t have a high standard for Nazi-Jewish romance, but I can give some leeway. This? No. This is inexcusable.
And before anyone says “But Allie, some rape survivors orgasm and that’s a big source of shame for them and maybe the author is just---” Yeah, no, that’s not what happens. This isn’t an interesting and heartbreaking exploration of how rape survivors can be betrayed by their bodies and the psychological effects of that, this is meant to be smut. Kalty-Poo saying he knows she wants it? He is portrayed as being right. Silly girl, stop saying no, you know you want it...and she does. And that...that is foul beyond words.
Also sidenote: isn’t it funny that the author tries her darndest to make him into a good person….except he’s also a rapist now? Doesn’t that kind of cancel out all the woobification? How is he a better man than Ulrich Reinhard then, is it because Ulrich Reinhard is ugly?
It's because Reinhard’s ugly, isn’t it?
The Nuremberg Trail scene in this book is actually offensive Nazi apologensia. I don't care if the author is a Jew, this section makes me sincerely doubt that she hasn’t visited at least one Neo-Nazi website and copy-pasted info, all that was missing was the ol “But Dresden was just as bad as Auschwitz!” talking point.
She comes close, though! Comparing the treatment the Allies offered the defendants at Nuremberg, which in reality was humane, to Dachau is pretty up there in terms of stupid whataboutisms and lies.
Sorry you don't believe me? WCW page 109
“I wrapped my arms around him...noticing in horror what the prison had done to him...I felt bones...as if he was incarcerated in Dachau and not Nuremberg prison.”
Oh hey, you want some more? In the prequel book “The Austrian”, the author proclaims that:
“The American, with lifeless grey eyes and the grin...which reminded me of Heydrich...appeared...I had no other choice but to give myself up...I gasped in horror, realizing they had their trump card...they had her...if I decided to get myself killed, they would kill her too.”
[American says] “If I don't come out of here alive, your pregnant whore won;’ see another day. My people have an order to hang her if I don't come back with you in a few hours.”
Aaaaand it gets better! Because then the EEEEVIL Allies threaten to KILL Mary Sue if Kalty-poo doesn’t comply with the trial. Y’know, something they NEVER DID. SOMETHING THAT IS A LITERAL NEO-NAZI TALKING POINT USED TO DISCREDIT THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AT NUREMBERG.
I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt and say she probably didn’t MEAN to use these neo-Nazi talking points and this was done more from stupidity and enlightened centrism than genuine love for Nazis. Still, it needs to be called out because books that make these claims, fictional or not, contribute to the rise in Holocaust denial and revisionism.
4: The victors write the history! Yet another neo-Nazi talking point. Page 269 in Kindle version: “How can they judge us then [sic] if they didn’t know how it all worked?” “They’re the victors,” I shrugged. “They can do whatever they want.”
This is said regarding the non-impartiality of the Nuremberg trials, and the character even suggests on the same page that they should have had Switzerland at the trial to grant some impartiality (because yes: stolen gold harboring Switzerland would have been a perfectly neutral party).
This is stupid for many reasons, not just because “Derp, victors amiright” is such a common alt-right neo-Nazi talking point that the subreddit r/ShitWehraboossay has turned it into a meme, but also because the victors didn’t just arbitrarily make up rules during the trial. The Nuremberg Trials were based on already existing international law and treaties. Nobody who was punished at Nuremberg fell victim to some malevolent unfair reverse grandfathering doctrine. They all knew what they were doing at the time, they just thought they couldn’t get away with it. They couldn’t.
Also, this is a stupid argument in general. If I don't know how the inner workings of the KKK and they beat up a black man, am I suddenly unable to be on the jury for that case? Does the jury need to be made up of 50/50 ex KKK members?
(Plus the entire “Derp victors lol” argument is stupid because the ol’ “victors write the history” canard is an often-inaccurate oversimplification of how history is taught, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms.)
This by the way is also a byproduct of the Peter Black book on Kaltenbrunner, which being outdated and not the be-all-end-all book on history (get three historians in the room and ask them about anything WWII related, then get a goblet to collect the blood once they start killing each other). Black in his section on Nuremberg gave some credence to the idea of the Tribunal of Victors, but even he was wise enough to note that the Tribunal of Victors is not an excuse, does not mean the trials were wrong or invalid, and that the presence of a neutral party would have either been pointless or slanted because there is no truly neutral party in WWII. But whatever, maybe the author wasn’t paying attention when she read that and just saw the phrase ‘victors’ and ran with this weirdness.
5: Auschwitz guards were just frightened little babies who feared for their families. Kindle page 271: “If my brother Norbert was still alive, he would have been tried there too as a war criminal. A Jew with fake papers who was forced to become an Auschwitz guard.”
A: No he wouldn’t have been, the Auschwitz guards were not tried at Nuremberg though Rudolf Hoess did take the stand at Nuremberg as a witness for sweet perfect misunderstood Ernst Kaltenbrunner who lest we forget WAS HIS BOSS. The Auschwitz Trials took place in Poland and for that matter, a lot of guards got off with minor sentences (only 6% of the lower garrison were sentenced to death) so it’s not like that would even be a guarantee.
B: This is a hilariously awful talking point. So there’s a plot point in this series that Cartoonishly Evil Reinhard Heydrich (who we’ll get to in a minute) sends the Mary Sue main character’s brother to be a guard at Auschwitz and then refuses to let him transfer out, leading to the brother committing suicide.
This plotline becomes insidious when you consider that it’s a lie: Auschwitz was a cushy position. Guards who didn’t want to be there could transfer out (even for example SS guard Oskar Groening was transferred to the front per his request.) Himmler cared very much about the mental wellbeing of his SS troops, which is why he started the industrial gas chamber killing process in the first place (Einsatzgruppen mobile killing units who had to get up close and personal with their victims tended to become scarred by the process).
This is an excuse, nothing more, to make these monsters’ actions seem out of their hands, to assign guilt to the few. It’s disgusting. Hitler could never have killed all the Jews he did without the eager assistance of men like those guards at Auschwitz. Look at some of these pictures and tell me if they look traumatized by working at Auschwitz. They wanted to be there. They were happy to be there. To say otherwise is to say that they had no agency, to excuse them. To say otherwise is to lie.
March 20, 2017
Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_K... instead for historical accuracy.
August 2, 2017
This was perhaps the most surprising an unique book I have read all year. The story follows Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a leading Austrian Nazi and head of the Gestapo, and portrays the man in a balanced, if not sympathetic manner. I have never heard of this author before; but she is apparently Jewish and writes very well. The story is a quick read although the subject matter is heavy and depressing. Often fiction writers portray inner Nazi circles as a den of tarantulas but it amazed me how human each character was presented. The author does not shy away from mentioning the atrocities and the camps, but they are presented as policy makers such as Kaltenbrunner would have interacted with the Final Solution; a gradually increasing framework of paperwork and bureaucracy.
The book is certainly well organized as the author bounces back and forth between Kaltenbrunner's Nuremberg prison cell in 1946 to Linz, Austria prior to the Anschluss. I had no problem keeping track of how the plot was unfolding having a basic understanding of the rise of National Socialism. We see differing shades of anti-Semitism arise within nationalists and how they saw the "Jewish Problem". Indeed, I noted how the author was able to understandably connect the resentment of Austrians and Germans with observations of Jewish families, seemingly untouched and thriving, during hardships of the first world war and the economic downturn immediately after. It became obvious to me this was not a typical World War II story.
The most infamous members of the regime, Hitler, Goering, Himmler, Heydrich, are presented in brief snippets as Kaltenbrunner rises in the ranks of the Austrian SS. These brief personal glimpses are fascinating in that they show the internal dynamics of ruling clique. But the book focuses on the personal life of Katelbrunner himself, a life of personal emotional struggle as he consistently crushes his kinder, better nature in the service to a united prosperous German Reich. The character is not admirable, choosing to ease his guilt through booze and women, yet he remains relatable.
I will certainly read the prequel to this book and follow this author closely. She has talent.
The book is certainly well organized as the author bounces back and forth between Kaltenbrunner's Nuremberg prison cell in 1946 to Linz, Austria prior to the Anschluss. I had no problem keeping track of how the plot was unfolding having a basic understanding of the rise of National Socialism. We see differing shades of anti-Semitism arise within nationalists and how they saw the "Jewish Problem". Indeed, I noted how the author was able to understandably connect the resentment of Austrians and Germans with observations of Jewish families, seemingly untouched and thriving, during hardships of the first world war and the economic downturn immediately after. It became obvious to me this was not a typical World War II story.
The most infamous members of the regime, Hitler, Goering, Himmler, Heydrich, are presented in brief snippets as Kaltenbrunner rises in the ranks of the Austrian SS. These brief personal glimpses are fascinating in that they show the internal dynamics of ruling clique. But the book focuses on the personal life of Katelbrunner himself, a life of personal emotional struggle as he consistently crushes his kinder, better nature in the service to a united prosperous German Reich. The character is not admirable, choosing to ease his guilt through booze and women, yet he remains relatable.
I will certainly read the prequel to this book and follow this author closely. She has talent.
January 28, 2018
I've read a few of ellie midwood's books and have always been impressed with the level of research and careful nature she has written of her historical novels. This book however shows neither research nor careful nature and in my opinion takes a notorious SS figure and attempts to romanticise him so as to make his actions credible. Not only does this book serve an injustice to all those lives lost as a result of his actions, those who may not be familiar with the history surrounding this figure may be taken in by this attempt at romanticism. I grew so offended by this novel that I gave up reading it before half way. Definitely do not recommend.
March 8, 2017
A well crafted fictional yet historical look at a war criminal, standing trial for the atrocities during WW2 by the Nazis.
The author allows us to see the softer part of his humanity, together with the darker side; one that was responsible for thousands of deaths and cruelties.
His childhood is explored, his influences and the choices he makes. Does this change our perceptions of the 'monster' he became? You will have to make up your own mind.
Another disturbing story, which demonstrates that such terrible times should never be forgotten.
The author allows us to see the softer part of his humanity, together with the darker side; one that was responsible for thousands of deaths and cruelties.
His childhood is explored, his influences and the choices he makes. Does this change our perceptions of the 'monster' he became? You will have to make up your own mind.
Another disturbing story, which demonstrates that such terrible times should never be forgotten.
October 7, 2017
Ellie Midwood's well researched, well crafted World War II novel follows the life of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a high-ranking SS official from Austria. While based on a real historical figure of this name, the character of Ernst is fictionalized. The story swaps effortlessly back and forth between the novel's current day of 1946 of his imprisonment while he awaits trial for his war crimes and his past--from his boyhood and first love with a Jewish girl to how he would up serving in the Nazi party.
Ellie Midwood is an expert of World War II history, and it shows in his book. The historical facts check out, yet flow flawlessly with the fictionalized story of Ernst.
Her writing is lovely and at times heart-wrenching. Ernst is a good man who got caught up in the wrong world. His one true love is what gives him hope during his last days in prison, where he is left wondering if he did right by his life.
For anyone who is a fan of historical fiction and a complicated romance, I recommend this novel. It's top-notch!
Ellie Midwood is an expert of World War II history, and it shows in his book. The historical facts check out, yet flow flawlessly with the fictionalized story of Ernst.
Her writing is lovely and at times heart-wrenching. Ernst is a good man who got caught up in the wrong world. His one true love is what gives him hope during his last days in prison, where he is left wondering if he did right by his life.
For anyone who is a fan of historical fiction and a complicated romance, I recommend this novel. It's top-notch!
April 25, 2016
Wow. Talk about a beginning. The hardest thing s author can manage is to want to make your root for the character right away: she did that and then some, despite the fact that you really, really want to hate him, you just can't.
It might be a historical story but it treats of subjects that are very much modern, such as xenophobia, so it's a book that should be though provoking for a lot of people. Some people are our society need a good "what the hell are you doing" wake up call.
Of course, Ernts isn't your average SS, he did have a lot to answer for - I loved reading his struggle and I found his motivation completely, utterly heart breakingly beautiful.
I did find the jump of period a bit confusing at first, but I got used to it and enjoyed it. I might have liked it more if I'd read the girl from Berlin first, but I certainly shall now
It might be a historical story but it treats of subjects that are very much modern, such as xenophobia, so it's a book that should be though provoking for a lot of people. Some people are our society need a good "what the hell are you doing" wake up call.
Of course, Ernts isn't your average SS, he did have a lot to answer for - I loved reading his struggle and I found his motivation completely, utterly heart breakingly beautiful.
I did find the jump of period a bit confusing at first, but I got used to it and enjoyed it. I might have liked it more if I'd read the girl from Berlin first, but I certainly shall now
June 9, 2018
This is a book that what keep you thinking and asking yourself questions. I kept thinking that humanity hasn’t learnt anything from WWII. At one point one of the prisoners tells the prison guards that something like this can also happen in the US. It is an eerie but right speech.
This book tries the answers the question of how a normal guy became a high ranking member of the SS. Is there a specific moment where everything changes or was it just pure luck and what happens when you get in to deep?. The book switches from the Nuremberg trials to Ernst’s his childhood to his climb up the ladder. Does he regret his choices?
It is a fascinated story.
This book tries the answers the question of how a normal guy became a high ranking member of the SS. Is there a specific moment where everything changes or was it just pure luck and what happens when you get in to deep?. The book switches from the Nuremberg trials to Ernst’s his childhood to his climb up the ladder. Does he regret his choices?
It is a fascinated story.
March 3, 2017
It’s taken me a while to write a review of this book, because I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Don’t get me wrong - it’s an out-and-out five star book. But it was difficult. There’s a tough challenge at its well-written heart.
It’s the fictionalised story of the real-life Nazi war criminal, Ernst Kaltenbrunner who was hanged at Nuremberg in 1946. The book begins as he leaves for his execution and intercuts his time in prison with the life that brought him there, to hang as the head of Hitler’s SS. It’s a grim tale, and its cast of characters are largely chilling in themselves — men like Reinhard Heydrich and Herman Goering inhabits its pages, along with hordes of sinister black-clad National Socialists, filled with hatred.
But Ellie Midwood takes on a challenge. She portrays Kaltenbrunner as a human being — an evil one, admittedly, but a human being nevertheless. He’s a man who loved, who hated, who was let down and who let down others. he was a man corrupted by hate and power, unable, at the end of the book, to be redeemed — even when confronted by his first, Jewish, love.
It’s a fascinating piece, with truly gut-wrenching moments. History has taught us to view the Nazis as monsters — but Midwood shows us, with extreme skill, that even those who commit inexcusable crimes are human beings, too. I feel a bit guilty about saying it was a good read, but it was.
The book is the first in a series and I shall be reading more.
It’s the fictionalised story of the real-life Nazi war criminal, Ernst Kaltenbrunner who was hanged at Nuremberg in 1946. The book begins as he leaves for his execution and intercuts his time in prison with the life that brought him there, to hang as the head of Hitler’s SS. It’s a grim tale, and its cast of characters are largely chilling in themselves — men like Reinhard Heydrich and Herman Goering inhabits its pages, along with hordes of sinister black-clad National Socialists, filled with hatred.
But Ellie Midwood takes on a challenge. She portrays Kaltenbrunner as a human being — an evil one, admittedly, but a human being nevertheless. He’s a man who loved, who hated, who was let down and who let down others. he was a man corrupted by hate and power, unable, at the end of the book, to be redeemed — even when confronted by his first, Jewish, love.
It’s a fascinating piece, with truly gut-wrenching moments. History has taught us to view the Nazis as monsters — but Midwood shows us, with extreme skill, that even those who commit inexcusable crimes are human beings, too. I feel a bit guilty about saying it was a good read, but it was.
The book is the first in a series and I shall be reading more.
July 10, 2016
I am caught in the grips of this author. After reading "The Girl from Berlin" trilogy I felt compelled to learn more about Ernst Kaltenbrunner and delve deeper into his story. "The Austrian" is a closer look into the decisions and circumstances that made Ernst the man he was. Bit by bit the reader is taken down the journey of Ernst's life, not in a straight line story but by his memories as he awaits trial at the Nuremberg trials for war crimes against humanity.
As I was reading along, I hungrily devoured any little snippets about Annalise, Ernst's one true love. By this point, after reading "The Girl from Berlin" trilogy, I love Annalise and I wanted to learn more about their desperate, heart-wrenching, star-crossed love affair. It is a complex tale, and one I won't divulge because I don't give away spoilers, but Ms. Midwood has crafted a fascinating story.
Let me share a secret. Normally I avoid Nazi tales. Not because I am not interested in this time period and the historical accounts, but because it is physically painful for me to read about the atrocities of the prison camps. To me it is so horrendous I become depressed, my mood goes to a very dark place, and some things I just can't bear to know more about. To this day I have never been able to bring myself to watch the movie, 'Schindler's List,' for instance. Having said all that, Ms. Midwood's books are the exception. This is fine writing, with well-crafted and complex characters, with lives that come to life in the pages. These characters are thrown into dangerous circumstances during dangerous times. Trust me, once you started reading you will want to read every one of the books in both "The Girl from Berlin" series and "The Austrian" series.
Another masterpiece! Five big fat stars!
As I was reading along, I hungrily devoured any little snippets about Annalise, Ernst's one true love. By this point, after reading "The Girl from Berlin" trilogy, I love Annalise and I wanted to learn more about their desperate, heart-wrenching, star-crossed love affair. It is a complex tale, and one I won't divulge because I don't give away spoilers, but Ms. Midwood has crafted a fascinating story.
Let me share a secret. Normally I avoid Nazi tales. Not because I am not interested in this time period and the historical accounts, but because it is physically painful for me to read about the atrocities of the prison camps. To me it is so horrendous I become depressed, my mood goes to a very dark place, and some things I just can't bear to know more about. To this day I have never been able to bring myself to watch the movie, 'Schindler's List,' for instance. Having said all that, Ms. Midwood's books are the exception. This is fine writing, with well-crafted and complex characters, with lives that come to life in the pages. These characters are thrown into dangerous circumstances during dangerous times. Trust me, once you started reading you will want to read every one of the books in both "The Girl from Berlin" series and "The Austrian" series.
Another masterpiece! Five big fat stars!
September 11, 2016
This is not the sort of book I would normally read. I detest war and anything that reminds me of its bleakness. However, when I realized the main character was on the flip side of so many other heroes we read about in war stories and catch as movies, I thought this might be a good study of human nature. In presenting her point of view on what the whole world considered to be the villains in WWII, Ellie Midwood did not disappoint.
The dichotomy between Ernst as a young man and Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner is well pulled together and researched in depth.
I must admit, when I first began to read, I was more interested in the goings on in Nuremberg prison than I was in early flashbacks. Yet as the chapters flew by, I began to seek out those flashbacks to understand the man behind the villain. As someone who understands how villains in a war are the ones who lost the war, as depicted throughout time, and how any humans gathering in fear can bring on ignominies of inexplicable horrors, I must say I loved the character studies I encountered in the book.
I especially loved the speech Ernst makes to one of the MP officers while he is incarcerated when he foretells the election of a man like Hitler in the United States. The parallels are as interesting as they are chillingly real. I also loved Ernst ongoing love for Annalise and how Melita helped him find his wings. The story is not a common one, but a story worth the read: anything about our past is worth remembering if only to help us avoid reigniting the same errors.
The dichotomy between Ernst as a young man and Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner is well pulled together and researched in depth.
I must admit, when I first began to read, I was more interested in the goings on in Nuremberg prison than I was in early flashbacks. Yet as the chapters flew by, I began to seek out those flashbacks to understand the man behind the villain. As someone who understands how villains in a war are the ones who lost the war, as depicted throughout time, and how any humans gathering in fear can bring on ignominies of inexplicable horrors, I must say I loved the character studies I encountered in the book.
I especially loved the speech Ernst makes to one of the MP officers while he is incarcerated when he foretells the election of a man like Hitler in the United States. The parallels are as interesting as they are chillingly real. I also loved Ernst ongoing love for Annalise and how Melita helped him find his wings. The story is not a common one, but a story worth the read: anything about our past is worth remembering if only to help us avoid reigniting the same errors.
April 23, 2016
It was difficult for me to separate the moral significance of The Austrian by Ellie Midwood with the current unrest facing the world today. All the way through, it strikes a hauntingly familiar chord.
The author fictitiously and uniquely maps the life of Nazi war-criminal Ernst Kaltenbrunner through a masterfully crafted chain of flashbacks that keeps the reader constantly attentive.
The historical accounting is accurate without being weighty, allowing the reader to easily move in and out of the events which shape Ernst’s tragic plight His stubborn personality and often self-serving decisions unintentionally land him in a rapidly increasing current he can’t withstand without literally sacrificing his own life, which of course, he is unwilling to do. Ernst is human, and we can only shake our heads with a hint of empathy as we witness his descent, his transformation into something he never dreamed he would become.
I’m usually a reader of fantasy fiction involving dragons but the author has reminded me that there are still real dragons walking upright amongst us, causing great harm in the world we do live in. I highly recommend this book! It is entertaining, educational and thought provoking. Five stars!
The author fictitiously and uniquely maps the life of Nazi war-criminal Ernst Kaltenbrunner through a masterfully crafted chain of flashbacks that keeps the reader constantly attentive.
The historical accounting is accurate without being weighty, allowing the reader to easily move in and out of the events which shape Ernst’s tragic plight His stubborn personality and often self-serving decisions unintentionally land him in a rapidly increasing current he can’t withstand without literally sacrificing his own life, which of course, he is unwilling to do. Ernst is human, and we can only shake our heads with a hint of empathy as we witness his descent, his transformation into something he never dreamed he would become.
I’m usually a reader of fantasy fiction involving dragons but the author has reminded me that there are still real dragons walking upright amongst us, causing great harm in the world we do live in. I highly recommend this book! It is entertaining, educational and thought provoking. Five stars!
September 29, 2016
4.5 Stars
I liked The Girl from Berlin series, but I loved The Austrian. I really enjoyed this closer look at Ernst Kaltenbrunner and I’m looking forward to the next part of his story. Sometimes when an author circles back to tell a story from a different character’s perspective, you get the same story rehashed all over again. I thought Midwood did a great job bringing fresh material to this familiar story. Even when Ernst remembers his time with Annalise, Midwood makes a point to show us something about the two that we didn’t get to see in the first trilogy.
The only thing that just didn’t work for me, was the use of current day slang in WW II Germany. I just can’t wrap my brain around a powerful leader during one of the most tumultuous times in history, using terms like “my bad.” It really took me out of the period and interrupted the flow of the story. This is a great story with incredible characters, but the editing could have been much better.
I liked The Girl from Berlin series, but I loved The Austrian. I really enjoyed this closer look at Ernst Kaltenbrunner and I’m looking forward to the next part of his story. Sometimes when an author circles back to tell a story from a different character’s perspective, you get the same story rehashed all over again. I thought Midwood did a great job bringing fresh material to this familiar story. Even when Ernst remembers his time with Annalise, Midwood makes a point to show us something about the two that we didn’t get to see in the first trilogy.
The only thing that just didn’t work for me, was the use of current day slang in WW II Germany. I just can’t wrap my brain around a powerful leader during one of the most tumultuous times in history, using terms like “my bad.” It really took me out of the period and interrupted the flow of the story. This is a great story with incredible characters, but the editing could have been much better.
June 10, 2016
I was very happy and excited to discover that Ellie had released another book connected to The Girl From Berlin series, only this time it concentrates more on Ernst, I have come to love Ernst just a little bit more as I learn more about him and his life and views.
I truly believe that our Ernst has a totally different persona hidden beneath his tough exterior that dictates that he must be such a strong man with no feelings of either love or hate whilst he is wearing his what he thought was his precious German Army uniform.
In the wonderful way in which she writes Ellie has weaved her magic with the written word and given us an exceptionally amazing insight into one of the German Armies highest ranking officers as he learns what his fate is to be once he is imprisoned.
This book and the rest of the series is utterly deserving of the five stars that I am giving it.
I truly believe that our Ernst has a totally different persona hidden beneath his tough exterior that dictates that he must be such a strong man with no feelings of either love or hate whilst he is wearing his what he thought was his precious German Army uniform.
In the wonderful way in which she writes Ellie has weaved her magic with the written word and given us an exceptionally amazing insight into one of the German Armies highest ranking officers as he learns what his fate is to be once he is imprisoned.
This book and the rest of the series is utterly deserving of the five stars that I am giving it.
June 4, 2018
????????????
Given who this man was and his place by hitlers side and the fact that he denied right up to the noose around his neck his part in helping hitler succeed I fail to see how a sick attempt to ascribe humanity to an animal helps anyone except you and your pocket book. Following a romantic heart on survivors is one thing. Taking a real monster and trying to humanize him. Where's bundy's story? Maybe a little wine and candlelight while he munches his dead victims and curls up to them for a good nights sleep.
Given who this man was and his place by hitlers side and the fact that he denied right up to the noose around his neck his part in helping hitler succeed I fail to see how a sick attempt to ascribe humanity to an animal helps anyone except you and your pocket book. Following a romantic heart on survivors is one thing. Taking a real monster and trying to humanize him. Where's bundy's story? Maybe a little wine and candlelight while he munches his dead victims and curls up to them for a good nights sleep.
August 28, 2017
Having read ‘Emilia’ a little while ago, I was keen to read more Ellie Midwood – ‘The Austrian’ didn’t disappoint. It’s a compelling read that has been split into two works, although, in all honesty, I think it should have been presented as a single piece as neither book really hold its own as a distinct novel but together, it’s a fascinating read. The author alternates between time periods in the life of our protagonist, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, a factual character with a propensity to do as he pleases. Skilfully handled, this method works well, allowing the reader to easily transition between scenes with no confusion. Applying a fair degree of artistic licence, especially the ending, the author gives this Nazi SS-Obergruppenführer a conscience – a bold move that could have backfired but in my case, it didn’t. I felt neither sympathy, nor respect for this self-serving, self-pitying man, but I did come to understand some of the motivating factors that may have driven him to act as he did. The prose may not be perfect (and let’s face it, what publication is ever flawless) but it’s an entertaining read to the end so it’s 5 stars from me. If you’re into WW2 fiction that provides a Nazi-point-of-view, ‘The Austrian’ may be what you’re looking for.
January 24, 2018
While I already knew a lot about Ernst before reading Ellie’s book, I was curious to see how he was portrayed as a fictional character. Ellie’s book does not disappoint. Ernst had the generational ‘Kaltenbrunner curse’ of anger and fits of temper and Ellie does not make this a item in describing Ernst’s life as others would if they were writing National Socialists in Historical Fiction. Instead she leaves that for the minor characters such as Heydrich (which some are quick to judge too..)
I always get bothered when I read Historical Fiction because it’s almost like it is a competition on who can make their National Socialist characters the most evil, sadistic of them all. But Ellie does not portray Ernst like this, instead portraying him in a sensitive non evil/non sadistic manner. It was a book that had me saying “ I’m just going to read one chapter” when in essence I ended up reading the entire book.
It is a well written book, with a lot of small unknown gems about Ernst ( some I knew, some I didn't) but a well recommended book.
I always get bothered when I read Historical Fiction because it’s almost like it is a competition on who can make their National Socialist characters the most evil, sadistic of them all. But Ellie does not portray Ernst like this, instead portraying him in a sensitive non evil/non sadistic manner. It was a book that had me saying “ I’m just going to read one chapter” when in essence I ended up reading the entire book.
It is a well written book, with a lot of small unknown gems about Ernst ( some I knew, some I didn't) but a well recommended book.
March 10, 2018
This is Ernst Kaltenbrunner's story, can I say how excited I was to find out that my favorite series wasn't over? If you haven't already started liking Ernst, the most feared Austrian, in the previous books, you certainly will now. I loved how the author switched back and forth between Ernst's past and presence, making the transition so very smooth with common sentences and phrases that applied to both time periods. In this book, readers get to learn more on Ernst's childhood, youth, his service to Fuhrer as the founder of Austrian SS and his rise to the position of Chief of RSHA, all of which give us a great account of who he really is. As always, I am a fan. Can't get enough of these books.
May 14, 2019
Every book by Ellie is just a testament to her ability as an author. This book was beyond. She captured me, making me love and care so much for this protagonist. Read it! And, the ones that follow.
March 19, 2017
The Austrian
So I thought Ernst's pov was interesting but I was having a hard time getting into it. It was a little dry for me until we got up to the 75% mark but I do like hearing the story from the hero's pov. I'm a romance reader and I think this is where the story comes to the 'present'. I'm just hoping in the final book of this series we get to find out how Ernst.... Well I don't want to spoil it for anyone. ;) It is a good story and definitely worth the read.
So I thought Ernst's pov was interesting but I was having a hard time getting into it. It was a little dry for me until we got up to the 75% mark but I do like hearing the story from the hero's pov. I'm a romance reader and I think this is where the story comes to the 'present'. I'm just hoping in the final book of this series we get to find out how Ernst.... Well I don't want to spoil it for anyone. ;) It is a good story and definitely worth the read.
February 1, 2018
First off, before you read this book, make sure to read all three of The Girl from Berlin books. If you don't, you'll probably be very confused during this book and not enjoy it. Overall, I thought this book was fantastic and if you loved The Girl From Berlin series, this book is a definite must read. It doesn't have the same suspense and tension as in the three The Girl from Berlin books, which I why I only gave it four stars, but it is still really good. It's also interesting to see the story from Ernst Kaltenbrunner's eyes and why he made the decisions that he did. While the portrayal of Kaltenbrunner in this book may be seen as controversial, I think Ms. Midwood did an excellent job demonstrating how someone can be changed by their society and hateful rhetoric. This book definitely made me think and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
October 16, 2019
This book was excellent. It was an intriguing transition from The Girl From Berlin series of books. The writing is good and the storyline is exceptional. I look forward to reading the next instalment.
October 11, 2017
If you study Ellie Midwood’s body of work, three things become apparent.
First, she tends to win quite a few awards. In this era of thousands and thousands of self-published novels, winning major awards is no small feat, and once you dig into her books, you see why she garners the awards she does. Her books are gripping, fascinating, and extremely important.
Secondly, she has really immersed herself in one topic and era, and the results are stellar. Ms. Midwood has established herself as an expert and a major literary force on the topic of Nazi Germany, and her research and knowledge are made manifest with each page.
Finally, she brings a special passion and perspective to her work. There are countless books and novels about WWII, but Ms. Midwood brings what I believe to be a highly cerebral, psychoanalytical, and I dare say, feminine approach to the era. In “The Austrian”, the underlying theme becomes quickly apparent. How did this happen? How did human beings and innocent children gradually become the soulless monsters of the Third Reich? Did their parents love them? Were they ever in love? Were they capable of feeling remorse for their actions?
“The Austrian” recounts the tale of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, an imposing Austrian who rose to prominence in the Third Reich, and was put on trial at Nuremberg. First and foremost, the book does what any great historical novel should do: It makes the reader run for their computer in order to do further research on the characters and setting. I have to admit I was halfway through the book before I realized Kaltenbrunner was a real person, and not a fictional creation. Ms. Midwood’s portrayal of his life was very accurate and spellbinding.
The book uses a very intensive split-chronology, and the results are brilliant. From a condemned war criminal’s prison cell, we are treated to his life story. How did this happen? How did an innocent, happy Austrian child wind up as the architect of so much inhumanity?
If I had to find anything to criticize, I didn’t like the choice of model on the cover. I almost thought he brought a strange “Twilight” vampire vibe that didn’t mesh with a serious, thought-provoking book. Pretty minor complaint in the whole scheme of things, however.
Bottom line, five stars and highly recommended. A probing, provocative character study of love and loyalty in a world of evil and hatred.
First, she tends to win quite a few awards. In this era of thousands and thousands of self-published novels, winning major awards is no small feat, and once you dig into her books, you see why she garners the awards she does. Her books are gripping, fascinating, and extremely important.
Secondly, she has really immersed herself in one topic and era, and the results are stellar. Ms. Midwood has established herself as an expert and a major literary force on the topic of Nazi Germany, and her research and knowledge are made manifest with each page.
Finally, she brings a special passion and perspective to her work. There are countless books and novels about WWII, but Ms. Midwood brings what I believe to be a highly cerebral, psychoanalytical, and I dare say, feminine approach to the era. In “The Austrian”, the underlying theme becomes quickly apparent. How did this happen? How did human beings and innocent children gradually become the soulless monsters of the Third Reich? Did their parents love them? Were they ever in love? Were they capable of feeling remorse for their actions?
“The Austrian” recounts the tale of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, an imposing Austrian who rose to prominence in the Third Reich, and was put on trial at Nuremberg. First and foremost, the book does what any great historical novel should do: It makes the reader run for their computer in order to do further research on the characters and setting. I have to admit I was halfway through the book before I realized Kaltenbrunner was a real person, and not a fictional creation. Ms. Midwood’s portrayal of his life was very accurate and spellbinding.
The book uses a very intensive split-chronology, and the results are brilliant. From a condemned war criminal’s prison cell, we are treated to his life story. How did this happen? How did an innocent, happy Austrian child wind up as the architect of so much inhumanity?
If I had to find anything to criticize, I didn’t like the choice of model on the cover. I almost thought he brought a strange “Twilight” vampire vibe that didn’t mesh with a serious, thought-provoking book. Pretty minor complaint in the whole scheme of things, however.
Bottom line, five stars and highly recommended. A probing, provocative character study of love and loyalty in a world of evil and hatred.
November 24, 2019
An excellently written beginning
I have previously read Ms. Midwood's "The Girl From Berlin" series so I was familiar with Dr. Kaltenbrunner. I truly enjoy this author's writing. Her books are well researched and wonderfully descriptive. The personality sketch in this book is superlative. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II period novels as I am now on to book II.
I have previously read Ms. Midwood's "The Girl From Berlin" series so I was familiar with Dr. Kaltenbrunner. I truly enjoy this author's writing. Her books are well researched and wonderfully descriptive. The personality sketch in this book is superlative. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II period novels as I am now on to book II.
January 17, 2020
Awesome. Couldn’t put this one down, either. Very interesting to read about the other side of World War II. I wonder how many Nazis felt like the way Midwood has Kaltenbrunner feeling in this book. It’s also how amazing how close to fact Midwood is when writing these books. I looked info up on people, places, and events many times and Midwood was correct and had done her research each and every time.
April 2, 2016
4.5 stars
The author has crafted an exceptionally unique tale; I don’t believe I’ve ever read historical fiction of this kind before. The story is told from the perspective of an imprisoned gestapo commander just after World War II, being made to answer for his sins. You would think it would be impossible to identify with this person as human, yet that’s exactly what the author does is humanize him for us. We see how his life unfolded and led him to where he was cavalierly signing the death warrants of thousands of people. Not because he was a monster, but because it was far easier to go along with his superior officers than buck the chain of command. The narrator doesn’t try to make excuses for her lead character; instead she gets the reader to empathize with him so thoroughly it’s easy to see how we too might have been swept along in the madness that was the collective German mindset at the time.
The story doesn’t take place in continuous time. We bounce between our lead character’s current imprisonment in the here and now and the different episodes from his past, where we see him at different ages. We get a sense of Germany’s cultural and family traditions at the time. We see that our lead never had a thing against Jews; in fact he was desperately in love with one, despite his parents’ insistence he break it off. Following his unfolding from an adolescent into an adult we’re constantly watching for where he went wrong, what incident or incidents conspired to turn someone who started out as a hero into a villain. And what we find is history weighing down on us in such a way that the transition is far easier, far more seamless and unnoticeable than any of us care to imagine. The idea that circumstances could conspire to turn any of us into a vile human being is disturbing enough. So we keep wanting to point an accusatory finger and say, “Ah, ha! This is where you missed your opportunity to stand up. This is was your chance to play the hero, and do what was right.” And each time we’re forced to ask ourselves, could we have been that person who truly had the strength to buck the system?
The fact that this book messes with our minds so much is reason enough to read it, as that’s what art is supposed to do, confound our comfortable notions of right and wrong, up and down, and force us to see life from entirely fresh eyes; at the very least, free us from our shallower, preconceived notions that do more to keep us ignorant than enlighten us. But the story is worth reading because it’s also very well crafted; the writing is solid and professional. The characters get under our skin. And it’s so rare that we’ll get to read a story like this. If you are a fan of historical fiction, I highly recommend it. But prepare to be disturbed, not just while you’re reading, but for a good time after.
The author has crafted an exceptionally unique tale; I don’t believe I’ve ever read historical fiction of this kind before. The story is told from the perspective of an imprisoned gestapo commander just after World War II, being made to answer for his sins. You would think it would be impossible to identify with this person as human, yet that’s exactly what the author does is humanize him for us. We see how his life unfolded and led him to where he was cavalierly signing the death warrants of thousands of people. Not because he was a monster, but because it was far easier to go along with his superior officers than buck the chain of command. The narrator doesn’t try to make excuses for her lead character; instead she gets the reader to empathize with him so thoroughly it’s easy to see how we too might have been swept along in the madness that was the collective German mindset at the time.
The story doesn’t take place in continuous time. We bounce between our lead character’s current imprisonment in the here and now and the different episodes from his past, where we see him at different ages. We get a sense of Germany’s cultural and family traditions at the time. We see that our lead never had a thing against Jews; in fact he was desperately in love with one, despite his parents’ insistence he break it off. Following his unfolding from an adolescent into an adult we’re constantly watching for where he went wrong, what incident or incidents conspired to turn someone who started out as a hero into a villain. And what we find is history weighing down on us in such a way that the transition is far easier, far more seamless and unnoticeable than any of us care to imagine. The idea that circumstances could conspire to turn any of us into a vile human being is disturbing enough. So we keep wanting to point an accusatory finger and say, “Ah, ha! This is where you missed your opportunity to stand up. This is was your chance to play the hero, and do what was right.” And each time we’re forced to ask ourselves, could we have been that person who truly had the strength to buck the system?
The fact that this book messes with our minds so much is reason enough to read it, as that’s what art is supposed to do, confound our comfortable notions of right and wrong, up and down, and force us to see life from entirely fresh eyes; at the very least, free us from our shallower, preconceived notions that do more to keep us ignorant than enlighten us. But the story is worth reading because it’s also very well crafted; the writing is solid and professional. The characters get under our skin. And it’s so rare that we’ll get to read a story like this. If you are a fan of historical fiction, I highly recommend it. But prepare to be disturbed, not just while you’re reading, but for a good time after.
June 14, 2017
Another great book
Usually by the 3rd or 4th sequel the books start to lose my interest. But I have stayed interested in all of the books of this series. Ellie Midwood has done a wonderful job of mixing fact and fiction in this series of books to keep your attention.
Usually by the 3rd or 4th sequel the books start to lose my interest. But I have stayed interested in all of the books of this series. Ellie Midwood has done a wonderful job of mixing fact and fiction in this series of books to keep your attention.
May 23, 2016
When I first picked up this book, I did not know what to expect. As a lover of historical fiction, particularly 20th Century and the two world wars, I thought that this was a unique way to tell a story - from the viewpoint of a war criminal, and a real one at that, as he stands trial at Nuremburg. I was intrigued to find out how it would be done.
Although this is a fictionalised account of the life of the head of the Austrian SS, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, with many, I am sure, made up scenarios, this is an exceptional piece of literature that captures the mindset of a man who finds himself in a position, and with an authority that he did not necessarily ask for. Or is he merely reluctant to accept the blame for what he has become, and that his current predicament is all of his own making?
A flawed character, who can be both anti-Semitic and kind, both a murderer and a penitent man he displays both good and bad attributes that show the contradictions of human nature.
Jumping back and forth from his incarceration at Nuremburg to his childhood in Austria, we follow his story as he grows into a man, gets involved with the Nazi party and the SS, and how, despite his quite hectic love life, the memories of his true love, Annalise Friedmann, fill his thoughts and dreams as he awaits the hangman. He is tortured by the life he has wasted and the love he has lost.
Kaltenbrunner relates his life story to the reader and the assortment of psychiatrists, lawyers and government agents who visit him, in an attempt to work out how he has come to be in the position he finds himself. Is he in denial regarding the crimes he has committed or is there any kind of truth to his argument that he had no knowledge of many of the things the Allies claim he was involved in? Does he seek forgiveness for what he has done or does he just accept that his fate is out of his hands and arguing his ‘innocence’ is pointless? Is his only regret a selfish one, that for the love that is now lost forever?
Ellie Midwood has created an exceptional character and story here, make no mistake, and it leaves the reader asking many questions about the good and bad of human nature long after the book has been put down. Her writing style keeps you hooked from first page to last and it is obvious that the book has been heavily researched as she writes with a clear authority of her subject matter.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in historical fiction, WW2 or just great story telling in general. You will not be disappointed.
Although this is a fictionalised account of the life of the head of the Austrian SS, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, with many, I am sure, made up scenarios, this is an exceptional piece of literature that captures the mindset of a man who finds himself in a position, and with an authority that he did not necessarily ask for. Or is he merely reluctant to accept the blame for what he has become, and that his current predicament is all of his own making?
A flawed character, who can be both anti-Semitic and kind, both a murderer and a penitent man he displays both good and bad attributes that show the contradictions of human nature.
Jumping back and forth from his incarceration at Nuremburg to his childhood in Austria, we follow his story as he grows into a man, gets involved with the Nazi party and the SS, and how, despite his quite hectic love life, the memories of his true love, Annalise Friedmann, fill his thoughts and dreams as he awaits the hangman. He is tortured by the life he has wasted and the love he has lost.
Kaltenbrunner relates his life story to the reader and the assortment of psychiatrists, lawyers and government agents who visit him, in an attempt to work out how he has come to be in the position he finds himself. Is he in denial regarding the crimes he has committed or is there any kind of truth to his argument that he had no knowledge of many of the things the Allies claim he was involved in? Does he seek forgiveness for what he has done or does he just accept that his fate is out of his hands and arguing his ‘innocence’ is pointless? Is his only regret a selfish one, that for the love that is now lost forever?
Ellie Midwood has created an exceptional character and story here, make no mistake, and it leaves the reader asking many questions about the good and bad of human nature long after the book has been put down. Her writing style keeps you hooked from first page to last and it is obvious that the book has been heavily researched as she writes with a clear authority of her subject matter.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in historical fiction, WW2 or just great story telling in general. You will not be disappointed.
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