Winter Men

For me Winter Men was an interesting counterpoint to Alone In Berlin which I read earlier in the month. Both novels portray aspects of the Second World War from a German perspective, but Alone In Berlin concentrates more on the civilian experiences whereas the leading protagonists of Winter Men are soldiers. Karl and Gerhard, and Karl's son August, find themselves drawn into a war that they don't really support, but which they find it impossible to avoid. Gerhard is coerced, Karl yearns to return to his Great War soldiering, and August has grown up as one of the Hitler Youth (membership is compulsory) so isn't really aware of any other choice.

As Germany begins to annexe parts of Czechoslovakia and then declares war on Poland, the three men's lives diverge. Each is sent to a different theatre or war therby enabling Kold to show readers the full horror of Germany's war from the Kristalnacht to the concentration camps, and from the bitter winters in Russia and the Ukraine to the destruction of French village 'Balfour-sur-Roche' (which I can only think is a renamed Oradour-sur-Glane as the events are practically identical). The scope is ambitious, but unfortunately I felt that by trying to include so many events, the effectiveness of each was diminished. Winter Men isn't a particularly long novel so it all felt too rushed. I think I would have preferred to have followed only one man's story and in greater depth.

As to which of the three, the brothers at least are pretty much interchangeable characters. We are repeatedly told that, despite being brothers, Karl and Gerhard are complete opposites, but I didn't feel that this really came across in their personalities and I often lost track of which I was reading about. I was also unsure as to whether I was supposed to empathise with their actions? We see the men witnessing, abetting and then committing one violent act after another and we are told that they are opposed to what is happening, yet I didn't feel I actually Saw this opposition. I was left feeling uncomfortable about being encouraged to feel sorry for the Winter Men when it seemed that so many people with whom they had contact came out of it far, far worse.