“In that moment, she knows that taking pictures is not enough, she has to help these people…”
- Book: The Commandant’s Daughter
- Location: Berlin
- Author: Catherine Hokin
My heart did sink a little when I read a letter from author Catherine Hokin, featured at the end of the book, in which she confirms that The Commandant’s Daughter is the first book in a planned four part series; as I am notoriously lax at keeping on top of my series reading and I have already invested in so many other series reads, that I’m not sure how I am going to cope. She did, thankfully, add the caveat that all the books would work as stand alone novels, which this one undoubtedly did, although of course, having now worked out where the series is heading I have decided that I very much want to be part of that journey, even though I know that will involve many more tears before it is over!
The story begins in 1933, in Berlin when Hitler has just come to power and where ten-year-old Hannelore Fosse lives with her parents, sister and grandmother. Hannelore’s father, Reiner, as a very zealous recent recruit to the SS, is sent in 1943, to oversee the ‘new town’ of Theresienstadt, a Concentration Camp in all but title, relocating his family with him. There Hannelore, who has become obsessed with photography, sees and hears more than one so young should, although she is remarkably mature and determinedly stoic enough to catalogue the horrendous images and events through her pictures. She is appalled by the huge change in her father, who appears to relish his duties, rather than show any repugnance for them, which puts them very much at odds and irrevocably divides them. When he knows that the game is up and defeat is staring his country in the face, Reiner sends his family back to Berlin, where one devastating event follows another and Hannelore is left alone. When Germany is finally beaten and the concentration camps are liberated, she assumes that Reiner must be either dead or awaiting trial somewhere for the heinous crimes he has committed against humanity.
Fast forward to 1946, in a post-war Berlin, which has recently been carved up by the four allied countries and Hannelore Fosse has become Hanni Winter. She realises that her father has managed to evade capture and along with so many of his fellow SS officers, has reinvented himself as his non-existent younger brother and now works for the Allies, who have picked out those Germans they feel pose least risk, to assist them in the capture of the hardcore SS for trial and to play their part in the rebuilding of a devastated city. Hanni herself, is now a skilled forensics photographer, attached to the police and working with Inspector Freddy Schlussel and his team. They are assigned to solve the case of a recent spate of assassination murders, where all the victims are former ‘whitewashed’ SS officers, who have become ‘respectable’ members of Berlin society. Hanni is still determined to bring her father to justice, although having discovered her whereabouts and made himself known to her, he makes it clear what will happen to her if she tries to turn him over to the authorities. Hanni and Freddy have a growing attraction between them, although with their disparate cultural backgrounds, is there any hope that a mutual understanding can be reached to put the past to rest and move forwards!
Those are just the very bare bones of a bold and daring, well structured, multi-layered storyline; although this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the tense, highly charged and claustrophobic atmosphere, which looms large and hangs like a cloud over both Hanni and Freddy. Author Catherine Hokin has written a wonderfully rendered, mature work of cultural and societal fiction, compassionately written from the heart, unique and unconventional, often disturbing, brutally and heartbreakingly honest; yet desperately compelling, powerful and completely immersive. Fluently seamless, slowly unfolding and evolving, the story is evocative, intensely textured, rich in detail, whilst totally and utterly emotionally draining. The visual depth to the descriptive narrative and dialogue makes this a truly three dimensional reading experience, which offers a perceptive and compelling sense of time and place, albeit a most disturbing, profoundly touching and troubling journey.
Not only can war unite a people against a common enemy, it also has the power to divide. At a family level, this can cause total and overwhelming devastation, but to a nation threatened with its very existence and survival, events of the past can have such a huge and lasting influence over the present, as Hanni the daughter of an SS officer and Freddy a displaced Jew, know to their personal cost. Can their common mutual belief in justice and retribution be enough to bind them together and help them put events of the past to one side. It might, if only they were able to talk to one another, but although Freddy has begun to open up to Hanni, she in turn, is still unable to confide in him the terrible truth about her past, at least not whilst her father still walks the same streets and breathes the same air as her. At times, their individual memories and emotions are so painfully strong and raw, they have the power to silence and paralyse them, rendering them temporarily frozen in space and time, which these days would no doubt be labelled as PTSD. Their relationship is put under further strain when the vigilante murderer is tracked down and arrested, as for different reasons, they are both rather torn about the notion of stopping the murders of those who were so instrumental in ruining their lives and by default putting up barriers between them which might be beyond breaking down. Even I was astounded to learn that both Hanni and Freddy are mistaken about Herr Bayers motives for his selection of specific victims, which in reality are totally sickening and nauseating, even for the strongest of constitutions.
Catherine has developed a cast of well-drawn, multi-faceted characters, who, whether they are on the side of good or bad, are authentically realistic and genuinely believable in the individual roles which have been created for them. All were understandably complex, emotionally starved and vulnerable, with little or no synergy or dynamism between them, which really divided my feelings and emotions right down the middle. Many were raw and passionate, yet still authentic, genuine and believable. Others were unreliable, volatile, manipulative and duplicitous and I’m not sure that I really connected with, invested in, or identified with, any of them totally. In various guises and to differing degrees, they are all broken and damaged people, from a society which has torn itself asunder and has now been further decimated by the machinations of the victors. Hanni and Freddy will need time to rebuild their confidence, their lives, their trust, before there can be any meaningful steps towards reconciliation and a clear path forwards into the future. However Catherine has done an amazing job of giving all her characters a clear voice with which to begin telling their individual stories and I am already anticipating what she might have in store for them in the next step of their journey towards complete emotional freedom.
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