When Fiction Uncovers Fact

In many ways, as far as my fundamental research is concerned this is what this project is all about. I am finding in a quite exciting way that this happening in this case.  

I am getting to quite a dramatic part of the Hani strand of the plot. It is after D-Day. However, the oppression in Germany is getting worse. The Nazi regime is clinging on to last violent attempts.

The Stolperstein site remarks how amazing it is that the school in Haus Lehrs was allowed to be and was not disturbed. My mother-in-law frequently told my husband a story about a school whose closure was ordered by the Nazis. The school continued and the equivalent of Dad’s Army were ordered to close it down but somehow got out of it. Then the Hitler Youth were told to do it. They also refused. Next it was the turn of the BDM. There would be dire consequences if they disobeyed. Well, they set the school on fire – but got all of the children and books out. The school continued to function and operated openly from the day after the war ended.

I’ve hardly dared tell that story, though have asked questions about a school reopening as if nothing had happened as soon as the World War II ended. No one recognises this. But could it be, that it was just this little school, this one class that survived because of some caution by the people who ran it, some reformed characters in the BDM and because of a kindly neighbour? It certainly works in my fictionalised version.

Naturally, I now intend to find out more about this story.

I intended from the outset to include the story about the “school” reopening at the end of the war but even that seemed a little daring. It was actually because I needed some more drama and tension in my story that I came back to this half- remembered story. It also fitted well with the characters and happenings I had also invented.

I have also invented two ambivalent Nazis: Peter and Werner, both young leaders of Hitler Youth Groups. They have to do some terrible things but they are also quite nice and also partly resistant. Hani’s father and mother are extremely careful about what they do and what they are seen to be doing.  Yet they also go out of their way to help Clara Lehrs and the children of the Special Class.

You can’t be black and white about the Holocaust. The whole question is much too complex.    

                          

Names Behaving Differently

I normally never have a problem with names. Characters walk into stories fully formed and with their names firmly attached. However, with this novel I’m having a slightly different experience.

Is this perhaps because I am operating within a different culture? I’m not so used to German and Yiddish names, especially the ones that were around during the 1940s. So, I’ve had to resort to name lists. I’m using the following:

http://www.petnames.net/hebrew-pet-names.html

http://www.20000-names.com/female_yiddish_names.htm

http://german.about.com/library/blsurname01.htm

I find myself tempted to use some symbolism.

A horse is called Adiv. It means delicate. He chooses his path in a delicate way. His health is delicate, because like his owners he is starving.  

A little girl is called Kyla. She is a gift, a laurel and a comfort to her mother whose husband has died of malnutrition. The mother, pregnant with a second child, is called Selda. Her name means happiness and joy. She has a very sad life but perhaps her name will remind her that there is yet hope.

The people who look after the Special Class in Shellberg Street cannot decide whether their neighbour is being concerned or is just plain nosy. People who understand German may be able to figure it out more easily. His name is Herr Ehrlichmann – his name means “honourable man”.  But there is still room for some doubt. In which way is he being honourable? To the Third Reich or to his former next-door neighbour?

Most readers of the books will not read any symbolism into the names. I may, however, contain these explanations in a glossary.             

Ups and downs today – confronting Adolph Eichman and finding a real person

I’ve watched some of the footage of Eichman’s trial and read some of the reports today. Grim reading. Yet again, as in the cases of Adolf Hitler and of Horst Wessel we find a person who couldn’t quite succeed on an ordinary level. Eichman left his secondary school without matriculating and seemed to drift form career to career. Finally he finds his niche and it involves murdering people. Then I moved on. I can find only one example in the whole of Germany of someone with the name of the son of one of the girls who wrote the letters. He lives just outside Nuremberg. Chances are very good that it is the right person. We shall see. It is very rewarding when you make these real connections with the history.

When Writing Routines Get Disrupted

With the best will in the world and all of your normal self-discipline you can’t always stick to a carefully defined writing routine. I received an email last night from a publisher requesting what turned out to be another 2000 words on a proposal I’d sent off some months ago. It’s looking promising though a publishing contract is not guaranteed. If it’s ultimately rejected at least some of this work will be useful for the next publisher. When I did settle down to some Potatoes in Spring, I immediately encountered some details that need further research. I know that Clara Lehrs had to leave Stuttgart in 1942 to go and live in a state ghetto. The Stolpersteine web site says that she was able to live in for a while. I can find no trace of a ghetto in Rexingen, though for many years there was a strong Jewish community living there. My mother-in-law often said that her best friend’s mother visited her grandmother in the ghetto regularly. Clara Lehrs was transported to Theriesenstadt in 1942 and this camp is often referred to as a ghetto. However, I can’t imagine visits from the general public being permitted. So, today I’ve had to spend some time looking into that. I now feel a need to visit Rexingen. I’m also going to contact the organisation to see if they can shed some more light on this – and to confirm that Clara Lehrs was indeed transported to Treblinka form Theriesenstadt. However, I have written the first paragraph of the next chapter in the Hani thread. I wrote it remarkably quickly and smoothly. Perhaps a pause has been good. I guess I’ll do a bit more at the weekend. Beats doing the ironing.

The Kinderlandverschickung

Evacuation in Germany was quite different from in the United Kingdom. Only children from the heavily bombed cities of Hamburg and Berlin were originally evacuated. They were not billeted with families as British children were, but they attended large camps and were expected to wear their Hitler Youth uniforms. There were summer camps for children in the less bombed cities. There were plenty of beautiful unscathed parts of Germany they could visit. It all started off well enough. The children were well looked after, they had plenty of fun and they shared a lot of camaraderie. But it soon became more sinister and a way of promoting Nazi idealism. Weakness was not tolerated. Ultimately, young men were shown how to kill using a gun, a grenade, a bayonet or a rifle. Then once the war was over, and most of the leaders were dead or in prison, a few of them, including Hitler, having killed themselves, a whole generation was left confused. I suspect some of the girls who wrote the letters I’m looking at took care of some of the children in the Kinderlandverschickung. This film gives an interesting account of this progression. Click here.

Language in Historical Fiction

I shared a very early part of the novel with a crit group last night. I received some very helpful comments and the question about language came up again. We talked about my first chapter which introduces us to one of the main characters. It also contains a letter written by her to some of the other significant players. The narrative is fairly neutral though I think I may change the voice a little later. It feels a little young if this book is to be for key Stage 3. The letter, though, is in a 1940s’ tone and even retains some of the German feel about it. I know this is going to happen even more so with the later letters. However in the ordinary narrative I have more modern English. I normally believe it should be one or the other – either go completely modern or try and replicate the language of the time. I remember seeing two adaptations of the same Molière play within two weeks. One was a fairly literal translation, the second sought to provide the same level of entrainment to a 21st century audience as Molière’s original audience would have enjoyed. I slightly preferred the latter. Both used a very different tone, but at least the tone was consistent throughout each one. Somehow, though, in my novel I feel that the mix is working. I still feel that Caroline Lawrence has got it just right in the Roman mysteries and my text is not too different from hers. Time will tell, I guess. In the meantime, I guess I just need to get the novel down. I reckon I’m just about half way

Remembrance Section of the Holocaust Task Force

The Holocaust Task Force site continues to amaze. In its Remembrance Section, it contains virtual tours of: the Museum of Canada, and Exhibition created by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the Exhibitions about the History and Culture of the Finish Jewry and the Shtetl of the Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw. I’ve had a little dabble with the Anne Frank House one. Although that is not all that relevant to my project, as I’ve seen the house and know the story well, it was tempting look. It did give an excellent idea of what it might have felt like to be caught in an air raid. Also, it reminds you of what it might felt like to be in hiding. The children in my Special Class have to hide from time to time. Viste teh site here.