Overview
āFatherland maintains the momentum of the best mysteries and a commendable balance.āāThe New York Times
āUnflinching and illuminating . . . Bilgerās haunting memoir reminds us, the past is prologue to who we are, as well as who we choose to be.āāThe Wall Street Journal
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews
One spring day in northeastern France, Burkhard Bilgerās mother went to the town of Bartenheim, where her father was posted during the Second World War. As a historian, she had spent years studying the German occupation of France, yet she had never dared to investigate her own familyās role in it. She knew only that her father was a schoolteacher who was sent to Bartenheim in 1940 and ordered to reeducate its childrenāto turn them into proper Germans, as Hitler demanded. Two years later, he became the townās Nazi Party chief.
There was little left from her fatherās era by the time she visited. But on her way back to her car, she noticed an old man walking nearby. He looked about the same age her father would have been if he was still alive. She hurried over to introduce herself and told him her fatherās name, Karl Gƶnner. āDo you happen to remember him?ā she said. The man stared at her, dumbstruck. āWell, of course!ā he said. āI saved his life, didnāt I?ā
Fatherland is the story behind that storyāthe riveting account of Bilgerās nearly ten-year quest to uncover the truth about his grandfather. Was he guilty or innocent, a war criminal or a man who risked his life to shield the villagers? Long admired for his profiles in The New Yorker, Bilger brings the same open-hearted curiosity to his family history and the questions it raises: What do we owe the past? How can we make peace with it without perpetuating its wrongs?
This book title, Fatherland (A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets), ISBN: 9780804173308, by Burkhard Bilger, published by Random House Publishing Group (June 4, 2024) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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