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All for Nothing, by Walter Kempowski
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Winter, January 1945. It is cold and dark, and the German army is retreating from the Russian advance. Germans are fleeing the occupied territories in their thousands, in cars and carts and on foot. But in a rural East Prussian manor house, the wealthy von Globig family tries to seal itself off from the world.
Peter von Globig is twelve, and feigns a cough to get out of his Hitler Youth duties, preferring to sledge behind the house and look at snowflakes through his microscope. His father Eberhard is stationed in Italy - a desk job safe from the front - and his bookish and musical mother Katharina has withdrawn into herself. Instead the house is run by a conservative, frugal aunt, helped by two Ukrainian maids and an energetic Pole. Protected by their privileged lifestyle from the deprivation and chaos around them, and caught in the grip of indecision, they make no preparations to leave, until Katharina's decision to harbour a stranger for the night begins their undoing.
Brilliantly evocative and atmospheric of the period, sympathetic yet painfully honest about the motivations of its characters, All for Nothing is a devastating portrait of the self-delusions, complicities and denials of the German people as the Third Reich comes to an end. Like deer caught in headlights, they stare into a gaping maw they sense will soon close over them.
- Sales Rank: #220549 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-11-05
- Released on: 2015-11-05
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author
WALTER KEMPOWSKI (1929 - 2007) was one of Germany's most important post-war writers. He is known for his acclaimed series of novels German Chronicles (Deutsche Chronik) and his immense, eight-volume collection of first-hand accounts of World War II, Echo Soundings (Das Echolot), the final volume of which, Swansong 1945, was published by Granta in English in 2014. His last novel All for Nothing (Alles Umsonst), a bestseller in Germany in 2006 and critically applauded, sealed his reputation. It is available here in translation for the first time.
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Flight from the Russians: East Prussia, 1945
By Ralph Blumenau
The book opens in February 1945, in a small, somewhat isolated and dilapidated manor house near (fictional) Mitkau in East Prussia. It is a quiet place, but the Russian army is not far away; there is a lull in the fighting. Katarina von Globig lives there with her twelve year old son Peter, and a woman called Auntie who was running the place; Katarina’s husband Eberhard is an officer serving in a desk job in Italy. It is hard to heat the house and you never forget the bitter cold of that time; but the von Globig household lives comparatively comfortably in the first half of the book: they have their own chickens and geese, and relatives come from Berlin with empty suitcases and return with food from the countryside. There is a hostel for slave labourers near by, and the von Globigs have three voluntary foreign workers living in a cottage on their estate and working for them: a Polish man and two Ukrainian women. But it is hard to heat the house because of the frequent power cuts and it is bitterly cold.
In the first part of the book a series of individuals turn up at the manor house and ask for a little time to rest there before they make their way westward. They are readily given hospitality, and Katarina does not seem disturbed by the freedom with which they make what seem to me uncalled for and rather bossy comments. In any case, these particular visitors leave again within a day or two. We will meet them again fleetingly towards the end of the book; but they do not seem to me of particular significance.
The same might be said about some rather inconsequential and uninteresting chapters about the various people living in the house, though there are references to war-time conditions in the manor house and in Mitkau. Perhaps they are there to show the still rather prosaic way in which people were still living just before their world crashes around them.
The first dramatic thing that happens, about a third of the way through the book, is that the local pastor asks Katarina to shelter a refugee (he gives no details) for a night and a day, but to say nothing about it to anyone. She is frightened but she agrees. The refugee turns out to be a Jew who has been on the run for a long time and is hoping to join the Russians. When he leaves, she is greatly relieved that this danger is over - but we will see in due course that this is far from the case.
Half-way through the book, the Russians resume their offensive. Just then the Nazi deputy mayor of Mitkau, who has always resented the aristocrats in the manor house, took great pleasure in billetting refugees from the Russians on them. When one family leaves after several days, another family takes their place. Again it is remarkable how well the residents get on with these new visitors.
All this time streams of refugees fleeing from the Russians passed by the manor house. Eventually most of the von Globig household flees also, and now we get a picture of all the confusion, the horrors, the deaths on these treks, all described in a rather sober and matter-of-fact way. Th refugees were all streaming westwards - but then found that the Russians had cut off their road to the west and had to turn back and make their way north to the coast, where they hope ships can pick them up and take them into Germany. The columns of refugees was being strafed and bombed. Increasingly, as many of the other characters die, we see the story through the eyes of twelve year old Peter.
There were aspects of the book I did not like. I found the prosaic bits too long; thought the first group of visitors unconvincing; and was irritated by the frequent repetition of details like Katarina’s white Persian fur hat and Peter’s beloved microscope (to name just two of many). But the story is of course a haunting one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A truly cynical read .
By Ryan F. Jackson
gives quite the insight into the madness and confusion of wartime while maintaining the absurdity of normal emotions and concerNs when they should not matter. I would certainly read more by the author
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
I 'know' these people
By John F. Lynch
Quite a different sounding war story book, about a country that passed from existence. Glorious humor to be found in passing. Has seminal authenticity.
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