Eva Bruhns is a 24 year old resident of Frankfurt, Germany in 1963. The daughter of restaurant owners, she works as a translator for Polish economic contracts and court cases as she awaits a proposal from her boyfriend, the son of a wealthy mail-order catalog operator. During Advent, she spends an evening translating testimony for a court case about the mass murder of 850 people in one night. She has never heard of the Holocaust, and no one is willing to discuss it with her, preferring to leave it in the past. Defying her family and suitor’s wishes, Eva becomes a translator for the Auschwitz war crimes trials. The novel does not focus on the details of the Holocaust, but rather on Eva's experience of discovery and growth.
Contemporary Germany, at least as I understand it, is very aware of the Holocaust and takes ownership of the horrors committed during the war. I had not thought about a period when this wouldn’t be the case. Eva’s struggle to come to terms with what happened and the evil that people are capable of feels authentic, and marks a coming-of-age for the character. There are side plots that involve Eva's siblings, and while I think that they emphasize the denial of reality in the face of guilt, I was always ready to jump back to the main plot. The German House is a translation of a novel written in German, and at times it feels as though some nuance has been lost in moving to English, where particular words or phrases simply don't feel right. I am very glad that the work has been translated into English and think that it is an excellent book, and a timely reminder of what can happen when people look away from the truth.
Contemporary Germany, at least as I understand it, is very aware of the Holocaust and takes ownership of the horrors committed during the war. I had not thought about a period when this wouldn’t be the case. Eva’s struggle to come to terms with what happened and the evil that people are capable of feels authentic, and marks a coming-of-age for the character. There are side plots that involve Eva's siblings, and while I think that they emphasize the denial of reality in the face of guilt, I was always ready to jump back to the main plot. The German House is a translation of a novel written in German, and at times it feels as though some nuance has been lost in moving to English, where particular words or phrases simply don't feel right. I am very glad that the work has been translated into English and think that it is an excellent book, and a timely reminder of what can happen when people look away from the truth.