An unforgettable memoir of growing up in Nazi Germany.

First published in Germany in 1966, The Broken House is a memoir of growing up in Nazi Germany. Born in 1919, novelist and journalist Horst Kruger was fourteen when Hitler came to power. He was part of a resistance movement, escaped serious punishment and eventually was conscripted into the German army. When all was lost, he surrendered prematurely to the Americans and gave them vital coordinates, helping close down a battlefront early.

Kruger looks back to his youth in Eichkamp, Berlin, to try and figure out what the appeal of Hitler was. The enigma of the century, why was Hitler so popular, how did he get away with the murder of six million Jews? The irony, as he writes it, is that the sentimental, suburban, middle-class Germans who adored Hitler were not paid up Nazi members. Although in one passage Kruger describes his mother buying him a “pretty” swastika to put on his bicycle. It was this broad cohort of non-political Germans, Kruger maintains, who created Hitler. Without them Hitler couldn’t have existed. Indeed, it’s easy to see how respectable middle-class Germans turned a blind eye to the looming Holocaust. Jewish neighbours were disappearing left, right and centre, yet no alarm bells went off. People merely shrugged their shoulders.

In other chapters Kruger describes the strange middle class preoccupation with respectability. When his sister commits suicide, what seems more important, to his mother at least, is that appearances are kept up. They lie to the neighbours about her sudden and dramatic ambulance journey and Mrs Kruger is relieved that she died a virgin, her sacredness intact.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing and compelling chapters is the description of the trials for war crimes. A parade of unremarkable men – doctors, academics, public servants – are assembled in court. A seemingly innocuous bunch. It’s hard to put these respectable images next to the hideous crimes they performed. A perfect example of Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil.

For anyone trying to understand this incomprehensible period of history, The Broken House offers the feel, smell and mood of a Germany that thinks itself innocent, having emerged from the humiliations of the 1918 Versaille Treaty. Hitler offers the country self-esteem, hope and a bright future. But anti-semitism is everywhere around these simple German folk. It’s essential to Hitler’s madness. Failure to see these wrongs will form a large part of Germany’s downfall.

For some reason this fascinating time capsule has only recently been re-discovered in Germany, republished in 2019. It appears now in English for the first time. With the novelist’s gift for narrative, lyrical description and compelling character studies, Horst Kruger’s memoir is both aesthetically pleasing and of deep historical value. 

The Broken House: Growing Up Under Hitler, by Horst Kruger. Published by Jonathan Cape. $32.99

Review by Chris Saliba

Tippy, Uncle Pike and Devon re-form the Nancys when a bomb explosion rocks small town Riverstone.

When a bomb explodes in the small New Zealand town of Riverstone and kills three people, the police think they know who the culprit is. Willem Jansen, also known as “Mr Tulips”, had been having a few financial problems with his farm. He also held a grudge against the local council. When his van is parked early in the morning outside the town hall and explodes, it’s an open and shut case. Or is it? Enter the Nancys – Tippy Chan, her Uncle Pike and his partner Devon. A lot of questions remain unanswered and the trio take it upon themselves to investigate, until they finally crack the case, ruffling more than a few feathers along the way.

Nancy Business is the second book in an intended trilogy of books featuring the crime solving trio. The Nancys introduced the small town of Riverstone and its cast of idiosyncratic, often goofy characters – crappy ex-boyfriends, tough talking teens, dodgy real estate agents and hard boiled journos. The follow-up reprises these characters with some new additions. While the main thrust of the novel is the crime plot, other major storylines involve relationship troubles between Pike and Devon and Tippy’s ongoing questions about the nature of her father's sudden death in a car accident. Was it indeed an accident, or did something more sinister happen? The emotional heart of the story rests with 12-year-old Tippy who is desperately trying to keep her world together. The threat of her beloved Uncle Pike and Devon splitting up is too much to bear, and the nagging questions about her father mean she remains on psychologically uncertain ground. Where does she belong and how does she fit into this world, seems to be the recurring question.

Melbourne based New Zealand author R.W.R McDonald successfully keeps a lot of plates spinning in this warm, hilarious, campy whodunnit. All the different elements – the explosion, Pike and Devon’s troubles and Tippy’s concerns about her father – are beautifully balanced, resulting in a book that rises like a perfect souffle. A sequel that is just as good as its highly entertaining predecessor.

Nancy Business, by R.W.R. McDonald. Published by Allen & Unwin. $29.99

Review by Chris Saliba