Winter

I have read a lot of first hand accounts, not exhaustively, of European history 1918 – 1990.

Google sat nav tells me to “slide” into a road. I fret we are sliding into war again. The similarities with the 1930s are all too obvious. What do I do? I turn on the central heating, put out the rubbish, make a cup of coffee and look forward to a walk in a park with a goddaughter. I have a capacity to live in the present and largely ignore factors beyond my control, otherwise I’d go insane. At the same time it’s important to read history, otherwise I have no way to calibrate events today. This inevitably leads to uncertainty. I watched Sir Tony Blair being interviewed by Mr Amol Rajan and was struck but how little self doubt either of them possess.

I digress. Nine years ago I mentioned The Cazalet Chronicles (Elizabeth Jane Howard) and gave the impression I would read the series. Well I didn’t. I switched from fiction to fact in 2016 (SS-GB). But I am open minded and last week read Winter: A Berlin Family – 1899-1945. It’s by Len Deighton but outside his genre: spy novels and a cookery book. It is a family saga spreading from Russia to California and telling rather well the history of Germany through one extended family and its satellites. It’s a good history primer in the same way as The Kappillan of Malta encompasses Malta’s history but I found Winter thin gruel because I had read too many memoirs and histories, too recently. It is hard to be gripped by a fictional account of those disturbing years.

Having got that off my chest Deighton has explored the complexities of German history leading up to the Second World War explaining through his fictional family what happened and what motivated Germans. Like a gruesome game of Snakes and Ladders some went up but for many not prepared to overtly support the National Socialists or, worse, seeking to be good Germans and good Jews, life turned to tragedy. He tells a story of conflicting loyalties well and if you haven’t already read too many real-life accounts of the period it should be food for thought. One for your book club.