THEY won the war - Not you - not us. (Fatherland - Robert Harris)

Member Name: Alindrail

Product:	Fatherland - Robert Harris
Date:	15/05/01 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thrilling, Scary, Believable

Disadvantages: I want MORE

I first heard of this book when I was much younger, when I watched the film version. Now looking back, I can see why someone would want to make a film of this epic book. The basic premise in Robert Harris’ Fatherland is a ‘what if’ history scenario. What if the Germans won the Second World War? What if the Reich held sway over Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, the Baltic States, the Ukraine, most of Western Russia, and dominated the rest of Europe through its influence? This is the land where Harris sets his novel, in the mid 1960’s. The Cold War between Germany and America has just slackened, and the president, Kennedy, is coming to meet the Fuhrer.

What follows is the story of Xavier March, a member of the Kripo, the basic criminal police branch of the SS. A divorcee who has not fallen for the National Socialist spiel. He can see the corruption, as his son and ex-wife are sucked into the machine that stamps out perfect Aryans. He investigates a murder, which eventually leads him to the realisation that while Stalin murdered millions, the German’s approach to the re-settling of Jews in the East might not be all that it seems, and the disappearance a little more permanent than he had allowed himself to believe.

Harris shows March’s plodding lifestyle in this restrictive society, reminiscent of Soviet Russia, but more sinister in its mastery over Europe, and apparent public and international acceptability. His research is awe-inspiring as he leads the reader through the layers of bureaucracy that would no doubt have followed Germany had it risen to power. The most terrifying aspect of the work is that March has done nothing wrong, and indeed is doing his job, but as a result he falls further and further out of favour. Refusal to contribute to charities and joining work-led social events mark him as asocial. Something to be wiped out and removed from society, something for his own son to hate. An individual
in a society where individualism is a crime.

Comparisons with Orwell’s 1984 are appropriate and perhaps even undervaluing the book. The horror of Fatherland is how close it could have come to reality. 1984 is sinister, but reading it now we can see it as a work of fiction. This however can be read as a seemingly truthful account. There lies Harris’ genius, the sheer believability of his work. You can believe that the Reich won the war, that America would stand back if a V3 rocket capable of hitting New York was developed, that Russia would collapse on the Eastern Front, and that the ensuing society would have been a hell for any person cherishing freedom and truth.

Add to this a good thriller, a good story, and a good conspiracy, and the whole adds up to a wonderful novel that is both suspenseful, and intellectually stimulating. A must-read classic in my opinion.

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