The Edelweiss Pirates by Dirk Reinhardt, trans. Rachel Ward (Pushkin Press)
There are lots of books, fiction and non, about WW2 resistance movements but not that many of them are about German resistance. I knew that there were some as we read about Die Weisse Rose group as part of our German A-level course, and there is plenty about the July 1944 plot to kill Hitler.
What about the rest of the population - obviously living in such fear of reprisals from the SS and/or Gestapo made any form of resistance hard but there must have been some...
Reinhardt focuses his novel, around the real 'Edelweiss Pirates' who were concentrated around the Rhineland area, and much of his story is set in Koln/Cologne. The Pirates were not an organised group, nor were they highly political, just groups of people who didn't agree with the Nazis and refused to join the Hitler Youth or work for the Reich. They were often from the poorer areas of the towns and cities and not really benefiting from the so called prosperity of the Reich.
The story is simply told, a man meets an older man at his grandfather's grave and after some cryptic remarks in the cemetery they fall into a friendship and Josef Gerlach shares his diary from WW2 with Daniel and slowly we learn all about the Edelweiss Pirates and their actions during the war.
I loved reading a new history of the War, and the fictionalised story (based on detailed research) was shocking and eye opening, as well as being beautifully translated by Ward but...
I have two issues with the book as a whole.
1) The style of the diary - it repeatedly stressed that Gerlach and the other have had very little good schooling but the style was flowing and felt incredibly literate. I also can't see that in the circumstances he would have had the time and materials to write such a detailed diary. I'd have believed it more if it had been rough notes that had been written up immediately post war.
2)Who this book is aimed at. The back of the book lists Pushkin's children's books, including some of their books which are definitely for a much younger audience than this book. Retailers list it with other YA books, and Norfolk Libraries (where I borrowed my copy from) also classify it as teen which makes more sense but even then I think that it is for an older audience. Classifying it as YA also means that lots of adults won't come across it too...
On the whole a book I liked but didn't love but am glad to have read.
