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A review by bartendm
Motherland by Maria Hummel
5.0
When one learns about the Holocaust and sees the photographs, they cannot help but feel revolted by the people who did this awful thing. We have come to associate "Nazi" with the most despicable of people. There were those who were directly involved in these atrocities, but most of the German people at the time were probably silently complicit. Most people are not monsters, but are good at rationalizing their actions and instinctively react to authority, propaganda, and opportunity. That is certainly true in this day and age as well.
This novel, based on recently found letters of an actual German couple, helps us to see inside the world of one German family struggling to survive in the waning days of the war. They know the end will come and they are fearful of when they will become the conquered. I love the title of Motherland, as the story is mostly focused on the women in a small city left to fend for themselves as most of the men were killed or fighting the war. Day to day care and feeding of their children is their main concern, and they are fearful of each other and the authorities if they are perceived as unpatriotic. The Nazi compulsion about eugenics is made clear in Liesl's fear for one of her 3 stepsons who becomes ill and exhibits strange behaviors. He is threatened with shipment to an asylum where the children are known to be euthanized, and much of the story revolves around Liesl's attempt to save him.
This is not a happy story, but it the characters are vivid and complex. They feel like real people trying to navigate a shifting world, stay intact as a family and adjust to their new realities. They have loves and fears and shame. I was also surprised this book was a real page turner, and I found myself reading longer than I intended most of the time I picked it up. I'm happy to see more literature about ordinary people in Germany before and during the war. The Germans were not unique in their sense of superiority and susceptibility to the larger events around themselves and it's good to be reminded of our shared humanity.
This novel, based on recently found letters of an actual German couple, helps us to see inside the world of one German family struggling to survive in the waning days of the war. They know the end will come and they are fearful of when they will become the conquered. I love the title of Motherland, as the story is mostly focused on the women in a small city left to fend for themselves as most of the men were killed or fighting the war. Day to day care and feeding of their children is their main concern, and they are fearful of each other and the authorities if they are perceived as unpatriotic. The Nazi compulsion about eugenics is made clear in Liesl's fear for one of her 3 stepsons who becomes ill and exhibits strange behaviors. He is threatened with shipment to an asylum where the children are known to be euthanized, and much of the story revolves around Liesl's attempt to save him.
This is not a happy story, but it the characters are vivid and complex. They feel like real people trying to navigate a shifting world, stay intact as a family and adjust to their new realities. They have loves and fears and shame. I was also surprised this book was a real page turner, and I found myself reading longer than I intended most of the time I picked it up. I'm happy to see more literature about ordinary people in Germany before and during the war. The Germans were not unique in their sense of superiority and susceptibility to the larger events around themselves and it's good to be reminded of our shared humanity.