Fatherland (novel)


Fatherland is a 1992 alternative history detective novel by English writer and journalist Robert Harris. Set in a universe in which Nazi Germany won World War II, the story's protagonist is an officer of the Kripo, the criminal police, who is investigating the murder of a Nazi government official who participated at the Wannsee Conference. A plot is thus discovered to eliminate all of those who attended conference to help the improvement of Germany's relations with the United States.
The novel inverts some of the conventions of the detective novel. It begins with a murder and diligent police detective investigating and eventually solving it. However, since the murderer is highly placed in a tyrannical regime, solving the mystery does not result in the detective pursuing and arresting the murderer. The contrary occurs in the novel: the murderer pursuing and arresting the detective.
The novel was an immediate best-seller in the UK and has sold over three million copies and been translated into 25 languages.

Plot

It is April 1964 in Nazi Germany, in the week leading up to Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday. Detective Xavier March is an investigator working for the Kriminalpolizei, as he investigates the suspicious death of a high-ranking Nazi, Josef Bühler, in the Havel on the outskirts of Berlin. As March uncovers more details, he realises that he is caught up in a political scandal involving senior Nazi Party officials, who are apparently being systematically murdered under staged circumstances. As soon as the body is identified, the Gestapo claims jurisdiction and orders the Kripo to close its investigation.
In the story, March meets with Charlotte 'Charlie' Maguire, an American journalist also determined to investigate the case. They both travel to Zürich to investigate the private Swiss bank account of one of the murdered officials. Ultimately, the two uncover the truth behind the staged murders: Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the SS, has ordered the Gestapo to eliminate the remaining officials who planned the Final Solution at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. The elimination is being hurried to safeguard an upcoming meeting of Hitler and United States President Joseph P. Kennedy by ensuring that the fate of the missing Jews can never be revealed. Maguire heads for neutral Switzerland, hoping to expose the evidence of the extermination to the world. March, however, is denounced by his ten-year-old son and apprehended by the Gestapo.
In the cellars of Gestapo headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, March is tortured but does not reveal the location of Maguire. Globocnik boasts that Auschwitz and the other camps have been totally razed, and March will never know the truth for certain. Kripo Chief Arthur Nebe stages a rescue, intending to track March as he meets with Maguire at their rendezvous in Waldshut-Tiengen on the Swiss/German border. March realises what is happening and heads for Auschwitz, leading the authorities in the wrong direction.
The Gestapo catches up with March at the unmarked site of Auschwitz. Knowing that Maguire has had the time to cross the border into Switzerland, March searches for some sign that the camp existed. As Gestapo agents close in on him in a helicopter, March uncovers bricks in the undergrowth. Satisfied, he pulls out his gun.

Characters

Fictional

Harris, in the Author's notes of the novel, explains that many characters are based on the real people with the same names and that the biographical details are indeed correct until 1942. Afterward, the narrative is fictional. The following descriptions follow what is in the novel.
In each case, the description after the name describes how the characters appear in the novel, again by following reality until 1942.
"Also referenced but not by name are the Beatles, whose recent appearances in Hamburg and great popularity with young Germans have been condemned in the German press.
The people in the book who are named as attending the Wannsee Conference all did so in real life. Some are central to the plot, but the others had already died before the events of the novel.

Backstory

Alternate World War II history

Throughout the novel, Harris gradually explains, in a fictional backstory, the developments that allowed Germany to prevail in World War II. The author explains in the Author's notes that except for the backstories of the fictitious characters, the narrative describes reality up to 1942, after which it is fictional. A significant early point of divergence is that Heydrich survived the assassination attempt by Czech fighters in May 1942 and later became head of the SS. Another significant divergence is the political career of Kennedy, who was, in real life, disgraced in 1940 during the Battle of Britain. In the novel, for an unexplained reason, his political fortunes did not suffer or possibly recovered after the German victory, and he eventually became US President. The Nazi offensives on the Eastern Front ultimately push back the Soviet forces, with the Case Blue operation succeeding in capturing the Caucasus and cutting the Red Army off from its petroleum reserves by 1943. The Nazis also found that the Enigma machine code had been broken. A massive U-Boat campaign against Britain then succeeded in starving the British into surrender by 1944.
In the novel, King George VI, the British royal family and the Prime Minister Winston Churchill fled into exile in Canada. Edward VIII regained the British throne soon afterwards, with Wallis Simpson as his queen. The US defeated Japan in 1945 and used nuclear weapons, as in real life. Germany tested its first atomic bomb in 1946 and fired a non-nuclear "V-3" missile above New York City to demonstrate its ability to attack the Continental United States with long-range missiles. Thus, after a peace treaty in 1946, the US and Germany are the novel's two superpower opponents in the Cold War. There is a reference to a brutal regime having power in China but no reference to either its ideology or whether it is headed by Mao Zedong or somebody else. Tibet remains independent.

Alternate post-war history

The fictional backstory describes that after it achieved victory, Germany reorganises Europe east of Poland into Reichskommissariats. After the signing of the Treaty of Rome, Western Europe and Scandinavia are corralled into a pro-German trade bloc, the European Community. By 1964, the United States and the Greater German Reich are involved in a Cold War. The only exception is Switzerland, which retains its neutral status.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union has died down into an endless guerrilla war in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. Mounting casualties have sapped the German military despite Hitler's statement, which is quoted in the novel, about a perpetual war to keep the German people on their toes. Dead German soldiers are returned to Germany in the middle of the night.
The action of the novel takes place from 14 to 20 April 1964, as Germany prepares for Hitler's 75th birthday celebrations on the latter date. A visit by US President Kennedy is planned as part of a gradual détente between the United States and Germany. The novel suggests that the Nazi hierarchy is eager for peace since its efforts to settle the conquered East are failing because of continued resistance from Polish and Soviet partisan movements. Moreover, the Nazis failed to instill their ideology in the younger generation; many young Germans turn away from the regime though active opposition to the regime is limited.
The Holocaust has been explained away officially as merely the relocation of the Jews into areas of Eastern Europe, where communications and transport networks are still very poor. However, many Germans suspect the government to have eliminated the Jews but are generally unconcerned or too afraid of the authorities to say or to do anything. Some surviving Jews have escaped to the Soviet Union and provided testimony of the extermination efforts there. Nazi authorities decry Bolshevik propaganda, but the outside world is aware of the Holocaust. The American president, however, remains neutral to avoid further damaging relations and refers only to vague "human rights violations" that he wishes to investigate when he visits Berlin.
The end suggests that the plans of both Kennedy and Hitler might be seriously derailed by the documents obtained by the protagonists and successfully smuggled out of Germany by Charlie. Their publication gives concrete hard evidence on the systematic murder of the Jews and might cause the cancellation of the Hitler–Kennedy summit and sabotage the plans for a German–American détente on which the Nazis were counting for economic recovery. The documents might also cause Kennedy to lose re-election in November 1964. The novel does not mention who the opposing candidate is and the policies that the candidate supports, but it might be a more anti-Nazi Cold Warrior.

Greater German Reich and international politics

The first few pages of the novel feature two maps: one of the city centre of Berlin and another of the extent of the massively-expanded Greater German Reich, which stretches from Alsace-Lorraine in the west to the Ural Mountains and lower Caucasus in the east.
The Reich has retained Austria, Slovenia, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Luxembourg. In the East, Poland is still ruled as a colony by the General Government, and Soviet territory west of the Urals has been divided into five Reichkommissariats: Ostland, Ukraine with Odessa, Muscovy, and Caucasus, along with Generalkommissariat Taurida. There is also mention of a German naval base in Trondheim, Norway, where the Reich's nuclear submarines are based.
Berlin has been remodelled as Hitler's "capital of capitals" and is designed according to the wishes of Hitler and his top architect, Albert Speer, and is the world's largest city, with a population of ten million, where the virtually-powerless "European Parliament" is based.
In the novel, the rest of Western and Northern Europe, excluding Switzerland and Vatican City, has been corralled by Germany into a European Community, which is made up of Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The map provided shows Andorra was annexed by Spain and San Marino by Italy, and Liechtenstein was absorbed directly into Nazi Germany, similar to Austria. Eastern Europe is dominated by Germany and includes Croatia, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia. The European Community, despite having nominally-free nations under their own governments and leaders, are presumably only just able to police their own territory, and they are under constant watch by Berlin and are subordinate to Germany in all but name. The German flag over the headquarters is twice as big as those of the other nations.
The Reich had turned its eyes to Switzerland and sought to absorb its German-speaking cantons, but the stalemate of the Cold War settled in. Switzerland thus became a convenient neutral spot for diplomacy and for American and German intelligence agents to spy on each other and is the last state in Europe with a foreign policy that is independent of Berlin.
In the backstory, the United States is locked in a Cold War with Germany. Since the end of the war in 1946, both superpowers have developed nuclear and space technologies. Japan was defeated by the United States by the detonation of the atomic bomb. The United States is said to have not participated in the Olympic Games since 1936 but is expected to return in 1964. The novel refer to the League of Nations or to the possible existence of the United Nations.
A passing remark hints at China being ruled by a harsh government, but its precise nature and its leader are not mentioned. A greatly-reduced Soviet rump state, consisting of Siberia, the Russian Far East and Central Asia, still exists, with its capital in Omsk. The US supplies weapons and funds, which allow the Russians to tie down German forces in the Urals. Although German propaganda plays down the war on the Eastern Front, the war there is taking its toll.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand are now allied with the United States, and all of Latin America are pro-American satellites. Princess Elizabeth resides in Canada and is recognised by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and the United States as the rightful queen of the United Kingdom. Winston Churchill also lives in Canada.
The novel describes that since the end of the war, a stalemate has developed between Germany and the United States, which seems to overshadow international relations. New German buildings are constructed with mandatory bomb shelters, and the Reichsarchiv claims to have been built to withstand a direct missile hit.

Nazi society

In the novel, Germany concentrates on the containment of the Soviet Union. Hitler has taken some steps to soften his image over the years and now usually wears civilian clothes, instead of the party uniform. Nonetheless, no substantive changes have taken place in the regime's basic character. The Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933, the legal basis for Hitler's dictatorship, remain in effect. The press, the radio and the television are tightly controlled. Dissenters are still sent to concentration camps. Conditions in the camps are reputed to be as harsh as they were in the 1930s and 1940s, but the International Red Cross is occasionally given staged inspections.
In the novel, the bedrock of Nazi ideology is still the policy of blaming subversive and minority groups for Germany's economic and social problems. Jews, communists, homosexuals and interracial relationships continue to be scapegoats for the Nazis. Propaganda has previously depicted the United States to be corrupt, degenerate and poor. However, the imminent diplomatic meeting between Hitler and Kennedy forces German propaganda to shift to a more positive image of the United States and its people.
Despite its ideological and moral decline, Germany has a high standard of living, with its citizens living off the produce of their European satellite states and freed from physical labour by thousands of Polish, Czech and Ukrainian workers. The European nations export high-quality consumer goods to Germany and also provide services, such as an SS academy at Oxford University and imported domestic staff. Hitler's personal tastes in art and music remain the norm for German society.
Military service is still compulsory. Eastern Europe has been colonised by German settlers although local partisan resistance movements are still active, and the German population has soared as a result of Nazi emphasis on childbirth. As the first generation of Nazi leaders, which founded the party and came to power alongside Hitler, begins to die off, Nazi officials are increasingly well-educated technocrats in the mould of Albert Speer. The police force is integrated with the SS, with police officers having honorary SS ranks.
According to the main characters, however, German society in the early 1960s is becoming more and more rebellious. The younger generation has no memory of the instability that paved the way for Hitler's rise to power. Student protests, particularly against the war in the Urals; American and British cultural influence and growing pacifism are all found in society. Jazz music is still popular, and the German government claims to have come up with a version which is free from "Negroid influence". In spite of the general repressiveness, the Beatles' real-life Hamburg engagements have happened here and already been denounced in the state-run press. Germany is under constant attack by terrorist groups, with officials assassinated and civilian airliners bombed in-flight. Christianity is suppressed, and Nazi youth organisations are compulsory for all children. Universities are centres of student dissent, and the White Rose movement is once again active.
The Nazis continue with their policies for women by encouraging them to remain in the home and to bring up many children, but women are clearly present in the Nazi bureaucracy. Nazi organisations such as Kraft durch Freude still exist and fulfill their original roles such as providing holidays to resort areas under German control. German citizens are still encouraged to contribute to the Winterhilfswerk. A sprawling transport network covers the entire Reich, including a vast autobahn and railway network in the manner of the real-life proposed Breitspurbahn system, which carries immense trains.

Technology

The level of technology in the novel's 1960s is much the same as in real life. The German military uses jet aircraft, nuclear submarines, and aircraft carriers; civilian technology has also advanced considerably. Jet airliners, televisions, hair-dryers, coffee machines and photocopiers are used in Germany.
Both the United States and Germany appear to have sophisticated space technology. Germany's space program is based at the old rocket-testing facility at Peenemünde, on the Baltic coast. The extent of space exploration is not specified, but a conversation between March and Maguire suggests that German is justified in boasting about being ahead of the US in the Space Race.

Critical evaluations

British scholar Nancy Browne noted the similarities between the ending of Fatherland and that of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls: "Both novels end with the protagonist about to embark on a single-handed armed confrontation with a large number of Fascists or Nazis, of whose outcome there can be no doubt - but the reader does not witness the moment of his presumed death. Like Hemingway's Robert Jordan, Xavier March is facing this last moment with an exhilaration born of having no further doubts and dilemmas, no more crucial decisions which need to be made, nothing but going through on his chosen course and dying in a just cause. And like Jordan, in sacrificing himself March is ensuring the safe escape of the woman he loves.
The review by The Guardian, written by John Mullan, notes that Harris acknowledged a debt to Len Deighton's SS-GB, an earlier postwar alternative or "counter-factual" history that was set in Great Britain in late 1941 after the British surrender. Part 2 of the review states that Harris' "invention of a nightmarish alternative history is... compelling".

In other media

Film

A TV film of the book was made in 1994 by HBO, starring Rutger Hauer as March and Miranda Richardson as Maguire for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 1995 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV. Rutger Hauer's performance was also nominated, as well as the film itself. The film also received an Emmy nomination in 1995 for Special Visual Effects.
In January 2009 German movie company UFA planned another film adaption of the novel. By March 2012, Dennis Gansel and Matthias Pachte had teamed up to write the screenplay, with Gansel as a candidate for director.

Radio

The novel was serialised on BBC radio, starring Anton Lesser as March and Angeline Ball as Charlie Maguire. It was dramatised, produced and directed by John Dryden and was first broadcast on 9 July 1997. The ending is changed slightly to allow for the limitations of the medium: the entire Auschwitz camp is discovered in an abandoned state, and Maguire's passage into Switzerland is confirmed to have occurred.

Audiobook

The unabridged audiobook version of the novel was released by Random House Audio in 1993, read by Werner Klemperer, a refugee from Nazi Germany who is best remembered for his two-time Emmy Award-winning role of bumbling Colonel Klink on the 1960s TV series Hogan's Heroes.

Release details

The novel is in seven parts, each consisting of several chapters. The first six parts describe the fictitious events of Tuesday, 14 April, to Sunday, 19 April 1964, and are named after the individual days. The last part, Führertag is set on Hitler's 75th birthday, on Monday, 20 April 1964.

Citations

Works cited