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Vaterland
Hitler hat den Krieg gewonnen. Großdeutschland, das vom Rhein bis zum Ural reicht, dominiert Europa. Ständige Partisanenkämpfe und der Kalte Krieg mit den USA zermürben das Reich. In Berlin geschieht ein brutaler Mord an einem Parteibonzen – und Kripo-Sturmbannführer March gerät im Zuge seiner Ermittlungen gefährlich nah an die Wahrheit.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
1768 people are currently reading
41620 people want to read
About the author
Robert Harris
63 books8,866 followersROBERT HARRIS is the author of nine best-selling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost Writer, Conspirata, The Fear Index, and An Officer and a Spy. Several of his books have been adapted to film, most recently The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, England, with his wife, Gill Hornby.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,379 reviews
May 2, 2012
I’ve never read a book that more starkly highlighted for me how thankful the good people of the world should be that the allies won World War II. While my final rating was a somewhat subdued 3 stars, there are parts of this story that I found extremely compelling.
BACKSTORY/ALTERNATIVE HISTORY:
Welcome to a very dark future...
It's 1964, and all of Germany is preparing to celebrate Adolf Shitler’s 75th birthday. As part of this national event, the President of the United States, Joseph P. Kennedy (JFK’s daddy), has agreed to visit Germany in an attempt to warm and toasty up relations between the two countries who've been in “cold war” mode since the end of WWII. (NOTE: In real life, Joey P. was a rabid anti-semite, a rumored Nazi sympathizer, and quite a little bootlegger during Prohibition...way to role model for John, Robert and Teddy). While there are numerous fascinating little details that Harris incorporates into the narrative, here are the critical “points of divergence” between this story’s “alternative history” and our reality:
1. In the novel, German intelligence became aware that the British had cracked the enigma code, and use that knowledge to lure the British fleet to destruction via false intelligence. Thereafter, the German U-Boats are able to starve Britain and force them into a demoralizing treaty in 1944. As a result the Normandy invasion never occurs.
2. Partially as a result of 1 above, in the novel, WWII was still ongoing in 1946, when Germany tests its first “atomic bomb” and then fires an unarmed “V-3” rocket to explode over New York City as a demonstration of strength. Soon after, the U.S. agrees to a peace treaty with the Nazis. Germany and the U.S. become the world’s two “superpowers” after the U.S. defeats Japan in 1946 (a year later then in reality).
3. Regarding Russia, in both the book and reality, the German armies on the Eastern Front are stopped at the gates of Moscow at the end of 1941. However, in the book (and unlike reality) the “second major offensive” into the Caucasus was far more successful, and the Nazi’s were able to cut off the flow of oil to the Russian Army. This eventually led to a formal surrender orchestrated by a “rump” government. However, despite the surrender, the Russians (led by Stalin) have continued to wage a guerilla war against the Nazi’s for 20 years, much to the pain and angst of the Reich.
4. In the novel, as a result of the Nazi victory, the full scope of the Holocaust has been hidden and “explained away” by the German government...though rumors of atrocities still exist.
PLOT SUMMARY:
The main character, Xavier March (Rutger House for those who saw the HBO movie adaptation), is a detective with the Kriminalpolizei, the German police agency responsible for investigating serious crimes (akin to a homicide detective). A week before the arrival of the American President, March is called in to investigate the suspicious death of Josef Bühler, a high ranking Nazi official (and real life war criminal).
The rest of the book takes the form of a standard, but interesting, crime/mystery novel set against the backdrop of this “alternative” Germany. During March’s investigation, he uncovers evidence of a vast conspiracy involving high-ranking Nazi Party members and their activities during WWII. I won’t say anymore, but I assume most people reading this can guess what the conspiracy involves, and I thought this aspect of the story was very well done.
THOUGHTS:
Pros/cons and why the 3 stars
On the pro side, the world imagined by Robert Harris is both frightening and very compelling. The evil of the Germany portrayed in the novel (i.e., post war) has a very authentic feel to it. There is a pervasive attitude of superiority, enforced loyalty and “big brother” paranoia, along with a whole underclass of minorities from conquered nations forming a permanent underclass. It is chilling because you get the sense that it “could have” happened this way.
Also, on the pro side, the central mystery is a corker and I loved the way Harris unveiled the underlying thesis behind it. In addition, the writing is good and the story moves along at a pretty good clip.
HOWEVER...
On the con side, I think this book got itself trapped between two different kinds of novels. The story is about 400 pages. As a mystery, this was just too long. On the other hand, as an “alternative historical fiction” novel, 400 pages wasn’t nearly long enough. I would have loved to have spent time learning about the details of day to day life inside the author’s Germany, and reading descriptions of the geo-political dynamic existing as a result of the alternative history.
Unfortunately, what Harris did was try and marry the two, leaving us with a “bloated” mystery with some fascinating, but too slim, background details peppering the narrative. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked it, but I was disappointed because I think there are two 5 star stories in there somewhere.
So...
While, on the whole, I liked the book, I think it tried to do too much and ended up being less effective than it should have been as either a mystery or an alternative history.
Still, a good read, and thus...
3.0 stars. Recommended.
October 11, 2017
Fatherland, by Robert Harris, a 1992 novel of alternate history conceived as: "What might have happened if the Nazis won World War II?" Set in 1964 Berlin, all the novel's characters are sharply drawn and passionately motivated in decidedly political directions. The author has done his research and knows the Nazi world inside out, sticking with a number of actual high-ranking Nazis such as Reinhard Heydrich and Wilhelm Stuckart imaginatively projected into his fictional Germany. Other Nazis in the novel are consistent with those who followed their Führer back in the day. The novelist's language is as crisp as a Nazi goosestep, making for one fast-paced page-turner.
At the center of the action is Xavier March, homicide investigator with the Nazi SS, applying his detective skills to crack a case quickly spiraling into a complex political drama. Along the way March teams up with young attractive American journalist Charlotte Maguire, thus, this Harris tale is not only alternate twentieth century history but a sexy international thriller.
That’s all I intend to say about plot since my specific interest in reading this novel was to see how all the arts are faring in the land of Hitler and the Nazis thirty years after the war. To this end, below are some quotes along with my comments:
The image of the superior blonde, blue-eyed Ayran is still alive and kicking. We read: “The press portrayed Reinhard Heydrich as Nietzsche’s Superman sprung to life. Heydrich in his pilot’s uniform (he had flown combat missions on the eastern front). Heydrich in his fencing gear (he had fenced for Germany in the Olympics). Heydrich with his violin (he could reduce audiences to tears by the pathos of his playing).”
Hitler despised modern music, actually any music other than ninteenth century classical, usually saccharine operas such as The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár. Most Nazis in 1964 Germany still share their seventy-five year-old Führer’s musical taste. And, alas, there is mention of a group of young Englishmen from Liverpool with their “pernicious Negroid wailings,” a clear example of modern degenerate music, singing I Want To Hold Your Hand.
A tour guide talks about the main buildings of the new Berlin to all the foreigners on a tour bus: “Construction of the Arch of Triumph was commenced in 1946 and work was completed in time for the Day of National Reawakening in 1950.” Actually, that appalling monolithic architecture Hitler envisioned, including the 1000 ft. Great Hall designed by Albert Speer, a building that can hold 150,000 participants, is very much part of the novel. The book’s inner cover has a two page drawing of Hitler’s main buildings, including Great Hall, Grand Plaza, Hitler Palace and the 400 ft. Arch of Triumph.
Other than a slight reference to the subversive novels of such writers as Günter Grass, there isn’t that much mention of literature and for good reason – this is a tightly controlled police state, similar to Stalinist Russia. Any novels or stories that do not adhere to the official party line are deemed subversive, perverted, the products of sick minds. Such was the language used by the Nazis when they staged their infamous exhibit of Degenerate Art in 1937.
When main character March enters the office of a leader of the Gestapo, he observes: “On the walls were prints of Thorak’s sculptures: herculean figures with gargantuan torsos rolled boulders up steep hills in celebration of the building of the Autobahnen. The immensity of Thorak’s statuary was a whispered joke.” Ah, the aesthetics of the Nazis is showing some cracks at the foundation! Thorak was a prime Nazi sculptor, one of Hitler’s very favorites. However, his Nazi versions of cartoon superheroes left many Germans cold back in the 1930s; by the 1960s even the Germans in Harris’ novel could see the silliness of such bloated, muscle-bound monstrosities.
And March views the paintings on another wall: “Schmutzler’s Farm Girls Returning from the Fields, Padua’s The Führer Speaks – ghastly orthodox muck.” How about that - even a no-nonsense, action-oriented SS detective judges the official Nazi art as "orthodox muck." The German Hall of Art (right across the street from the exhibit of "Degenerate Art" featuring such moderns as Marc, Nolde, Kandinsky, Chagall, Grozz) exhibited what Hitler decreed as acceptable art. In the 1930s many art critics judged this Nazi art as, at best, mediocre and by the 1960s, a clearer vision has reached the man and SS officer in the street – all that realist art that Hitler loves is so much schmaltzy crap.
Toward the end of the novel, March and Charlotte Maguire enter an empty elementary school where March makes the observation: “Childish paintings decorated the walls – blue meadows, green skies, clouds of sulfur yellow. Children’s art was perilously close to degenerate art; such perversity would have to be knocked out of them.” The author did his homework. Hitler, an aspiring artist himself as young man (so much will; so little talent), loathed the expressionists painting grass that was not green, skies that were not blue, clouds that were not white – he simply could not enter the imaginative world of a true artist; and he would become violent when someone suggested he had provincial, limited tastes.
This is a fascinating novel on a number of levels. I focused on the arts since this is one of my main interests and as Frederic Spotts demonstrated in his well-researched Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, Hitler valued art as the ultimate end of his world vision. In Harris’ 1964 alternative history, his vision proved to be narrow, lackluster, the product of a totalitarian police state. Thank goodness a 1964 Nazi Germany never became a reality.
December 16, 2022
What if Hitler won the war? Robert Harris's bestselling suspense / speculative fiction thriller attempts to show us. In a Europe dominated by the German Third Reich in the 1960s, a somewhat lack lustre Nazi police investigator decides to attend a murder scene on his day off, as something to do. He finds a fat naked man with a missing foot drowned in the Havel river and that's when his personal nightmare that could change world history begins. A good read, much better than later novels of Harris I have read. 7 out of 12 Three Star read.
2012 read
2012 read
April 6, 2024
The novel is set in 1964. We are transported to an alternate world in which Nazi Germany won the war, or at least it did not lose. Aging Hitler continues to hold onto power. He and his henchmen seem to tightly control Germany and the Germans. The territories under their rule stretch over much of Europe to Siberia in the east. Switzerland maintains neutrality.
What if Hitler had won? The story gives an idea of what life in Germany could have been like had the Nazi regime survived the war.
A corpse is found in the Havel River in Berlin. The dead man turns out to be a retired high-ranking Nazi official named Josef Buhler.
What caused his death? An accident? Suicide? Was he murdered? Xavier March, a criminal detective, has to investigate the case.
It is not long before he finds out that the death of Buhler may be part of something bigger. Some other former high-ranking Nazi officials died in the space of several years under somewhat dubious circumstances. Most of them knew Buhler and worked with him in the 1940s during the war.
Moreover, they seem to have attended the Wannsee Conference in 1942.
March's investigation leads him not only to solving the case of the alleged murders but also forces him to open his eyes to the history of his fatherland, to the history freed from myths and propaganda. March spent the war years in the Navy and knew close to nothing about what was happening on the ground. While his lack of knowledge can be explained, it seems that the whole nation succumbed to what could be called collective amnesia. Germans prefer to turn a blind eye to the fate of all those people who disappeared overnight, many of them their neighbors.
It is easier not to think of those whose lives were destroyed. The war almost inevitably produced certain excesses. Some things that were done had to be done. Maybe those things were horrible, but now it is over, and we, Germans, live in a peaceful Reich. Well, one careless word might raise suspicion. Soldiers are still dying. But they fight 'terrorists' in Siberia, those who do not want to become slaves, and they defend the German national interests, do they not? We should not dig into the past, should we?
But as one of the characters says:
“You can't build on a mass grave. Human beings are better than that - they have to be better than that - I do believe it - don't you?”
At some point March realizes that he can no longer ignore the past. The truth has the habit of revealing itself sooner or later. The power of truth usually cannot be hidden or silenced completely.
The novel is more than just a detective story. It can make us think of the famous or rather infamous adage "History is written by the victors." Is it always so? Does this mean that historical narratives are always somewhat biased? I believe, yes, to a certain extent they are.
The book is not perfect. I would have liked to see more details describing life in an alternate Reich. But I found it a very good read overall.
What if Hitler had won? The story gives an idea of what life in Germany could have been like had the Nazi regime survived the war.
A corpse is found in the Havel River in Berlin. The dead man turns out to be a retired high-ranking Nazi official named Josef Buhler.
What caused his death? An accident? Suicide? Was he murdered? Xavier March, a criminal detective, has to investigate the case.
It is not long before he finds out that the death of Buhler may be part of something bigger. Some other former high-ranking Nazi officials died in the space of several years under somewhat dubious circumstances. Most of them knew Buhler and worked with him in the 1940s during the war.
Moreover, they seem to have attended the Wannsee Conference in 1942.
March's investigation leads him not only to solving the case of the alleged murders but also forces him to open his eyes to the history of his fatherland, to the history freed from myths and propaganda. March spent the war years in the Navy and knew close to nothing about what was happening on the ground. While his lack of knowledge can be explained, it seems that the whole nation succumbed to what could be called collective amnesia. Germans prefer to turn a blind eye to the fate of all those people who disappeared overnight, many of them their neighbors.
It is easier not to think of those whose lives were destroyed. The war almost inevitably produced certain excesses. Some things that were done had to be done. Maybe those things were horrible, but now it is over, and we, Germans, live in a peaceful Reich. Well, one careless word might raise suspicion. Soldiers are still dying. But they fight 'terrorists' in Siberia, those who do not want to become slaves, and they defend the German national interests, do they not? We should not dig into the past, should we?
But as one of the characters says:
“You can't build on a mass grave. Human beings are better than that - they have to be better than that - I do believe it - don't you?”
At some point March realizes that he can no longer ignore the past. The truth has the habit of revealing itself sooner or later. The power of truth usually cannot be hidden or silenced completely.
The novel is more than just a detective story. It can make us think of the famous or rather infamous adage "History is written by the victors." Is it always so? Does this mean that historical narratives are always somewhat biased? I believe, yes, to a certain extent they are.
The book is not perfect. I would have liked to see more details describing life in an alternate Reich. But I found it a very good read overall.
November 7, 2017
“What do you do,’ he said, ‘if you devote your life to discovering criminals, and it gradually occurs to you that the real criminals are the people you work for?
Fartherland offers a dismaying vision of what could have been. If the Nazis had won world war two, if their power had continued to spread, they would have owned half the world perhaps even all of it if they conquered at the speed they demonstrated in the 1930s. Their momentum was near unbelievable. The world would be in a terrible state today; it would be universally unrecognisable and utterly oppressed.
Murder, butchery and politics
Hitler is still Fuhrer. The book opens with his 75th birthday celebration; the entirety of Germany is out in celebration of their leader: it’s a national holiday, one all must celebrate. A body is found floating in the dark murky waters of a lake near Berlin. It’s nothing new, nothing remarkable. The Gestapo murder frequently, silencing any who show a lack of patriotism. Brutality is everywhere. The detective investigating the scene (March) is about to have his world transformed by the secrets he finds, which threaten to expose his own lacklustre approach to policing a country he has grown to hate.
March is not a member of the Nazi party; he dares not to speak against them (at least openly) but nor does he care to speak for them. Such a thing is as bad as open revolution, in their eyes, so March has always been monitored heavily by the Gestapo: they don’t trust him or even allow him to advance in his line of profession despite his capabilities. The murder investigation thrusts him into a situation where he is forced to consider his actions most carefully; his line of inquiry casts into suspicion some rather high ranking officials. The cold gaze of the Nazi’s intensifies.
It's an impossible situation. What would you do?
Would you risk your life for justice? The criminals March is chasing down are way beyond his reach; however, he has a duty to perform, a service to the real law and to society. But such things have been twisted beyond all recognition; the law now protects the Nazis, essentially, allowing them to get away with murder. He has a very tricky decision to make, one that will either cost him his life or his morals. And the ending we do get is the one I wanted to see; it was strong and everything it ought to have been to show exactly how far the world has fallen.
Harris shows us a grim world that might have been and it’s quite scary to think how easily it could have been. If Hitler did not decide to attack Russia, forcing his armies to fight on two fronts, and if he did not antagonise the USA, he might have had more time to lick his wounds after Europe’s conquest and regather his strength before tackling bigger foes. Harris provides a grim, cold, mechanical vision of society that would have followed in such an aftermath of Hitler's absolute victory.
Once this has been read it, certainly, cannot be un-read. I finished this back in 2013, and I still remember the entrapped noir feel the streets oozed with.
Fartherland offers a dismaying vision of what could have been. If the Nazis had won world war two, if their power had continued to spread, they would have owned half the world perhaps even all of it if they conquered at the speed they demonstrated in the 1930s. Their momentum was near unbelievable. The world would be in a terrible state today; it would be universally unrecognisable and utterly oppressed.
Murder, butchery and politics
Hitler is still Fuhrer. The book opens with his 75th birthday celebration; the entirety of Germany is out in celebration of their leader: it’s a national holiday, one all must celebrate. A body is found floating in the dark murky waters of a lake near Berlin. It’s nothing new, nothing remarkable. The Gestapo murder frequently, silencing any who show a lack of patriotism. Brutality is everywhere. The detective investigating the scene (March) is about to have his world transformed by the secrets he finds, which threaten to expose his own lacklustre approach to policing a country he has grown to hate.
March is not a member of the Nazi party; he dares not to speak against them (at least openly) but nor does he care to speak for them. Such a thing is as bad as open revolution, in their eyes, so March has always been monitored heavily by the Gestapo: they don’t trust him or even allow him to advance in his line of profession despite his capabilities. The murder investigation thrusts him into a situation where he is forced to consider his actions most carefully; his line of inquiry casts into suspicion some rather high ranking officials. The cold gaze of the Nazi’s intensifies.
It's an impossible situation. What would you do?
Would you risk your life for justice? The criminals March is chasing down are way beyond his reach; however, he has a duty to perform, a service to the real law and to society. But such things have been twisted beyond all recognition; the law now protects the Nazis, essentially, allowing them to get away with murder. He has a very tricky decision to make, one that will either cost him his life or his morals. And the ending we do get is the one I wanted to see; it was strong and everything it ought to have been to show exactly how far the world has fallen.
Harris shows us a grim world that might have been and it’s quite scary to think how easily it could have been. If Hitler did not decide to attack Russia, forcing his armies to fight on two fronts, and if he did not antagonise the USA, he might have had more time to lick his wounds after Europe’s conquest and regather his strength before tackling bigger foes. Harris provides a grim, cold, mechanical vision of society that would have followed in such an aftermath of Hitler's absolute victory.
Once this has been read it, certainly, cannot be un-read. I finished this back in 2013, and I still remember the entrapped noir feel the streets oozed with.
December 26, 2021
La premisa es inquietante. Berlin. Estamos en 1964. Alemania es la gran vencedora de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La causa: Al mismo tiempo que EEUU lanzaba una bomba atómica contra Japón, los alemanes hacían lo propio contra Nueva York. Sólo el frente ruso inquieta todavía, que además se ha convertido en aliado de los americanos. Tanto Churchill como Isabel II se encuentran en el exilio. Con este panorama, Alemania se apresta a celebrar el 75 aniversario de Hitler, que sigue vivo y coleando. Berlín se ha convertido en una mega ciudad, con espectaculares edificios y monumentos que engrandecen y abruman a los turistas que se alojan para contemplar los magníficos logros del III Reich. No quedan judíos en ninguna parte del territorio conquistado. Se rumorean muchas cosas sobre su destino, sin embargo, nadie sabe nada a ciencia cierta. O no se quiere saber. Como remate, y para alcanzar una distensión entre los dos grandes bloques, el presidente norteamericano anuncia una próxima visita de cortesía a Hitler.
Y en medio de este clima, al detective Xavier March le encargan investigar la aparición de un cadáver, un ex alto cargo del régimen, lo que desencadenará toda una serie de consecuencias imprevisibles.
Me ha recordado un poco a las novelas de Philip Kerr, autor que me tiene enganchado con su Bernie Gunther. Pero esta novela tiene su propia personalidad. La Alemania “victoriosa” está descrita con mucha brillantez, y la trama me ha parecido muy interesante y convincente. Fue escrita en 1992, y cuenta con una edición especial de aniversario, y por supuesto, con la correspondiente adaptación cinematográfica. En mi opinión, una magnífica novela. De las mejores de Robert Harris, y a la altura de su estupenda trilogía sobre Cicerón.
Y en medio de este clima, al detective Xavier March le encargan investigar la aparición de un cadáver, un ex alto cargo del régimen, lo que desencadenará toda una serie de consecuencias imprevisibles.
Me ha recordado un poco a las novelas de Philip Kerr, autor que me tiene enganchado con su Bernie Gunther. Pero esta novela tiene su propia personalidad. La Alemania “victoriosa” está descrita con mucha brillantez, y la trama me ha parecido muy interesante y convincente. Fue escrita en 1992, y cuenta con una edición especial de aniversario, y por supuesto, con la correspondiente adaptación cinematográfica. En mi opinión, una magnífica novela. De las mejores de Robert Harris, y a la altura de su estupenda trilogía sobre Cicerón.
August 19, 2022
I am sure it's a question that's been pondered on by countless many - just what if Hitler had really won the war? Or even worse, taken over the planet? Would we be in a state of total autocracy? Would companies like Amazon and Microsoft be run by the Third Reich? Would the gestapo be snooping on emails? Or the flip side to that, what if no war at all? What if Hitler, Himmler, Bormann and Goebbels were pacifist jazz musicians and started a quartet? What if Mr and Mrs Hitler senior moved to the south pacific, where a young Adolf swam happily with turtles during his youth? When dealing with 'what if', then it really gets you thinking.
So then, Robert Harris's Fatherland is speculative fiction that contains historical scenarios based on an alternative pre and post war Europe. Taking place in Berlin 1964, it's the upcoming birthday of the Führer and President Kennedy is also due a visit, it's a Berlin that reminds me of the dull, grey, East Germany of the 1980's. Fatherland is singular in the rigour with which it imagines an alternative history, in which the Greater German Reich stretches from the Low Countries to Russia, other countries are of little interest to the Nation apart from Switzerland, where important people within the Reich dump there treasures or money in secret bank accounts. Britain is nothing more than a client state. America remains in the background.
In this alternative history, Xavier March, a cop, is one of the good guys, despite his SS uniform, and is sent one gloomy morning to a lake on the outskirts of Berlin after a body is discovered, this then turns into a murder investigation as the old man washed up turns out to be a once important Nazi bureaucrat. From here the plot thickens, adding more deaths, a run in with a hulking Gestapo called Globus who may be involved deeper than March thinks, an American reporter, Charlotte Magiure who becomes his ally, and just like in the movies they end up under the sheets together, along with all the other normal formalities like, who can he trust?, can he take beating?, and when the chips are down still courageously solve the mystery and become cult status?
It's chilling in it's depiction of what happened before and after the war, it's thrilling and filled with plenty of tension. One thing it isn't, is better than I expected.
Although it kept me on tenterhooks, far too many moments were predictable, and had me almost yelling at the pages "no!, don't do that" or " stay away from there!, it's obvious what's going to happen!". It's a tried and tested formula that works, yes, but has been done better in terms of the crime/mystery page-turning thriller genre. I said to myself prior to reading, as long as it's a better read than The Da Vinci Code I would be happy. I am happy, not bouncing around with joy happy, just happy.
May 5, 2023
Año 1964.
Un Tercer Reich victorioso se dispone a celebrar el 75 aniversario de Adolf Hitler.
En ese momento, aparece flotando en un lago de Berlín el cadáver desnudo de un anciano. Se trata de un alto cargo del Partido, el siguiente de una lista secreta que condena a muerte a todos los que figuran en ella. Y han ido cayendo uno tras otro, en una conspiración que no ha hecho más que comenzar...
Hitler sigue siendo el Führer. El libro comienza con la celebración de su 75 cumpleaños. Toda Alemania está fuera para celebrar a su líder. Es una fiesta nacional, una que todos DEBEN celebrar.
Se encuentra un cuerpo flotando en las aguas oscuras y turbias de un lago cerca de Berlín.
Nada nuevo y nada destacable. La temida Gestapo asesina con frecuencia, silenciando a cualquiera que muestre falta de patriotismo. La brutalidad está en todas partes.
El detective a cargo que investiga esta escena está a punto de ver su mundo transformado por los secretos que encuentra, amenazando con exponer su propio enfoque para vigilar un país que ha llegado a odiar.
"Patria" de Robert Harris es una novela que da forma a una historia alternativa publicado en 1992.
Los nazis ganaron. El Tercer Reich reina.
Ambientada en Berlín en 1964, todos los personajes de la novela están agudamente dibujados y motivados en direcciones decididamente políticas.
El autor ha hecho su investigación y conoce el mundo nazi de adentro hacia afuera. Apegado a una serie de nazis fanáticos de alto rango como el considerado uno de los nazis más crueles y desalmados, junto a Himmler lider de las SS, el segundo hombre más poderoso de la Alemania nazi.
El carnicero de Praga, Reinhard Heydrich, alto líder de las SS y de la gestapo fue el principal ideólogo de la "solución final" el responsable de llevar a la muerte a millones de judíos.
Definido por el propio Adolf Hitler como "el hombre de corazón de hierro".
Heinrich Himmler el 4 de octubre de 1943, le dijo a un grupo de generales de las SS con respecto a “la aniquilación del pueblo judío” que:
"Esta página de gloria en nuestra historia nunca se ha escrito ni se escribirá jamás. Teníamos el derecho moral, estábamos obligados con nuestro pueblo a matar a estas personas que querían matarnos a nosotros."
Judíos: 5 a 6 millones.
Ciudadanos soviéticos: 5.7 millones ( 1.3 millones de judíos).
Prisioneros de guerra soviéticos: 29.2 a 69 millones.
Polacos: 1.8 a 3 millones.
Serbios: 300 000 a 600 000.
Discapacitados: 270 000.
Pueblo gitano: 130 000 a 500 000.
Masones: 80 000 a 200 000.
Eslovenos: 20 000 a 25 000.
Homosexuales: 5000 a 15 000.
Republicanos españoles: 5260.
Testigos de Jehová: 1250 a 5000.
Todos hombres, mujeres, niños, ancianos con un nombre, un rostro y una vida arrebatada de las maneras más crueles y sádicas.
Los campos de concentración fueron una excusa para que muchos monstruos pudieran hacer lo que quisieran allí.
Para ellos ya no eran personas.
Personajes imaginativamente proyectados en esta Alemania alternativa y ficticia. Otros nazis en la novela son consistentes con aquellos que siguieron a su Führer en el pasado.
El lenguaje es tan nítido como ágil, lo que lo convierte en un rápido paso de páginas.
En el centro de la acción está Xavier March, investigador de homicidios de las SS nazis, que aplica sus habilidades detectivescas para resolver un caso que rápidamente se convierte en un complejo drama político.
Ofrece una visión muy desalentadora de lo que podría haber sido. Si los nazis hubieran ganado la Segunda Guerra Mundial, si su poder hubiera seguido extendiéndose..
Habrían poseído la mitad del mundo, tal vez incluso todo, si lo conquistaron a la velocidad que demostraron en la década de 1930.
Su impulso fue casi increíble. El mundo estaría a día de hoy en un estado oprimido, terrible e irreconocible.
Novela muy instructiva sobre el holocausto y el tercer reich. Magníficamente documentada con personajes currados y una interesante trama que te mantiene pasando sus páginas.
420 páginas que se convierten en una lectura necesaria y extremadamente recomendable.. ✍️🎩
Un Tercer Reich victorioso se dispone a celebrar el 75 aniversario de Adolf Hitler.
En ese momento, aparece flotando en un lago de Berlín el cadáver desnudo de un anciano. Se trata de un alto cargo del Partido, el siguiente de una lista secreta que condena a muerte a todos los que figuran en ella. Y han ido cayendo uno tras otro, en una conspiración que no ha hecho más que comenzar...
Hitler sigue siendo el Führer. El libro comienza con la celebración de su 75 cumpleaños. Toda Alemania está fuera para celebrar a su líder. Es una fiesta nacional, una que todos DEBEN celebrar.
Se encuentra un cuerpo flotando en las aguas oscuras y turbias de un lago cerca de Berlín.
Nada nuevo y nada destacable. La temida Gestapo asesina con frecuencia, silenciando a cualquiera que muestre falta de patriotismo. La brutalidad está en todas partes.
El detective a cargo que investiga esta escena está a punto de ver su mundo transformado por los secretos que encuentra, amenazando con exponer su propio enfoque para vigilar un país que ha llegado a odiar.
"Patria" de Robert Harris es una novela que da forma a una historia alternativa publicado en 1992.
Los nazis ganaron. El Tercer Reich reina.
Ambientada en Berlín en 1964, todos los personajes de la novela están agudamente dibujados y motivados en direcciones decididamente políticas.
El autor ha hecho su investigación y conoce el mundo nazi de adentro hacia afuera. Apegado a una serie de nazis fanáticos de alto rango como el considerado uno de los nazis más crueles y desalmados, junto a Himmler lider de las SS, el segundo hombre más poderoso de la Alemania nazi.
El carnicero de Praga, Reinhard Heydrich, alto líder de las SS y de la gestapo fue el principal ideólogo de la "solución final" el responsable de llevar a la muerte a millones de judíos.
Definido por el propio Adolf Hitler como "el hombre de corazón de hierro".
Heinrich Himmler el 4 de octubre de 1943, le dijo a un grupo de generales de las SS con respecto a “la aniquilación del pueblo judío” que:
"Esta página de gloria en nuestra historia nunca se ha escrito ni se escribirá jamás. Teníamos el derecho moral, estábamos obligados con nuestro pueblo a matar a estas personas que querían matarnos a nosotros."
Judíos: 5 a 6 millones.
Ciudadanos soviéticos: 5.7 millones ( 1.3 millones de judíos).
Prisioneros de guerra soviéticos: 29.2 a 69 millones.
Polacos: 1.8 a 3 millones.
Serbios: 300 000 a 600 000.
Discapacitados: 270 000.
Pueblo gitano: 130 000 a 500 000.
Masones: 80 000 a 200 000.
Eslovenos: 20 000 a 25 000.
Homosexuales: 5000 a 15 000.
Republicanos españoles: 5260.
Testigos de Jehová: 1250 a 5000.
Todos hombres, mujeres, niños, ancianos con un nombre, un rostro y una vida arrebatada de las maneras más crueles y sádicas.
Los campos de concentración fueron una excusa para que muchos monstruos pudieran hacer lo que quisieran allí.
Para ellos ya no eran personas.
Personajes imaginativamente proyectados en esta Alemania alternativa y ficticia. Otros nazis en la novela son consistentes con aquellos que siguieron a su Führer en el pasado.
El lenguaje es tan nítido como ágil, lo que lo convierte en un rápido paso de páginas.
En el centro de la acción está Xavier March, investigador de homicidios de las SS nazis, que aplica sus habilidades detectivescas para resolver un caso que rápidamente se convierte en un complejo drama político.
Ofrece una visión muy desalentadora de lo que podría haber sido. Si los nazis hubieran ganado la Segunda Guerra Mundial, si su poder hubiera seguido extendiéndose..
Habrían poseído la mitad del mundo, tal vez incluso todo, si lo conquistaron a la velocidad que demostraron en la década de 1930.
Su impulso fue casi increíble. El mundo estaría a día de hoy en un estado oprimido, terrible e irreconocible.
Novela muy instructiva sobre el holocausto y el tercer reich. Magníficamente documentada con personajes currados y una interesante trama que te mantiene pasando sus páginas.
420 páginas que se convierten en una lectura necesaria y extremadamente recomendable.. ✍️🎩
November 14, 2019
The best alternate history novel I've read to date. In this alternate history, Nazi Germany basically has won the European theatre during WW2, capturing the Caucasus and its oil fields, cutting off the Soviet Union from its oil supplies; driving it back beyond the Urals; and utterly destroying Allied Forces during the D-Day invasion. Meanwhile, the United States has defeated Japan in the Pacific Theatre. The result: a Cold War --- except this one being between the USA and Third Reich, instead of between the USA and the USSR --- with the US covertly funneling supplies to the USSR's remnants continuing to bog down and slowly bleed Nazi Germany in an Eastern Front quagmire, reminiscent of the United States' experience in Vietnam and the Soviets' in Afghanistan.
Against this background, the main plot unfolds as a murder mystery. Under suspicious circumstances, prominent members of the Nazi Party hierarchy -- some of whom were with Adolf Hitler from the beginnings of the Party --- are being found dead. Tasked with solving this crime is an officer of the SS's Kripo ( the Nazi state's crime investigation division), Xavier March.
I won't be a plot spoiler here, but this is a very well written novel --- its characterizations and descriptions of how a victorious Nazi Germany may have looked and operated, how the various historical figures named in it might have been had they lived to 1964 in such an alternate history. It kept me fascinated throughout.
I only have one small nit-pick here about it. Xavier March is described as doing things such as declining to say "Heil Hitler" or make the Nazi salute --- personally commendable, but highly unlikely to be tolerated in any member of the SS --- it being vanguard and protector of Third Reich, its members handpicked and carefully scrutinized for complete total unquestioning loyalty to the Party and the State. It doesn't seem realistic that such signs of disloyalty would ever be tolerated in one of their numbers. Yet, as was the case with the Allied nations of the West, where weakness and decadence did spring anew by the 1960s, Harris gives little hints that Nazi Germany is beginning to show some signs of this same ferment. So perhaps it's not that far off reality.
Overall, a very enjoyable read. I think this is a novel that will be especially enjoyed by history buffs and alternative history fans.
Against this background, the main plot unfolds as a murder mystery. Under suspicious circumstances, prominent members of the Nazi Party hierarchy -- some of whom were with Adolf Hitler from the beginnings of the Party --- are being found dead. Tasked with solving this crime is an officer of the SS's Kripo ( the Nazi state's crime investigation division), Xavier March.
I won't be a plot spoiler here, but this is a very well written novel --- its characterizations and descriptions of how a victorious Nazi Germany may have looked and operated, how the various historical figures named in it might have been had they lived to 1964 in such an alternate history. It kept me fascinated throughout.
I only have one small nit-pick here about it. Xavier March is described as doing things such as declining to say "Heil Hitler" or make the Nazi salute --- personally commendable, but highly unlikely to be tolerated in any member of the SS --- it being vanguard and protector of Third Reich, its members handpicked and carefully scrutinized for complete total unquestioning loyalty to the Party and the State. It doesn't seem realistic that such signs of disloyalty would ever be tolerated in one of their numbers. Yet, as was the case with the Allied nations of the West, where weakness and decadence did spring anew by the 1960s, Harris gives little hints that Nazi Germany is beginning to show some signs of this same ferment. So perhaps it's not that far off reality.
Overall, a very enjoyable read. I think this is a novel that will be especially enjoyed by history buffs and alternative history fans.
September 17, 2022
As Hitler's 75th birthday approaches the murder of a man who has hidden ties to the top of the party is discovered. Detective Xavier March must now walk a tightrope over the chasm of state secrets as the Gestapo tries to cut the rope...having him fall may be the zugzwang the state wants to play.
July 21, 2025
That's a Uchronia in which the German Empire might have existed in the 1950s and 1960s if it had won the war.
It is well written and asks questions about the willful ignorance of the Jewish genocide by the Germans and the world.
This work is a good reflection and is pleasant to read, but it lacks precision in particular passages.
It is well written and asks questions about the willful ignorance of the Jewish genocide by the Germans and the world.
This work is a good reflection and is pleasant to read, but it lacks precision in particular passages.
November 19, 2015
It is the 1960’s in Berlin. American President and Nazi sympathizer Joseph Kennedy has at long last agreed to meet with the Fuehrer. Fatherland presents an alternate history in which Germany won WW II, without taking out China or the United States. A Berlin detective is called to investigate a murder, sees connections among various disappearances and follows them despite interference from his superiors. He encounters a young American journalist who turns out to be key to the whole caper. What is the great secret that the SS does not want him to find? We know, but the world in this environment does not. Will he get the information out in time to foil the meeting (and corresponding approval) and label the Nazis for the psycho killers they really are? It is a fast-paced fun read, even though we can guess much. The characters are simple without being ridiculous. A film was made of this with Rutger Hauer in the lead. I recall it was ok, but nothing special. It certainly left behind much of the detail of the book.
[Although I read the book and wrote the above in 2008, it appears that it was never posted. Oops]
[Although I read the book and wrote the above in 2008, it appears that it was never posted. Oops]
October 9, 2017
Sometimes it seems like every Tom, Phillip K. Dick, and Harry Turtledove wrote books that asked what would have happened if Hitler won the war.
It’s 1964 and Germany is preparing to celebrate Hitler’s 75th birthday. Police detective Xavier March is called in when a body is pulled out of a river, and he soon discovers that the dead man was a prominent member of the Nazi party. March’s investigation eventually leads him to secrets going back to the war that his government is desperate to keep buried.
So yes, this is another book about the most asked question in alternate history: What if the Nazis won World War II? But by framing this as mystery thriller Robert Harris has taken a different approach to it by using March as tour guide of a victorious Germany. We eventually have the bigger picture of what the rest of the world is like, and there are some interesting elements like the US did fight and defeat Japan yet Europe is Nazi controlled so that America and Germany have had an extended Cold War.
While the details of the world are well done this is really more of a story about what life would be like in this society. It’s all well-ordered prosperity on the surface, but the police state nature of it all lurks just below the surface with the average citizen’s paranoia encouraged by the government to keep them fearful and obedient.
March is an interesting character in this as a man who did his part in the war on board a U-boat, but he doesn’t much like the SS uniform he wears now. He reminded me a lot of the series by Martin Cruz Smith about Russian detective Arkady Renko. Like Renko, March is a basically good man who knows he’s working for a bad system, but he’s too cynical to think of trying to change it. Instead he just tries to find what justice he can even as he still has too much integrity to entirely go along with the program which is something that the true believers can sense and hate.
This all sounds like a 4 or 5 star book, especially in the capable hands of Robert Harris, but unfortunately it’s one of those where I liked the idea of it more than the actual finished product. This alternate world is intriguing and well thought out, and March is an interesting lead character, but the actual plot just seems kind of flat and obvious. You can tell much of what’s coming for a good long while so there’s not much suspense or shock to it.
It’s 1964 and Germany is preparing to celebrate Hitler’s 75th birthday. Police detective Xavier March is called in when a body is pulled out of a river, and he soon discovers that the dead man was a prominent member of the Nazi party. March’s investigation eventually leads him to secrets going back to the war that his government is desperate to keep buried.
So yes, this is another book about the most asked question in alternate history: What if the Nazis won World War II? But by framing this as mystery thriller Robert Harris has taken a different approach to it by using March as tour guide of a victorious Germany. We eventually have the bigger picture of what the rest of the world is like, and there are some interesting elements like the US did fight and defeat Japan yet Europe is Nazi controlled so that America and Germany have had an extended Cold War.
While the details of the world are well done this is really more of a story about what life would be like in this society. It’s all well-ordered prosperity on the surface, but the police state nature of it all lurks just below the surface with the average citizen’s paranoia encouraged by the government to keep them fearful and obedient.
March is an interesting character in this as a man who did his part in the war on board a U-boat, but he doesn’t much like the SS uniform he wears now. He reminded me a lot of the series by Martin Cruz Smith about Russian detective Arkady Renko. Like Renko, March is a basically good man who knows he’s working for a bad system, but he’s too cynical to think of trying to change it. Instead he just tries to find what justice he can even as he still has too much integrity to entirely go along with the program which is something that the true believers can sense and hate.
This all sounds like a 4 or 5 star book, especially in the capable hands of Robert Harris, but unfortunately it’s one of those where I liked the idea of it more than the actual finished product. This alternate world is intriguing and well thought out, and March is an interesting lead character, but the actual plot just seems kind of flat and obvious. You can tell much of what’s coming for a good long while so there’s not much suspense or shock to it.
June 30, 2025
4.5 ⭐️
„Фатерланд“ е много силен и интересен криминален роман! Той притежава изключително мрачна антиутопична атмосфера, тъй като сюжетът е умело разгърнат в алтернативен вариант на 1964 г., в който нацистката диктатура е победила и владее почти цяла Европа. Ксавиер Марч е полицейски инспектор в Третия Райх, който трябва да разследва загадъчно убийство. Впоследствие главният герой се забърква в големи опасности, разкривайки много по-мащабни и зловещи престъпления...
„Не е ли странно, мислеше Марч впоследствие, да изживееш живота си в невежество — за миналото, за света наоколо, за самия себе си? И все пак колко беше лесно да го сториш! Минаваш от един ден в друг, по пътища, прокарани преди теб от други хора, и никога не вдигаш глава — вървиш, загърнат в тяхната логика, от пелените до белия покров. Живееш в някакъв страх.
Е, добре, сбогом на всичко това. За щастие то вече принадлежеше на миналото — независимо какво щеше да се случи оттук нататък.“
„Фатерланд“ е много силен и интересен криминален роман! Той притежава изключително мрачна антиутопична атмосфера, тъй като сюжетът е умело разгърнат в алтернативен вариант на 1964 г., в който нацистката диктатура е победила и владее почти цяла Европа. Ксавиер Марч е полицейски инспектор в Третия Райх, който трябва да разследва загадъчно убийство. Впоследствие главният герой се забърква в големи опасности, разкривайки много по-мащабни и зловещи престъпления...
„Не е ли странно, мислеше Марч впоследствие, да изживееш живота си в невежество — за миналото, за света наоколо, за самия себе си? И все пак колко беше лесно да го сториш! Минаваш от един ден в друг, по пътища, прокарани преди теб от други хора, и никога не вдигаш глава — вървиш, загърнат в тяхната логика, от пелените до белия покров. Живееш в някакъв страх.
Е, добре, сбогом на всичко това. За щастие то вече принадлежеше на миналото — независимо какво щеше да се случи оттук нататък.“
September 2, 2022
Fatherland is a curious mix of two genres, a police-procedural thriller and speculative historical fiction. Set in the mid-nineteen sixties, the book posits what if Hitler won? Robert Harris does a great job of creating the claustrophobic and backstabbing world of Berlin under the Nazi regime. Fatherland's main character is a homicide detective who is a workhorse of a man, Xavier March is divorced from his wife and estranged from his young son, his only interest is solving cases.
He gets a doozy of a murder mystery, an old party hack is drowned outside of his expensive villa. The Gestapo thinks it's accidental, but March sees signs of bruising on the corpse and knows a cover up when he sees one. The only negative I have from the story is the rather one dimensional characters. I would have liked to have the author explain how a decent man and millions of German citizens could be so naive and so blase at the same time. Is self-interest and narcissism completely blinding?
He gets a doozy of a murder mystery, an old party hack is drowned outside of his expensive villa. The Gestapo thinks it's accidental, but March sees signs of bruising on the corpse and knows a cover up when he sees one. The only negative I have from the story is the rather one dimensional characters. I would have liked to have the author explain how a decent man and millions of German citizens could be so naive and so blase at the same time. Is self-interest and narcissism completely blinding?
May 1, 2023
9/10 = 5*
Muy buena historia, tanto en plan policíaco como lo que tiene sobre el nazismo, como hubiese sido en el 64 e incluso una crítica a cómo cerramos los ojos ante lo que nos incomoda ver.
Para la gente joven que haya leído poco o nada sobre la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el Holocausto es una lectura muy recomendable. Para quienes ya sabíamos muchos de los datos que nos va descubriendo la novela es sencillamente una buena novela policíaca mezclada con la ucronía terrible que nos alegramos de no haber vivido (aunque libramos por poco).
El ambiente social que plasma en la novela sobre cómo sería la sociedad alemana tras 20 años del final victorioso de la Guerra me ha recordado a cómo decían que era España en esos años: trabajar, cerrar los ojos y hacer caso a las soflamas de la tele y la radio. Si no, problemas. Logrado, sí señor.
Algún personaje chirría ( la “chica” es casi una parodia), de ahí que se haya dejado un puntillo por el camino.
Muy buena historia, tanto en plan policíaco como lo que tiene sobre el nazismo, como hubiese sido en el 64 e incluso una crítica a cómo cerramos los ojos ante lo que nos incomoda ver.
Para la gente joven que haya leído poco o nada sobre la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el Holocausto es una lectura muy recomendable. Para quienes ya sabíamos muchos de los datos que nos va descubriendo la novela es sencillamente una buena novela policíaca mezclada con la ucronía terrible que nos alegramos de no haber vivido (aunque libramos por poco).
El ambiente social que plasma en la novela sobre cómo sería la sociedad alemana tras 20 años del final victorioso de la Guerra me ha recordado a cómo decían que era España en esos años: trabajar, cerrar los ojos y hacer caso a las soflamas de la tele y la radio. Si no, problemas. Logrado, sí señor.
Algún personaje chirría ( la “chica” es casi una parodia), de ahí que se haya dejado un puntillo por el camino.
March 5, 2017
Can you read a book too many times ? Well, I have to admit that this is the seventh time I've read Fatherland & I still thinks it's as fresh as when I first read it over twenty years ago. The story just seems to grip me from first page to last. Harris seamlessly blends fact & fiction as his thriller takes us through Berlin in 1964 in the week leading up to Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday. This alternative history is so believable without being cliched & the characters are as much of a focus as the setting. I urge anyone to read this novel who has not done so already. However, if lack of time prevents you doing this there is also an excellent audio version read by a Werner Klemperer, a very good full cast BBC audio version & a gripping TV movie starring the ever dependable Rutger Hauer. I wonder if there's a format I've not experienced this on ?!
November 3, 2021
In 1991, when it was first published, this alternative history / detective novel caused a scandal in Germany: 25 publishers turned the bestseller down, and when the translation was finally put out, some prestigious magazines and papers claimed the thriller was anti-German, stigmatizing the youth etc. Today, this seems completely ridiculous; if anything, Harris' premise that in the 60's, a German SS policeman working for the victorious Reich tries to prove that the holocaust happened appears way too pro-German: As if the people didn't know what had happened to their Jewish compatriots! The idea that regular Germans had no idea has zero legs to stand on; not only is there research that proves the opposite, it also goes against common sense: As if a handful of people could secretly orchestrate a genocide like that (and the policeman himself even points to that truth).
Apart from that very questionable foundation of the book, the story is pretty well-written and interesting throughout: The main character of the policeman has, ironically, strong parallels to an American hard-boiled detective, and the way Harris includes real people, documents and events is well thought out. Granted, the projected scenario is largely unsurprising, but for the novel, it works.
A page turner with serious flaws, but certainly entertaining.
Apart from that very questionable foundation of the book, the story is pretty well-written and interesting throughout: The main character of the policeman has, ironically, strong parallels to an American hard-boiled detective, and the way Harris includes real people, documents and events is well thought out. Granted, the projected scenario is largely unsurprising, but for the novel, it works.
A page turner with serious flaws, but certainly entertaining.
October 5, 2025
Какво би било, ако бяхме направили друг избор?
А той съвсем не е бил лек - между родните братя и бойни другари, сдавили се като бесни псета, светът избира уж като по-малко зло болшевизма. За да е и до днес тази нечовешка идеология важен фактор за цивилизационното ни развитие. Идеология, живееща като паразитни червеи в мозъците на милиони объркани или цинични люде, тласкаща ги към лудост и убийства.
Харис всъщност е написал добър криминален роман, разположен в непривична обстановка - може би просто само умел нюанс, използван от автора за да привлече повече внимание към книгата си. Но неговият Трети Райх на��раво бледнее пред реалните ужаси на победилия СССР...
Петата звезда е заради личността на Ксавие Марч!
Романът се чете бързо, но има и широчко поле за размисъл.
И смущаващо правдиви и далновидни за мен се оказаха думите от автобиографията на оберлейтенант Ото Кариус - когато американците и англичаните взеха Берлин, ние очаквахме заедно с тях да изметем болшевиките обратно в замръзналата им пустош. Но всуе, това не се сбъдва и половин Европа остава на произвола на новите, не по-малко жестоки завоеватели.
Цитати:
"Полицейската държава е страна, управлявана от престъпници."
"И след пет години, или след петдесет, това общество ще рухне. Не можеш да градиш върху масов гроб. Човешките същества не са такива — не може да са такива…"
А той съвсем не е бил лек - между родните братя и бойни другари, сдавили се като бесни псета, светът избира уж като по-малко зло болшевизма. За да е и до днес тази нечовешка идеология важен фактор за цивилизационното ни развитие. Идеология, живееща като паразитни червеи в мозъците на милиони объркани или цинични люде, тласкаща ги към лудост и убийства.
Харис всъщност е написал добър криминален роман, разположен в непривична обстановка - може би просто само умел нюанс, използван от автора за да привлече повече внимание към книгата си. Но неговият Трети Райх на��раво бледнее пред реалните ужаси на победилия СССР...
Петата звезда е заради личността на Ксавие Марч!
Романът се чете бързо, но има и широчко поле за размисъл.
И смущаващо правдиви и далновидни за мен се оказаха думите от автобиографията на оберлейтенант Ото Кариус - когато американците и англичаните взеха Берлин, ние очаквахме заедно с тях да изметем болшевиките обратно в замръзналата им пустош. Но всуе, това не се сбъдва и половин Европа остава на произвола на новите, не по-малко жестоки завоеватели.
Цитати:
"Полицейската държава е страна, управлявана от престъпници."
"И след пет години, или след петдесет, това общество ще рухне. Не можеш да градиш върху масов гроб. Човешките същества не са такива — не може да са такива…"
December 26, 2019
A chilling alternate history that poses the question: what if Hitler won? A German investigator named March tries to solve a murder, but what really rivets the attention is the world he takes for granted. This is a world where the German Reich has swallowed France, England, and Russia, President Kennedy (Joe, not JFK) is meeting with Hitler to declare a pact between nations, and a typical personals ad in the newspaper reads "Pure Aryan doctor desires male progeny through marriage with healthy, Aryan, virginal, young, unassuming, thrifty woman; broad-hipped, flat-heeled, and earringless essential." March makes a riveting hero, cool, remote, detached, and no fervent Nazi which is unhealthy in Hitler's Berlin, and his stubborn investigation into a routine murder uncovers the appalling buried truth of what happened to all of Europe's Jews. This is a book to read in a growing daze of horror; you will flip the last page with a shudder of thanks that this world, if just barely, didn't happen.
May 3, 2022
Robert Harris never made me fall in love like this again*.
There are many books out there set in the universe of an Axis victory, but few capture its atmosphere so well: the suffocating conformism that indoctrinates the post-war generation, the casual cruelty of the regime's Praetorians, the ubiquitous double faces and hidden blemishes of the fanatics.
When March travels to Switzerland "from one prison into another" he pretty much sums up the mental state of the dissident in any dictatorship.
*Until
Archangel!!
There are many books out there set in the universe of an Axis victory, but few capture its atmosphere so well: the suffocating conformism that indoctrinates the post-war generation, the casual cruelty of the regime's Praetorians, the ubiquitous double faces and hidden blemishes of the fanatics.
When March travels to Switzerland "from one prison into another" he pretty much sums up the mental state of the dissident in any dictatorship.
*Until
Archangel!!
February 22, 2021
Παρά τις μικρές ενστάσεις μου ένθεν και ένθεν, εκείθεν και εντεύθεν, και το ξέρω ότι είναι πολυφορεμενο, αλλα είναι συγκλονιστικό.
Δεν έχω λόγια, ή έχω πάρα πολλά να πω. Ειναι 2.10 τη νύχτα, και ξυπνάω στις 7. Αλλά έπρεπε να το τελειώσω απόψε.
Και το αγαπημένο "αστυνομικό" του Χρήστου Παππά και του Ηλία Κασιδιάρη.
Ή μπορεί και όχι.
Δεν έχω λόγια, ή έχω πάρα πολλά να πω. Ειναι 2.10 τη νύχτα, και ξυπνάω στις 7. Αλλά έπρεπε να το τελειώσω απόψε.
Και το αγαπημένο "αστυνομικό" του Χρήστου Παππά και του Ηλία Κασιδιάρη.
Ή μπορεί και όχι.
October 5, 2022
Written in 1992 but more timely than ever!
In April 1964, the discovery of the body of an old man floating in a lake on the outskirts of Berlin sends the police on a dark chase that seems to be tugging on the loose threads of a tightly wound and closely guarded 50 year old conspiracy. And, to be sure, the police procedural, mystery and thriller components of Robert Harris’ FATHERLAND are well written and certainly will be enjoyed by any lover of the thriller or mystery genres. But the reality is that FATHERLAND is an alternate history. The meat of the matter and the real message is Harris’ excruciating (and excoriating) vision of daily life in a 1960s Europe in which Hitler prevailed in WW II. This is a classic dystopian novel that earns Harris a place beside the likes of Orwell and Huxley.
FATHERLAND is compelling, frightening, evocative, thought-provoking and all too possible (if not probable). Contemporary American readers who have just lived through the presidency of a hateful man whose objective to convert the USA to a neo-Nazi Fourth Reich was all too clear should read FATHERLAND carefully and ponder their near-future evolution. Anyone living in a democracy needs to carefully consider the nature of the country that their beliefs, their conduct, their morality and their votes are going to produce. It isn’t likely that Harris intended to create a scene of almost tragic irony when he wrote of an American journalist taking a German police officer to task over the issue of human rights but, now, it is what it is:
“Human rights? … The millions of Jews who vanished in the war … sorry to mention them, but we have this bourgeois notion that human beings have rights.”
Trump, ICE and DHS obviously didn’t get the memo! FATHERLAND? Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
In April 1964, the discovery of the body of an old man floating in a lake on the outskirts of Berlin sends the police on a dark chase that seems to be tugging on the loose threads of a tightly wound and closely guarded 50 year old conspiracy. And, to be sure, the police procedural, mystery and thriller components of Robert Harris’ FATHERLAND are well written and certainly will be enjoyed by any lover of the thriller or mystery genres. But the reality is that FATHERLAND is an alternate history. The meat of the matter and the real message is Harris’ excruciating (and excoriating) vision of daily life in a 1960s Europe in which Hitler prevailed in WW II. This is a classic dystopian novel that earns Harris a place beside the likes of Orwell and Huxley.
FATHERLAND is compelling, frightening, evocative, thought-provoking and all too possible (if not probable). Contemporary American readers who have just lived through the presidency of a hateful man whose objective to convert the USA to a neo-Nazi Fourth Reich was all too clear should read FATHERLAND carefully and ponder their near-future evolution. Anyone living in a democracy needs to carefully consider the nature of the country that their beliefs, their conduct, their morality and their votes are going to produce. It isn’t likely that Harris intended to create a scene of almost tragic irony when he wrote of an American journalist taking a German police officer to task over the issue of human rights but, now, it is what it is:
“Human rights? … The millions of Jews who vanished in the war … sorry to mention them, but we have this bourgeois notion that human beings have rights.”
Trump, ICE and DHS obviously didn’t get the memo! FATHERLAND? Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
March 9, 2008
A murder in 1960s Nazi Germany draws one Berlin detective into a greater mystery than he could have ever imagined. Or could he?
The great thing about Fatherland is that Robert Harris doesn't try to do too much with the counterfactual history. It's definitely there, of course, but the reader discovers it naturally as (fictional) historical details come up in the flow of the novel. There is no heavy-handed explanation of how this alternate history diverged from the history we know, no listing of all the important differences as a result of that divergence, etc. And that leaves the reader wanting to know more, excited whenever details are revealed. The fact that the novel also features a great story that is interesting both on its own and in relation to this counterfactual history also helps, of course.
The great thing about Fatherland is that Robert Harris doesn't try to do too much with the counterfactual history. It's definitely there, of course, but the reader discovers it naturally as (fictional) historical details come up in the flow of the novel. There is no heavy-handed explanation of how this alternate history diverged from the history we know, no listing of all the important differences as a result of that divergence, etc. And that leaves the reader wanting to know more, excited whenever details are revealed. The fact that the novel also features a great story that is interesting both on its own and in relation to this counterfactual history also helps, of course.
July 6, 2023
Patria
Excelente novela de ficción histórica publicada en 1992 por Robert Harris sobre un final distinto de la segunda guerra mundial.
Estamos en 1964 en el gran Reich de Alemania que ocupa gran parte de Europa. Hitler va a cumplir 75 años.
El autor describe como se llegó a esta situación , la resolución de la guerra, el reparto de los antiguos países que ahora forman parte del III Reich o la relación con los demás países fuera del Imperio.
En este entorno el autor ha creado una trama policíaca en esta Alemania tan crecida y con tantos secretos.
El protagonista es Xavier March, un detective que es encargado de investigar una serie de muertes de personas que fueron importantes durante el transcurso de la guerra.
A medida que avanza la investigación las cosas se complican dejando cada vez más solo al detective que tendrá que buscar ayuda en personas con contactos exteriores.
La novela está muy bien escrita, el planteamiento del autor es bueno y lo más importante, hace creíble la historia contando como los nazis al ganar la guerra no han tenido que dar cuentas a nadie. Al contrario, su orgullo está inflado y sus crímenes impunes.
Esto es uno de los clásicos, y si, y si esto o lo otro. Pues si los nazis hubieran ganado la guerra lo que se cuenta en esta historia podría haber ocurrido.
Excelente novela de ficción histórica publicada en 1992 por Robert Harris sobre un final distinto de la segunda guerra mundial.
Estamos en 1964 en el gran Reich de Alemania que ocupa gran parte de Europa. Hitler va a cumplir 75 años.
El autor describe como se llegó a esta situación , la resolución de la guerra, el reparto de los antiguos países que ahora forman parte del III Reich o la relación con los demás países fuera del Imperio.
En este entorno el autor ha creado una trama policíaca en esta Alemania tan crecida y con tantos secretos.
El protagonista es Xavier March, un detective que es encargado de investigar una serie de muertes de personas que fueron importantes durante el transcurso de la guerra.
A medida que avanza la investigación las cosas se complican dejando cada vez más solo al detective que tendrá que buscar ayuda en personas con contactos exteriores.
La novela está muy bien escrita, el planteamiento del autor es bueno y lo más importante, hace creíble la historia contando como los nazis al ganar la guerra no han tenido que dar cuentas a nadie. Al contrario, su orgullo está inflado y sus crímenes impunes.
Esto es uno de los clásicos, y si, y si esto o lo otro. Pues si los nazis hubieran ganado la guerra lo que se cuenta en esta historia podría haber ocurrido.
June 6, 2024
The premise of Fatherland is interesting. I have been waiting for years to read this book because of it. It is set in a world where the Nazis have won Second World War and are now a major power base in the world. This leads to a LOT of intriguing speculations about how the world might have turned out. Sadly, the book does not even come close to the potential this theme offers.
Harris has done his research, but it's a very basic and narrow research. He knows how the Nazi system functioned but nothing beyond that. Nothing of German cultural practices, nothing about how Germans live everyday. I mean, yes, we know they are oppressed but that's not really world-building. All the characters are cardboard-cut and don't offer much to a reader looking for a nuanced portrayal. Everything is Anglicised in this German world, you'd think they didn't really win the war! Even the hero is Anglicised, even his name. Why would you mess up a vital but easy thing like that?
Harris also fails to give a real sense of how the world turns out. European countries are now a satellite to the German State, but what about other factors? The World War Two led to the end of colonisation - so what happens to the colonies? Do they get transferred to Germany, like what happened with Namibia, Togo, etc. after WW1? Or doesn't history change there? What about the Cold War? If the USSR never existed, or is supported by USA, where does Germany fit into the nexus? Harris misses great opportunities to really build a believable world that we can delve into.
The great denouement is no surprise for anyone. But, for some reason, everyone in this world assumes that the extermination of the Jews twenty years ago is going to piss Americans off. I am not sure why they would do so without there being a really strong political reason. The US did send back Jewish refugees in 1939, so it's not a given. The plot fails here for me. It could have been done better without involving the US. It was just really sloppy plotting.
And don't even get me started on that terrible American woman journalist character that seems to be taken from some stock character listing that authors are privy to. She seemed to exist only for two reasons: rah, rah, USA! and random sexist romance of middle aged man with a "beautiful" young woman. God forbid the random journalist woman is ever not described in terms of her looks. This mandatory romance is forced, useless, and boring.
I am really annoyed at how bad this book is. It's like a Dan Brown book without the good parts! It's posture as an alternate history is an insult. Harris really doesn't bother much about anything but the stupid mystery, which is also not that interesting, and only focuses on the Nazi system, which admittedly he has researched well. But that's really about it. He seems to lack the acuity to write real alternate history, which would involve intense research about multiple subjects so that this type of linear narrative could be avoided and a better world built that encompasses world politics, German culture, etc.
I am severely underwhelmed and I genuinely wonder if the high rating of this is only because of its theme of anti-Nazism and Holocaust denial. Because this really is a very badly executed book.
Harris has done his research, but it's a very basic and narrow research. He knows how the Nazi system functioned but nothing beyond that. Nothing of German cultural practices, nothing about how Germans live everyday. I mean, yes, we know they are oppressed but that's not really world-building. All the characters are cardboard-cut and don't offer much to a reader looking for a nuanced portrayal. Everything is Anglicised in this German world, you'd think they didn't really win the war! Even the hero is Anglicised, even his name. Why would you mess up a vital but easy thing like that?
Harris also fails to give a real sense of how the world turns out. European countries are now a satellite to the German State, but what about other factors? The World War Two led to the end of colonisation - so what happens to the colonies? Do they get transferred to Germany, like what happened with Namibia, Togo, etc. after WW1? Or doesn't history change there? What about the Cold War? If the USSR never existed, or is supported by USA, where does Germany fit into the nexus? Harris misses great opportunities to really build a believable world that we can delve into.
The great denouement is no surprise for anyone. But, for some reason, everyone in this world assumes that the extermination of the Jews twenty years ago is going to piss Americans off. I am not sure why they would do so without there being a really strong political reason. The US did send back Jewish refugees in 1939, so it's not a given. The plot fails here for me. It could have been done better without involving the US. It was just really sloppy plotting.
And don't even get me started on that terrible American woman journalist character that seems to be taken from some stock character listing that authors are privy to. She seemed to exist only for two reasons: rah, rah, USA! and random sexist romance of middle aged man with a "beautiful" young woman. God forbid the random journalist woman is ever not described in terms of her looks. This mandatory romance is forced, useless, and boring.
I am really annoyed at how bad this book is. It's like a Dan Brown book without the good parts! It's posture as an alternate history is an insult. Harris really doesn't bother much about anything but the stupid mystery, which is also not that interesting, and only focuses on the Nazi system, which admittedly he has researched well. But that's really about it. He seems to lack the acuity to write real alternate history, which would involve intense research about multiple subjects so that this type of linear narrative could be avoided and a better world built that encompasses world politics, German culture, etc.
I am severely underwhelmed and I genuinely wonder if the high rating of this is only because of its theme of anti-Nazism and Holocaust denial. Because this really is a very badly executed book.
June 27, 2018
"A police state is a country run by criminals."
-Robert Harris, Fatherland
Nazi Noir + alternative historical fiction is an interesting mix of genres. It's my birthday and late, so I'll review this tomorrow. If Gestapo dreams don't get me. But for now, Robert Harris is definitely a guilty pleasure.
-Robert Harris, Fatherland
Nazi Noir + alternative historical fiction is an interesting mix of genres. It's my birthday and late, so I'll review this tomorrow. If Gestapo dreams don't get me. But for now, Robert Harris is definitely a guilty pleasure.
March 19, 2021
While the idea of speculating about what the world would be like if the Third Reich had won WWII is nothing new (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), it remains an idea that pulls at the imagination. I wonder if that might be because on some level, we know that it all hung on a handful of events unfolding the way they did, that that it’s a very scary thought to dwell on. I had enjoyed Harris’ book on Cicero (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), and the idea of a murder mystery set in this kind of alternate history really intrigued me.
Xavier March in an investigator with the criminal police, and he is as stereotypical a noir detective as they come: divorced, disillusioned, unhealthy, incapable of letting go when he smells something fishy… He works in Berlin, the capital of what is now Greater Germany, a veritable monument of a city entirely devoted to the glory of the F. He hates wearing his uniform, he knows the news printed in the papers aren’t true – but he walks the party line closely. Early one morning, he is called up to investigate a dead body fished out of a lake. Said body once was an important bureaucrat, so the Gestapo takes over the case, but not before March notices something strange about the case and goes down a dark and dangerous rabbit hole. With the help on a young American journalist, he will follow leads that point towards something the Reich’s government has hidden for many years…
The alternate history Harris gives us glimpses of is tantalizing and chilling: King Edward and Queen Wallis rule England (groan) while Churchill and Elizabeth are in exile in Canada, Joseph Kennedy is running for re-election... It’s eerily easy to imagine and slightly upsetting to dwell on, really. And considering we know how things really turn out, the reveals are not quite a shock so much as an invitation to imagine what it would be like to realize your entire society is built on the fruits of genocide.
But the predictable elements are easily forgiven because the gritty noir novel atmosphere and creepy setting are captured so well. This is not really a game-changer in any of the genres that it blends, but it’s perfect at being exactly what it is.
Xavier March in an investigator with the criminal police, and he is as stereotypical a noir detective as they come: divorced, disillusioned, unhealthy, incapable of letting go when he smells something fishy… He works in Berlin, the capital of what is now Greater Germany, a veritable monument of a city entirely devoted to the glory of the F. He hates wearing his uniform, he knows the news printed in the papers aren’t true – but he walks the party line closely. Early one morning, he is called up to investigate a dead body fished out of a lake. Said body once was an important bureaucrat, so the Gestapo takes over the case, but not before March notices something strange about the case and goes down a dark and dangerous rabbit hole. With the help on a young American journalist, he will follow leads that point towards something the Reich’s government has hidden for many years…
The alternate history Harris gives us glimpses of is tantalizing and chilling: King Edward and Queen Wallis rule England (groan) while Churchill and Elizabeth are in exile in Canada, Joseph Kennedy is running for re-election... It’s eerily easy to imagine and slightly upsetting to dwell on, really. And considering we know how things really turn out, the reveals are not quite a shock so much as an invitation to imagine what it would be like to realize your entire society is built on the fruits of genocide.
But the predictable elements are easily forgiven because the gritty noir novel atmosphere and creepy setting are captured so well. This is not really a game-changer in any of the genres that it blends, but it’s perfect at being exactly what it is.
January 5, 2020
A solid if somewhat template like thriller, with a lukewarm hero, to finish of the reading year
However this war may end, we have won the war against you; none of you will be left to bear witness, but even someone were to survive, the world would not believe him. There will perhaps be suspicions, discussions, research by historians, but there will be no certainties, because we will destroy the evidence together with you. And even if some proof should remain and some of you survive, people will say that the events you describe are too monstrous to be believed: the will say that they are the exaggerations of Allied propaganda and will believe us, who will deny everything, and not you.- Primo Levi as quoted by Robert Harris
A thriller set in Speer’s post war Berlin (curiously not rechristened to Welthaupstad Germania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germani...) with an overly curious detective as main character. Xavier March is drawn into an elaborate plot after a body of a high party official is found at a lake in Berlin. Soon he is embroiled in bureaucratic infighting between the Gestapo (Geheime StaatsPolizei) and the Kriminal Polizei, his son hates him and he gets involved with a young American journalist. Also Swiss bankers, the Wannsee conference and George Orwell like interrogations feature prominently.
Despite all of these troubles Xavier March didn’t raise much sympathy or made me care a lot for him as a reader. This is because Fatherland feels quite template like and as a standard thriller. Not that the world Harris sketches is badly portrayed, with claustrophobic social/party control on day to day life. But only at the end, when the final solution is touched upon by Harris, the society starts to feel less normal and the monstrosity and the ethical questions whereupon this alternative history is based, starts to loom large.
In the end the below quote, attributed to the Fuhrer, captures this feeling, and the heart of the problem this novel tries to tackle, maybe best:
People presently revered the French Revolution, but who now remembered the thousands of innocents who died? Revolutionary times were governed by their own laws. When Germany had won the war, nobody would ask afterwards how we did it.
2.5 stars rounded up for this last book of 2019.
However this war may end, we have won the war against you; none of you will be left to bear witness, but even someone were to survive, the world would not believe him. There will perhaps be suspicions, discussions, research by historians, but there will be no certainties, because we will destroy the evidence together with you. And even if some proof should remain and some of you survive, people will say that the events you describe are too monstrous to be believed: the will say that they are the exaggerations of Allied propaganda and will believe us, who will deny everything, and not you.- Primo Levi as quoted by Robert Harris
A thriller set in Speer’s post war Berlin (curiously not rechristened to Welthaupstad Germania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germani...) with an overly curious detective as main character. Xavier March is drawn into an elaborate plot after a body of a high party official is found at a lake in Berlin. Soon he is embroiled in bureaucratic infighting between the Gestapo (Geheime StaatsPolizei) and the Kriminal Polizei, his son hates him and he gets involved with a young American journalist. Also Swiss bankers, the Wannsee conference and George Orwell like interrogations feature prominently.
Despite all of these troubles Xavier March didn’t raise much sympathy or made me care a lot for him as a reader. This is because Fatherland feels quite template like and as a standard thriller. Not that the world Harris sketches is badly portrayed, with claustrophobic social/party control on day to day life. But only at the end, when the final solution is touched upon by Harris, the society starts to feel less normal and the monstrosity and the ethical questions whereupon this alternative history is based, starts to loom large.
In the end the below quote, attributed to the Fuhrer, captures this feeling, and the heart of the problem this novel tries to tackle, maybe best:
People presently revered the French Revolution, but who now remembered the thousands of innocents who died? Revolutionary times were governed by their own laws. When Germany had won the war, nobody would ask afterwards how we did it.
2.5 stars rounded up for this last book of 2019.
July 28, 2018
Since history is so interesting I often wonder why I pick up a a"what if" book based on a mix of fact and fiction. But after seeing some good reviews on this book, I thought I would give it a chance and am glad that I did.
Basically the story is a police procedural but it is set in a Europe which is now under Nazi rule. It is set in 1964 and Europe is preparing to celebrate Hitler's 74th birthday. Xavier March is an officer in the Kripo, a police unit one step below the Gestapo and is called to the scene of an apparent suicide of a former Nazi high official. It becomes obvious to him that this is not a suicide but a murder. This discovery leads him to other suspicious deaths of Nazi elite and straight into big trouble. I don't want to give away too much of the complex plot since it would involve too many spoilers. I will only say that Officer March finds information that would throw the world into chaos and expose the horrors of the Holocaust among other incidents.
The author paints a believable picture of what Europe would look like if the Nazi's had won the war and how German society would have evolved. The city of Berlin is shown exactly as Albert Speer had designed it when the Nazi's had been the victors of WWII. He also explains in his Afterword, that the book uses, for the most part, characters who actually existed and their biographical details are correct up to 1942. Their subsequent fates were different and he describes each.
This is a fascinating book, well written, and believable. Recommended.
Basically the story is a police procedural but it is set in a Europe which is now under Nazi rule. It is set in 1964 and Europe is preparing to celebrate Hitler's 74th birthday. Xavier March is an officer in the Kripo, a police unit one step below the Gestapo and is called to the scene of an apparent suicide of a former Nazi high official. It becomes obvious to him that this is not a suicide but a murder. This discovery leads him to other suspicious deaths of Nazi elite and straight into big trouble. I don't want to give away too much of the complex plot since it would involve too many spoilers. I will only say that Officer March finds information that would throw the world into chaos and expose the horrors of the Holocaust among other incidents.
The author paints a believable picture of what Europe would look like if the Nazi's had won the war and how German society would have evolved. The city of Berlin is shown exactly as Albert Speer had designed it when the Nazi's had been the victors of WWII. He also explains in his Afterword, that the book uses, for the most part, characters who actually existed and their biographical details are correct up to 1942. Their subsequent fates were different and he describes each.
This is a fascinating book, well written, and believable. Recommended.
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