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A review by sbbarnes
The Honest Spy by Andreas Kollender
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
"The Honest Spy" follows the espionage career of Fritz Kolbe, a German diplomat who spends the later years of World War II smuggling confidential information to the Americans. Kolbe narrates his choices during the war to two journalists post-war, a modern thread set between the story proper.
Kolbe is characterized throughout as a decent man. He was never a member of the Nazi party or even slightly convinced by them. The only moment of doubt he has is when his best friend dies as a result of information he leaked. His driving motivation is love for a married nurse from the Charité called Marlene. She appears to be largely fictional, although Kolbe did marry a nurse from the Charité after the war.
All told the bare bones of the narrative are compelling enough and Fritz's moral backbone is comforting to read about. So is his kinship with the young female photographer who understands how important his love story and the mundane details of his love life during the war are. Something I really loved was the contrast between how Fritz spends all day feeding the journalists and offering them drink after drink in contrast to the sections during the war when food is scarce, alcohol is stolen and the only good meals Fritz has are in Bern.
Something I struggle with though is that this is such a German WWII story. The framing of Fritz's motivations is ideological; he is no Nazi and he never has been. He is disgusted by everything they stand for and believes Germanness is a far more cosmopolitan trait related to composers, literature, history of better men. He continually complains of the Nazis' senseless speeches and poor oration etc. This is ultimately an extremely comforting story for a German audience because it shows us not all Germans were convinced and there was civil resistance. While noble of course, I did feel slightly let down that not more attention was given to things like the Russian secret operative's astute commentary that Fritz's station in South Africa and his daughter's safe haven there are ultimately results of colonialism. Equally, there is a glut of this kind of story—the lone good German who didn't believe the party line—and very few stories humanizing Jewish, Sinti, Roma, LGBTQ+ etc. victims of the Holocaust and telling their stories of resistance. This book barely remembers these people exist in more than the abstract, which makes sense given Kolbe had little contact - but I believe he would have had more than zero contact.
Kolbe is characterized throughout as a decent man. He was never a member of the Nazi party or even slightly convinced by them. The only moment of doubt he has is when his best friend dies as a result of information he leaked. His driving motivation is love for a married nurse from the Charité called Marlene. She appears to be largely fictional, although Kolbe did marry a nurse from the Charité after the war.
All told the bare bones of the narrative are compelling enough and Fritz's moral backbone is comforting to read about. So is his kinship with the young female photographer who understands how important his love story and the mundane details of his love life during the war are. Something I really loved was the contrast between how Fritz spends all day feeding the journalists and offering them drink after drink in contrast to the sections during the war when food is scarce, alcohol is stolen and the only good meals Fritz has are in Bern.
Something I struggle with though is that this is such a German WWII story. The framing of Fritz's motivations is ideological; he is no Nazi and he never has been. He is disgusted by everything they stand for and believes Germanness is a far more cosmopolitan trait related to composers, literature, history of better men. He continually complains of the Nazis' senseless speeches and poor oration etc. This is ultimately an extremely comforting story for a German audience because it shows us not all Germans were convinced and there was civil resistance. While noble of course, I did feel slightly let down that not more attention was given to things like the Russian secret operative's astute commentary that Fritz's station in South Africa and his daughter's safe haven there are ultimately results of colonialism. Equally, there is a glut of this kind of story—the lone good German who didn't believe the party line—and very few stories humanizing Jewish, Sinti, Roma, LGBTQ+ etc. victims of the Holocaust and telling their stories of resistance. This book barely remembers these people exist in more than the abstract, which makes sense given Kolbe had little contact - but I believe he would have had more than zero contact.