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Based on the childhood of the author’s father at the end of World War II, this action packed, spare first novel, told through the eyes of a young boy, makes personal the Soviet occupation of what later became East Germany. Ten-year-old Fritz’s father perished early in the war, and Fritz lives with his mama, sister and grandparents in Schwartz, Germany. Together they anxiously await the Russians’ arrival toward the end of the war. When the inevitable occupation occurs, Fritz grandmother and grandfather, who was the head of the local Nazi party, both hang themselves. Then the Russians take Mama away at gunpoint, and Fritz wonder if he will see her again. Narrated in clipped prose and told through short chapters, the novel is brutal; interspersed between the harrowing experiences are descriptions of difficult farm work, from growing vegetables to slaughtering a pig. The author’s note fills in the history and her family’s background. The action in this important to WWII literature will grab readers, and Schröder’s story is an excellent, authentic portrait of children in war. |
