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Fatherland (novel)
Encyclopedia
Fatherland is a bestselling
1992 thriller by the English writer and journalist
Robert Harris
. It takes the form of a high concept
alternative history
set in a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II
.
The novel
was an immediate bestseller in Britain. It has sold over three million copies and has been translated into 25 languages.
's 75th birthday. The plot follows detective
Xavier March, an investigator working for the Kriminalpolizei
(Kripo), as he investigates the suspicious death of a high-ranking Nazi, Josef Bühler
, in the Havel
, on the outskirts of Berlin. As March uncovers more details he realises that he is caught up in a political
scandal
involving senior Nazi party officials, who are apparently being systematically murdered under staged circumstances. In fact, as soon as the body is identified, the Gestapo
claims jurisdiction and orders the Kripo to close its investigation.
March meets with 'Charlie' Maguire, a female American journalist who is also determined to investigate the case. They both travel to Zürich
to investigate the private Swiss bank account of one of the murdered officials. Ultimately, the two uncover the horrific truth behind the staged murders. The Gestapo
is eliminating the remaining officials who planned the Holocaust (of which the German people are not generally aware) at the Wannsee Conference
of 1942. This is being done in order to safeguard an upcoming meeting of Hitler and President
Joseph P. Kennedy by ensuring that the crimes of the Nazi regime are not revealed. Maguire heads for neutral Switzerland with the evidence, hoping to expose it to the world. March, however, is denounced by his ten-year-old son and apprehended by the Gestapo.
In the cellars of Gestapo headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, March is tortured but does not reveal the location of Maguire. Kripo Chief Arthur Nebe
stages a rescue, intending to track March as he meets with Maguire at their rendezvous in Waldshut-Tiengen
on the Swiss/German border. March realises what is happening and heads for Auschwitz, leading the authorities in the wrong direction.
The Gestapo catches up with March at the unmarked site of Auschwitz's completely dismantled extermination camp. Knowing that Maguire has had time to cross the border into Switzerland, March searches for some sign that the death camp was real. As the Gestapo agents close in on him, March uncovers bricks in the undergrowth. Satisfied, he pulls out his gun while leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions.
The attendees of the Wannsee Conference
are central to the plot, although most of them are already dead at the time of the novel's events.
is that Reinhard Heydrich
survives the assassination attempt in May 1942 which in reality killed him. The Nazi offensives of 1942 (Case Blue) succeed in cutting the Soviet forces off from the Baku and Caucasus oilfields and starving the Red Army of fuel, and victory is declared in 1943. The Nazis also discover the British are reading their naval codes through Enigma and replace their ciphers. The German Navy then lures the British fleet into destruction by faking naval messages. Because of this, the U-boat blockade starves Britain into submission by 1944.
King George VI
and Winston Churchill
withdraw to Canada in exile. Edward VIII
regains the British throne at the helm of a pro-German puppet government, with Wallis Simpson as his queen. After being forced east, the remaining Soviet forces (still under Stalin) begin a protracted guerilla war.
Germany tests its first atom bomb in 1946 and fires an unarmed "V-3" missile that explodes above New York City
to demonstrate an ability to attack the continental United States with long-range missiles. The US has defeated Japan in 1945 using its own nuclear weapons. Thus, the US and Germany are the two superpowers of the world.
and most of the western Soviet Union
into the Greater German Reich. Following the signing of the Treaty of Rome, Western Europe
and Scandinavia are corralled into a pro-German trading bloc, the European Community.
The surviving areas of the Soviet Union, still led by Stalin, wage an endless guerrilla war with German forces in the Ural Mountains
. Mounting casualties (at least 100,000 since 1960, according to the novel) have sapped the German military, despite Hitler's earlier statement (quoted in the novel) about a perpetual war to keep the German people on their toes. The novel describes dead German soldiers being returned to Germany in the middle of the night and German citizens being encouraged to make contributions to Winterhilfswerk
("Winter Relief").
By 1964, the United States and the Greater German Reich are involved in a Cold War
. It is suggested that German boasts about being ahead of the Americans in the Space Race are justified.
The novel takes place from April 14-20, 1964, as Germany prepares for Hitler's 75th birthday celebrations on the 20th. A visit by the President of the United States
, Joseph P. Kennedy
, is planned as part of a gradual détente
between the United States and the Greater German Reich. The novel suggests that the Nazi hierarchy is eager for peace, because its efforts to settle the conquered Eastern lands are failing due to the American-backed guerrilla war waged by Soviet supporters.
The Holocaust has been explained away officially as merely the relocation of the Jewish population to the East into areas where communication and travel are still very poor, explaining why it is impossible for most of their relatives in the West to contact them. Despite this, many Germans suspect the government has eliminated the Jews.
, stretching from Alsace-Lorraine
(Westmark) in the west to the Ural Mountains
and lower Caucasus
in the east.
The Reich has retained Austria (now known as the "Ostmark"), the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
(formerly part of Czechoslovakia
), and Luxembourg
(now named "Moselland"). In the East, Germany has annexed Poland and Russia territory west of the Urals
has been divided into five Reichkommissariats: Ostland
(Belarus
and the Baltic states
), Ukraine
, Muscovy
(from Moscow to the Urals), and Caucasus
, along with Generalkommissariat Taurida (Southern Ukraine and the Crimea
). Also, the Reich holds control over the Antarctic territory known as New Swabia
.
Berlin has been remodelled as Hitler's "capital of capitals
", designed according to the wishes of Hitler and his top architect, Albert Speer
. By 1964, the city boasts gargantuan Nazi monuments; the Great Hall
holds 180,000 people at the highest Nazi ceremonies; the enormous Arch of Triumph is inscribed with the names of German soldiers killed in the two World Wars; and the straddling Grand Avenue, an immense boulevard
lined with captured Soviet artillery
and towering statues of Nazi eagles. The Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate
are dwarfed by the vast, severe, granite civil buildings which dominate Berlin's city centre; the Grand Plaza, the sprawling Berlin railway station, Hitler's mammoth palace, the headquarters of the German Army, and the parliament
of the powerless European Community.
The rest of Western Europe, excluding Switzerland, has been corralled by Germany into a European Community, formed from twelve nations: Norway, Sweden (which has surrendered its policy of neutrality
), Finland (which has absorbed Karelia
from Russia), Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland (which appears to have regained Northern Ireland
from Britain), France, Spain (as in real history led by Franco
), Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy (it is unspecified if Mussolini
is still in control). Other countries of Fatherlands Europe include Croatia
, Greece, Romania
(which has recovered Bessarabia
from the old USSR), a greatly expanded Hungary (which has retaken Transylvania
from neighbouring Romania, the state of Slovakia
is still led by Jozef Tiso
and Slovak People's Party
, Bulgaria
(which appears to have annexed Central Macedonia
and East Macedonia and Thrace
from Greece), Albania
, Serbia
, Iceland
, and Turkey
.
A virtually powerless "European Parliament
" is based in Berlin. At the European Parliament building, the flags of the member states are dwarfed by a swastika
flag twice the size of the other flags. The nations of Fatherlands EC, despite being nominally free under their own governments and leaders (such as Franco and Edward VIII), are closely watched by Germany. The military forces of the "free" nations of Europe are only just sufficient to police their own territory and their colonies
. European nations are under constant surveillance by Berlin and are subordinate to Germany in all but name.
Switzerland remains independent and is not a member of the European Community. By the time the Reich had turned its eyes to it, the stalemate of the Cold War was setting in and Switzerland had become a convenient neutral spot for American and German intelligence agents to spy on each other. Consequently, Switzerland is the last true democracy in Europe.
The United States is locked in a Cold War
with the Greater German Reich. Since the end of the war in 1946, both the US and Germany have developed sophisticated military, nuclear, and space technologies. Japan was defeated by the U.S. after the United States detonated two atomic bombs on Japanese territory. The United States is said to have not participated in the Olympic Games since 1936, but is expected to in 1964.
A passing reference hints at China being ruled by a harsh government. A greatly reduced Russian rump state
exists, with its capital at Omsk
. The United States supplies Russia with weapons and funds, which are used by the Russians to wage an endless guerrilla war with German forces in the Ural Mountains
. Although German propaganda plays down the war in the east, the death toll on the Eastern Front is severe. Africa is presumeably still controlled by the European colonial system. South America is not referred to in the novel.
The British Empire
retains its territories in Africa and Asia. Canada and Australia are now allied with the United States. Princess Elizabeth resides in Canada, continuing to reign over the remaining Commonwealth realm
s and claiming the British Crown from Edward VIII
following the presumed death of her father George VI
. Winston Churchill
, also in Canada, speaks out against the Greater German Reich, German-controlled Europe, and the puppet British regime. However, Great Britain is afforded a great deal of respect from the German Reich as its Empire and historical institutions were greatly admired by Adolf Hitler and German society in general even in the years before World War II.
The novel does not make references to the League of Nations
or to a possible existence of the United Nations
. The International Red Cross exists in the world of Fatherland.
The novel describes that since the end of the war, a nuclear stalemate has developed between Germany and the United States, which seems to overshadow international relations. New German buildings are constructed with mandatory fallout shelter
s; the Reichsarchiv (German National Archive) claims to have been built to withstand a direct missile hit. Despite the high death toll on the Eastern Front, the German military is afraid to use nuclear weapon
s in case they provoke an American nuclear attack on the Reich. It is not explicitly stated whether Germany and the United States are the only nuclear powers in the world of Fatherland.
Although Hitler has taken some steps to soften his image, no substantive changes have taken place in the Nazi regime's basic character. The Reichstag Fire Decree
and the Enabling Act of 1933, the legal bases for Hitler's dictatorship, still remain in effect. The press, radio and the new medium of television are very tightly controlled. Dissenters are dealt with very harshly, often being sent to concentration camps.
In the novel, the bedrock of Nazi ideology is still the policy of blaming subversives for social problems. Jews (see anti-semitism
), communists
, homosexuals
, incest
, and interracial relationships
(particularly between "Aryan
s" and Slav
s) continue being scapegoats for the Nazi Party. The Nazi view of other peoples has also been forced to change. With the extermination of the Jews now completed and most of Europe and Russia under German control, the Nazi Party appears to have spent the early 1960s blaming the United States for causing Germany's problems. Nazi propaganda has previously depicted America as a land of corruption, degeneracy and poverty. However, as the diplomatic meeting between Hitler and Kennedy nears, German propaganda is forced to change its image of America to a more positive view. In 1964, the Nazi Party no longer has any internal or external enemies left to fight and as a consequence, the very structure of Nazi society is starting to fall apart.
Despite its ideological and moral decline, Germany enjoys a very high standard of living, with its citizens living off the high-quality produce of their European satellite states and freed from physical labour by thousands of Polish, Czech
and Ukrainian slaves. The European nations produce high-quality consumer goods for German citizens while also providing services, such as the SS
academy at Oxford University and German holiday resorts in Spain, France, and Greece. Products from across Europe and their colonial empires flood into Germany, providing German citizens with a wide choice of high-quality goods. Hitler's crabbed, banal personal tastes in art
and music have become the norm for society, creating a stagnant and boringly repetitive cultural atmosphere.
The social structure of Nazi Germany has changed considerably from the 1940s. Military service is still compulsory. Eastern Europe has been colonized by German settlers (although local partisan
resistance movements are still active) and the German population has soared as a result of Nazi emphasis on childbirth. Increasing numbers of Nazi officials are university-educated bureaucrats. The SS serves as the country's police force, and concentration camps are still in existence for political dissidents, with the International Red Cross occasionally given staged inspections.
According to the main characters, however, German society in the early 1960s is becoming more and more rebellious. An increasing number of people have no memory of the instability that paved the way for Hitler's rise to power. Student protests, particularly against the war in the Urals, American and British cultural influence (including the rise of The Beatles
' popularity, already denounced in the official German press), and growing pacifism
are all found in Nazi society. Jazz music is still popular and Germany claims to have come up with a version which is free from "negro
influence". In spite of the general repressiveness, the Beatles' real-life Hamburg engagements have happened here as well. Germany appears to be under constant attack by terrorist
groups, with officials assassinated and civilian airliners bombed in-flight. Religion is now officially discouraged by the state, and the Hitler Youth
is compulsory for all children. Universities are centres of student dissent, and the White Rose
movement is once again active. The Nazis continue with their policies for women, encouraging women to remain in the home and bring up many children. Nazi organisations such as Kraft durch Freude still exist and fulfil their original roles. A sprawling transport network covers the entire Reich, including vast autobahnen and railways in the manner of the actually proposed Breitspurbahn
system, carrying immense trains.
, nuclear submarine
s, and aircraft carrier
s, while civilian technology has also advanced considerably. Jet airliners, television
s, hair-dryers and even photocopier
s are used in Germany.
The novel makes references to the space programmes of the United States and the Third Reich, both of whom appear to possess sophisticated space technology. Judging by a reference made by Maguire, both the United States and the Third Reich launched the first artificial satellites into orbit shortly after the war, from White Sands
and Peenemünde
respectively. The extent of space technology and exploration in the world of Fatherland is unknown.
, starring Rutger Hauer as March and Miranda Richardson
as Maguire for which she received a Golden Globe Award
in 1995 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV. Rutger Hauer's performance was also nominated, as well as the film itself. The film also received an Emmy nomination in 1995 for Special Visual Effects.
as March and Angeline Ball
as Charlie Maguire. It was dramatised, produced and directed by John Dryden
and first broadcast on 9 July 1997. The ending is changed slightly to allow for the limitations of the medium: the entire Auschwitz death camp is discovered in an abandoned state, and Charlie Maguire's passage into Switzerland definitely occurs.
Audio in 1993, read by Werner Klemperer
, best remembered for his two-time Emmy Award-winning role of bumbling Colonel Klink on the 60s TV series Hogan's Heroes
.
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
1992 thriller by the English writer and journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
Robert Harris
Robert Harris (novelist)
Robert Dennis Harris is an English novelist. He is a former journalist and BBC television reporter.-Early life:Born in Nottingham, Harris spent his childhood in a small rented house on a Nottingham council estate. His ambition to become a writer arose at an early age, from visits to the local...
. It takes the form of a high concept
High concept
High concept is a term used to refer to an artistic work that can be easily described by a succinctly stated premise.-Terminology:High concept narratives are typically characterised by an over-arching "what if?" scenario that acts as a catalyst for the following events...
alternative history
Alternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
set in a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II
Axis victory in World War II
An Axis victory in World War II is a common concept in alternate history. World War II alternate histories are one of the two most popular points of divergence in the English language...
.
The novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
was an immediate bestseller in Britain. It has sold over three million copies and has been translated into 25 languages.
Plot summary
The story begins in Nazi Germany, the Third Reich in April 1964, in the week leading up to Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's 75th birthday. The plot follows detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
Xavier March, an investigator working for the Kriminalpolizei
Kriminalpolizei
is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany during 1936, the Kripo became the Criminal Police Department for the entire Reich...
(Kripo), as he investigates the suspicious death of a high-ranking Nazi, Josef Bühler
Josef Bühler
Josef Bühler was a Nazi war criminal, secretary and deputy governor to the Nazi-controlled General Government in Kraków during World War II.- Background :...
, in the Havel
Havel
The Havel is a river in north-eastern Germany, flowing through the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and in length...
, on the outskirts of Berlin. As March uncovers more details he realises that he is caught up in a political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
involving senior Nazi party officials, who are apparently being systematically murdered under staged circumstances. In fact, as soon as the body is identified, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
claims jurisdiction and orders the Kripo to close its investigation.
March meets with 'Charlie' Maguire, a female American journalist who is also determined to investigate the case. They both travel to Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
to investigate the private Swiss bank account of one of the murdered officials. Ultimately, the two uncover the horrific truth behind the staged murders. The Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
is eliminating the remaining officials who planned the Holocaust (of which the German people are not generally aware) at the Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
of 1942. This is being done in order to safeguard an upcoming meeting of Hitler and President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Joseph P. Kennedy by ensuring that the crimes of the Nazi regime are not revealed. Maguire heads for neutral Switzerland with the evidence, hoping to expose it to the world. March, however, is denounced by his ten-year-old son and apprehended by the Gestapo.
In the cellars of Gestapo headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, March is tortured but does not reveal the location of Maguire. Kripo Chief Arthur Nebe
Arthur Nebe
SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe was a member of the NSDAP party with card number 574,307. In July 1931, he joined the SS and his membership number was 280,152. His early career included the Berlin position of Police Commissioner in the 1920s...
stages a rescue, intending to track March as he meets with Maguire at their rendezvous in Waldshut-Tiengen
Waldshut-Tiengen
Waldshut-Tiengen is a city in southwestern Baden-Württemberg right at the Swiss border. It is the district seat and at the same time the biggest city in Waldshut district and a "middle centre" in the area of the "high centre" Lörrach/Weil am Rhein to whose middle area most towns and communities in...
on the Swiss/German border. March realises what is happening and heads for Auschwitz, leading the authorities in the wrong direction.
The Gestapo catches up with March at the unmarked site of Auschwitz's completely dismantled extermination camp. Knowing that Maguire has had time to cross the border into Switzerland, March searches for some sign that the death camp was real. As the Gestapo agents close in on him, March uncovers bricks in the undergrowth. Satisfied, he pulls out his gun while leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions.
Fictional
- Xavier March. A detective in the KriminalpolizeiKriminalpolizeiis the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany during 1936, the Kripo became the Criminal Police Department for the entire Reich...
and a SturmbannführerSturmbannführerSturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
(majorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
) in the SSSchutzstaffelThe Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, March (nicknamed "Zavi" by his friends) is a 41-year-old divorcé living in Berlin. He has one son, Pili, who lives with March's ex-wife, Klara. March's father was mortally injured serving in the Kaiserliche MarineKaiserliche MarineThe Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
, the Imperial German Navy, in WWI and his mother was killed in a British bombing raid in 1942. March served on a U-BoatU-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
in the war and became a captain in 1946. He married after the war. His military service helps him rise through the ranks to detective. By 1964 he is unknowingly being watched by the GestapoGestapoThe Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
for what they perceive to be his half-hearted allegiance to the Nazi regime. In the German version of the book the English name of the main character is translated to "Xaver März", nicknamed "Xavi". - Charlotte "Charlie" Maguire. A 25-year-old American woman, Maguire lives in Berlin reporting for the obscure news agency World European Features. Midway through the novel, she and March fall in love and begin a relationship.
- Hermann Jost. An SS cadet, 19-year-old Jost discovers the corpse which triggers March's investigation. Midway through the novel, Jost disappears. The official explanation is that he has been sent to the Eastern FrontEastern Front (World War II)The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. - Paul "Pili" March. March's ten-year-old son, Pili lives with his mother and her partner in a bungalowBungalowA bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
in the suburbs of Berlin. Pili is a fully indoctrinated member of the Jungvolk — the junior section of the Hitler YouthHitler YouthThe Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
for boys between the ages of 10 and 14. Later in the novel, Pili (unaware of what they will do to him) denounces his father to the Gestapo. - Max Jaeger. March's Kripo partner, Jaeger is 50 and lives with his wife and four daughters in Berlin. At the end of the novel, Jaeger drives the getaway car that rescues March, but it is revealed that he was the one who had betrayed March.
- Walther Fiebes. Fiebes is a detective working in VB3, the Kripo's sexual crimes division, along the corridor from March's office. Fiebes spends all of his time at work, investigating (Party-defined) sexual crimes cases including rapeRapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, adulteryAdulteryAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, and interracial relationshipsMiscegenationMiscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
. - Rudolf "Rudi" Halder. March's wartime friend, Rudi is a historian working at the immense Central Archives, helping to compile an official history of the German military on the Eastern Front.
- Karl Krebs. Krebs is a well-educated young officer in the Gestapo.
Historical
- Odilo GlobocnikOdilo GlobocnikOdilo Lotario Globocnik was a prominent Austrian Nazi and later an SS leader. He was an acquaintance of Adolf Eichmann, who played a major role in the extermination of Jews and others during the Holocaust...
. A middle-aged ObergruppenführerObergruppenführerObergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
(generalGeneral (Germany)General is presently the highest rank of the German Army and Luftwaffe . It is the equivalent to the rank of Admiral in the German Navy .-Early history:...
) in the Gestapo, nicknamed "Globus". After March's apprehension by the Gestapo, Globus takes over March's interrogation and torture, administering several brutal beatings. - Artur Nebe. The chief of the Kripo, Nebe by 1964 is an old man with a sumptuous office in Berlin. Once Nebe ascertains the truth about what March has discovered, he quickly weaves a ruse to dupe March into revealing the whereabouts of the evidence.
- Reinhard HeydrichReinhard HeydrichReinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
. Having survived the assassinationOperation AnthropoidOperation Anthropoid was the code name for the targeted killing of top German SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief of the Reich Main Security Office , the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and a chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi German programme for the genocide of the...
attempt in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 1942 (which, in reality, had resulted in his death), Heydrich has risen to become Reichsführer-SSReichsführer-SSwas a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
and heir-apparent to Hitler. It is suggested that he engineered the airplane crash that killed Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
in 1962 to eventually take over the SS. - Other historical characters referred to in the book include Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, the elderly and increasingly reclusive Führer of the Greater German Reich. Hermann GöringHermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
is said to have died in 1951 and Berlin's main international airport was subsequently named after him. Joseph GoebbelsJoseph GoebbelsPaul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
is still in charge of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and Princess Elizabeth are living in exileExileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
in Canada. Edward VIIIEdward VIII of the United KingdomEdward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
and his consort Wallis reign as Emperor and Empress of the British EmpireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
is the President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. Charles LindberghCharles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
is the U.S. AmbassadorAmbassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Germany. Briefly mentioned are The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and their appearances in Hamburg a few years earlier.
The attendees of the Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
are central to the plot, although most of them are already dead at the time of the novel's events.
Alternate World War II history
Throughout the novel, Harris gradually explains the fictional historical developments that allowed Germany to prevail in World War II. The earliest point of divergencePoint of divergence
In discussion of counterfactual history, a divergence point , also referred to as a departure point or point of divergence , is a historical event with two possible postulated outcomes...
is that Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
survives the assassination attempt in May 1942 which in reality killed him. The Nazi offensives of 1942 (Case Blue) succeed in cutting the Soviet forces off from the Baku and Caucasus oilfields and starving the Red Army of fuel, and victory is declared in 1943. The Nazis also discover the British are reading their naval codes through Enigma and replace their ciphers. The German Navy then lures the British fleet into destruction by faking naval messages. Because of this, the U-boat blockade starves Britain into submission by 1944.
King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
withdraw to Canada in exile. Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
regains the British throne at the helm of a pro-German puppet government, with Wallis Simpson as his queen. After being forced east, the remaining Soviet forces (still under Stalin) begin a protracted guerilla war.
Germany tests its first atom bomb in 1946 and fires an unarmed "V-3" missile that explodes above New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to demonstrate an ability to attack the continental United States with long-range missiles. The US has defeated Japan in 1945 using its own nuclear weapons. Thus, the US and Germany are the two superpowers of the world.
Alternate post-war history
Having achieved victory in Europe, Germany annexes Eastern EuropeEastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and most of the western Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
into the Greater German Reich. Following the signing of the Treaty of Rome, Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and Scandinavia are corralled into a pro-German trading bloc, the European Community.
The surviving areas of the Soviet Union, still led by Stalin, wage an endless guerrilla war with German forces in the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
. Mounting casualties (at least 100,000 since 1960, according to the novel) have sapped the German military, despite Hitler's earlier statement (quoted in the novel) about a perpetual war to keep the German people on their toes. The novel describes dead German soldiers being returned to Germany in the middle of the night and German citizens being encouraged to make contributions to Winterhilfswerk
Winterhilfswerk
The Winterhilfswerk was an annual drive by the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt to help finance charitable work. Its slogan was "None shall starve nor freeze"...
("Winter Relief").
By 1964, the United States and the Greater German Reich are involved in a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. It is suggested that German boasts about being ahead of the Americans in the Space Race are justified.
The novel takes place from April 14-20, 1964, as Germany prepares for Hitler's 75th birthday celebrations on the 20th. A visit by the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, Joseph P. Kennedy
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
, is planned as part of a gradual détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
between the United States and the Greater German Reich. The novel suggests that the Nazi hierarchy is eager for peace, because its efforts to settle the conquered Eastern lands are failing due to the American-backed guerrilla war waged by Soviet supporters.
The Holocaust has been explained away officially as merely the relocation of the Jewish population to the East into areas where communication and travel are still very poor, explaining why it is impossible for most of their relatives in the West to contact them. Despite this, many Germans suspect the government has eliminated the Jews.
Greater German Reich and international politics
The first few pages of Fatherland feature two maps: one of the city centre of Berlin and another showing the extent of the massively expanded Greater German ReichNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, stretching from Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
(Westmark) in the west to the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
and lower Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
in the east.
The Reich has retained Austria (now known as the "Ostmark"), the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
(formerly part of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
), and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
(now named "Moselland"). In the East, Germany has annexed Poland and Russia territory west of the Urals
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
has been divided into five Reichkommissariats: Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...
(Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
and the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
), Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine , literally "Reich Commissariat of Ukraine", was the civilian occupation regime of much of German-occupied Ukraine during World War II. Between September 1941 and March 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Reichskommissar Erich Koch as a colony...
, Muscovy
Reichskommissariat Moskau
Reichskommissariat Moskowien , literally "Reich Commissariat of Muscovy ", was the civilian occupation regime that Nazi Germany intended to create in central and northern European Russia during World War II, one of several similar Reichskommissariate...
(from Moscow to the Urals), and Caucasus
Reichskommissariat Kaukasus
Reichskommissariat Kaukasus , literally "Reich Commissariat of the Caucasus ", was the theoretical political division and planned civilian occupation regime of Nazi Germany in the conquered territories of the Caucasus during World War II...
, along with Generalkommissariat Taurida (Southern Ukraine and the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
). Also, the Reich holds control over the Antarctic territory known as New Swabia
New Swabia
New Swabia is a cartographic name sometimes given to an area of Antarctica between 20°E and 10°W in Queen Maud Land, which within Norway is administered as a Norwegian dependent territory under the Antarctic Treaty System...
.
Berlin has been remodelled as Hitler's "capital of capitals
Welthauptstadt Germania
Welthauptstadt Germania refers to the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Germany after the planned victory in World War II...
", designed according to the wishes of Hitler and his top architect, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
. By 1964, the city boasts gargantuan Nazi monuments; the Great Hall
Volkshalle
The ' , also called ' or ' , was a huge domed monumental building planned by Adolf Hitler and his architect Albert Speer for Germania. The project was never accomplished....
holds 180,000 people at the highest Nazi ceremonies; the enormous Arch of Triumph is inscribed with the names of German soldiers killed in the two World Wars; and the straddling Grand Avenue, an immense boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
lined with captured Soviet artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
and towering statues of Nazi eagles. The Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
are dwarfed by the vast, severe, granite civil buildings which dominate Berlin's city centre; the Grand Plaza, the sprawling Berlin railway station, Hitler's mammoth palace, the headquarters of the German Army, and the parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
of the powerless European Community.
The rest of Western Europe, excluding Switzerland, has been corralled by Germany into a European Community, formed from twelve nations: Norway, Sweden (which has surrendered its policy of neutrality
Neutral country
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
), Finland (which has absorbed Karelia
Karelia
Karelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
from Russia), Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland (which appears to have regained Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
from Britain), France, Spain (as in real history led by Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
), Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy (it is unspecified if Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
is still in control). Other countries of Fatherlands Europe include Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, Greece, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
(which has recovered Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
from the old USSR), a greatly expanded Hungary (which has retaken Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
from neighbouring Romania, the state of Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
is still led by Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
and Slovak People's Party
Slovak People's Party
The Slovak People's Party was a Slovak right-wing party and was described as a fascist and...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
(which appears to have annexed Central Macedonia
Central Macedonia
Central Macedonia is one of the thirteen regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the region of Macedonia. With a population of over 1.8 million, it is the second most populous in Greece after Attica.- Administration :...
and East Macedonia and Thrace
East Macedonia and Thrace
East Macedonia and Thrace is one of the thirteen regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the country, comprising the eastern part of the region of Macedonia along with the region of Thrace, and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace....
from Greece), Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
A virtually powerless "European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
" is based in Berlin. At the European Parliament building, the flags of the member states are dwarfed by a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
flag twice the size of the other flags. The nations of Fatherlands EC, despite being nominally free under their own governments and leaders (such as Franco and Edward VIII), are closely watched by Germany. The military forces of the "free" nations of Europe are only just sufficient to police their own territory and their colonies
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
. European nations are under constant surveillance by Berlin and are subordinate to Germany in all but name.
Switzerland remains independent and is not a member of the European Community. By the time the Reich had turned its eyes to it, the stalemate of the Cold War was setting in and Switzerland had become a convenient neutral spot for American and German intelligence agents to spy on each other. Consequently, Switzerland is the last true democracy in Europe.
The United States is locked in a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
with the Greater German Reich. Since the end of the war in 1946, both the US and Germany have developed sophisticated military, nuclear, and space technologies. Japan was defeated by the U.S. after the United States detonated two atomic bombs on Japanese territory. The United States is said to have not participated in the Olympic Games since 1936, but is expected to in 1964.
A passing reference hints at China being ruled by a harsh government. A greatly reduced Russian rump state
Rump state
A rump state is the remnant of a once-larger government, left with limited powers or authority after a disaster, invasion, military occupation, secession or partial overthrowing of a government. In the last case, a government stops short of going in exile because it still controls part of its...
exists, with its capital at Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
. The United States supplies Russia with weapons and funds, which are used by the Russians to wage an endless guerrilla war with German forces in the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
. Although German propaganda plays down the war in the east, the death toll on the Eastern Front is severe. Africa is presumeably still controlled by the European colonial system. South America is not referred to in the novel.
The British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
retains its territories in Africa and Asia. Canada and Australia are now allied with the United States. Princess Elizabeth resides in Canada, continuing to reign over the remaining Commonwealth realm
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
s and claiming the British Crown from Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
following the presumed death of her father George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, also in Canada, speaks out against the Greater German Reich, German-controlled Europe, and the puppet British regime. However, Great Britain is afforded a great deal of respect from the German Reich as its Empire and historical institutions were greatly admired by Adolf Hitler and German society in general even in the years before World War II.
The novel does not make references to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
or to a possible existence of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. The International Red Cross exists in the world of Fatherland.
The novel describes that since the end of the war, a nuclear stalemate has developed between Germany and the United States, which seems to overshadow international relations. New German buildings are constructed with mandatory fallout shelter
Fallout shelter
A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War....
s; the Reichsarchiv (German National Archive) claims to have been built to withstand a direct missile hit. Despite the high death toll on the Eastern Front, the German military is afraid to use nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s in case they provoke an American nuclear attack on the Reich. It is not explicitly stated whether Germany and the United States are the only nuclear powers in the world of Fatherland.
Nazi society
In the novel, Western Europe has been left relatively untouched by the Reich, as Germany concentrates on the conquest of what is left of the USSR. The United Kingdom holds on to the remains of its empire and Germany relies on the British to keep the peace in Africa and Asia.Although Hitler has taken some steps to soften his image, no substantive changes have taken place in the Nazi regime's basic character. The Reichstag Fire Decree
Reichstag Fire Decree
The Reichstag Fire Decree is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State issued by German President Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933. The decree nullified many of the key civil liberties of German...
and the Enabling Act of 1933, the legal bases for Hitler's dictatorship, still remain in effect. The press, radio and the new medium of television are very tightly controlled. Dissenters are dealt with very harshly, often being sent to concentration camps.
In the novel, the bedrock of Nazi ideology is still the policy of blaming subversives for social problems. Jews (see anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
), communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, homosexuals
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, and interracial relationships
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
(particularly between "Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
s" and Slav
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
s) continue being scapegoats for the Nazi Party. The Nazi view of other peoples has also been forced to change. With the extermination of the Jews now completed and most of Europe and Russia under German control, the Nazi Party appears to have spent the early 1960s blaming the United States for causing Germany's problems. Nazi propaganda has previously depicted America as a land of corruption, degeneracy and poverty. However, as the diplomatic meeting between Hitler and Kennedy nears, German propaganda is forced to change its image of America to a more positive view. In 1964, the Nazi Party no longer has any internal or external enemies left to fight and as a consequence, the very structure of Nazi society is starting to fall apart.
Despite its ideological and moral decline, Germany enjoys a very high standard of living, with its citizens living off the high-quality produce of their European satellite states and freed from physical labour by thousands of Polish, Czech
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
and Ukrainian slaves. The European nations produce high-quality consumer goods for German citizens while also providing services, such as the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
academy at Oxford University and German holiday resorts in Spain, France, and Greece. Products from across Europe and their colonial empires flood into Germany, providing German citizens with a wide choice of high-quality goods. Hitler's crabbed, banal personal tastes in art
Heroic art
The art of the Third Reich, the officially approved art produced in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, was characterized by a style of Romantic realism based on classical models...
and music have become the norm for society, creating a stagnant and boringly repetitive cultural atmosphere.
The social structure of Nazi Germany has changed considerably from the 1940s. Military service is still compulsory. Eastern Europe has been colonized by German settlers (although local partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
resistance movements are still active) and the German population has soared as a result of Nazi emphasis on childbirth. Increasing numbers of Nazi officials are university-educated bureaucrats. The SS serves as the country's police force, and concentration camps are still in existence for political dissidents, with the International Red Cross occasionally given staged inspections.
According to the main characters, however, German society in the early 1960s is becoming more and more rebellious. An increasing number of people have no memory of the instability that paved the way for Hitler's rise to power. Student protests, particularly against the war in the Urals, American and British cultural influence (including the rise of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' popularity, already denounced in the official German press), and growing pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
are all found in Nazi society. Jazz music is still popular and Germany claims to have come up with a version which is free from "negro
Negro
The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
influence". In spite of the general repressiveness, the Beatles' real-life Hamburg engagements have happened here as well. Germany appears to be under constant attack by terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
groups, with officials assassinated and civilian airliners bombed in-flight. Religion is now officially discouraged by the state, and the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
is compulsory for all children. Universities are centres of student dissent, and the White Rose
White Rose
The White Rose was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor...
movement is once again active. The Nazis continue with their policies for women, encouraging women to remain in the home and bring up many children. Nazi organisations such as Kraft durch Freude still exist and fulfil their original roles. A sprawling transport network covers the entire Reich, including vast autobahnen and railways in the manner of the actually proposed Breitspurbahn
Breitspurbahn
The Breitspurbahn was a planned broad-gauge railway, a personal pet project of Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich of Germany, supposed to run on 3 metre gauge track with double-deck coaches between major cities of Grossdeutschland, Hitler's expanded Germany.-History:Since reparations due after...
system, carrying immense trains.
Technology
The level of technology in Fatherland is much the same as in the actual 1960s, and in some respects, is more advanced. The German military makes use of jet aircraftJet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
, nuclear submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, and aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s, while civilian technology has also advanced considerably. Jet airliners, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
s, hair-dryers and even photocopier
Photocopier
A photocopier is a machine that makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. Most current photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process using heat...
s are used in Germany.
The novel makes references to the space programmes of the United States and the Third Reich, both of whom appear to possess sophisticated space technology. Judging by a reference made by Maguire, both the United States and the Third Reich launched the first artificial satellites into orbit shortly after the war, from White Sands
White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost in parts of five counties in southern New Mexico. The largest military installation in the United States, WSMR includes the and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range...
and Peenemünde
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
respectively. The extent of space technology and exploration in the world of Fatherland is unknown.
Film
A TV movie of the book was made in 1994 by HBOHome Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
, starring Rutger Hauer as March and Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
as Maguire for which she received a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
in 1995 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV. Rutger Hauer's performance was also nominated, as well as the film itself. The film also received an Emmy nomination in 1995 for Special Visual Effects.
Differences
- The film changes the historical time line divergence in the novel to the Germans successfully defeating the Allies during the D-Day invasionD-DayD-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
in June 1944. Princess Elizabeth and Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
flee from the United Kingdom to Canada, while Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
resigns in disgrace. With defeating Nazism in Europe now seemingly hopeless, America turns its back on the war in Europe and focuses on Japan, thus allowing Germany to regroup and defeat the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. It also states that in 1964, the 85-year-old Joseph StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
is still alive and leading a Soviet Union rump state similar to the version in the novel in an endless guerrilla war against Germany. Unlike in the novel, no European Union is formed as Western and Southern Europe are annexed into the Reich, now known as "Germania". Unlike in the novel the German border with the Soviet Union is shown to be the same as it was in 1941 before Operation BarbarossaOperation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
(apart from the Baltic StatesBaltic statesThe term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
which are part of the Reich). This coincides with the film's story of the war ending in mid-1944, by which time German forces had been mostly pushed out of Soviet territory. - The film starts out showing Jost seeing Bühler's body dumped, not how March inspects the crime scene. Also other episodes that are told in the book to March by the witnesses are shown immediately when they happen in the plot. The murder of LutherMartin Luther (diplomat)Martin Franz Julius Luther was an early member of the Nazi Party. He served as an advisor to Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, first in the Dienststelle Ribbentrop , and later in the Auswärtiges Amt as a diplomat when von Ribbentrop replaced Konstantin von Neurath...
(Luther's name is changed in the film from "Martin" to his middle name of "Franz") in the book, which takes place on the steps of the Great HallVolkshalleThe ' , also called ' or ' , was a huge domed monumental building planned by Adolf Hitler and his architect Albert Speer for Germania. The project was never accomplished....
, is in the film reduced to a shoot-out in a subway station. - March and Maguire seem to be older than described in the novel, and they do not have a sexual relationship. In the book there is a Gestapo record on March that shows his distance to the regime very clearly and becomes dangerous to him; Maguire is decidedly against President Joseph Kennedy whom she considers to be antisemitic. These views are changed in the film to reflect more of the Cold War between Germany and America. Maguire is pro-American and rather hopeful for Kennedy's visit, while March expresses the opposite view.
- The most important alteration may be the way in which the Holocaust is revealed to the main characters and to the American public. In the novel, it is March who has an old and genuine interest in the fate of the Jews and who finds out the truth through Luther's documents hidden in a Berlin airport. In the film, Maguire gets the documents from Luther's mistress who does not know about his death and believes that she will later go with him to America. The mistress is radically anti-Semitic and joyfully reveals the murder of the Jews to a shocked Maguire. When Maguire tells this to March in a park, the patriotic March initially does not want to believe the story but the documents, including photographs of murdered people, convince him.
- While the novel arguably has Maguire escape to Switzerland with the documents she is going to publish in America (March has a vision of her escaping, her escape is not described), in the film she passes them to a colleague. In the film the American president is actually visiting Germany (in the book the visit is scheduled only for September). Hitler waits for Kennedy in front of a huge audience, but Maguire's friend breaks through the cordon and presents the papers to the US ambassador and Kennedy just as their motorcade stops for the president to meet Hitler. Kennedy, appearing shocked by the photographs, abruptly leaves the scene. A loudspeaker tells the crowd (and Hitler) that Kennedy is returning to America immediately.
- As in the novel, March is denounced by his son to the Gestapo. However, the ending then diverges from the novel as March is killed by the Gestapo in Berlin while trying to take his son with him to America. The film diverges from the novel as well for Maguire as she is last seen waiting for March and his son so they can escape back to America together. At the end, a voiceover from March's son tells that Maguire was captured by the Gestapo as the revelations of the Holocaust and the lack of a strategic alliance with the USA causes the Nazi regime to collapse.
- Wilhelm Stuckart, another murder victim, was renamed to Walter Stuckart.
- The section of the novel where March and Maguire travel to Switzerland to trace a bank account opened by Luther is absent from the film version.
- SS-Cadet Jost is murdered in the film to ensure his silence, whereas in the book it is said that he was transferred to a combat unit on the front lines with the Waffen-SSWaffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
. Given the context in which Jost's "transfer" is described, however, most readers would assume that he was murdered by Globus to derail the investigation. In the film March told Jost that he knew his mother. - Charlie Maguire is just arriving in Germany in the film, but in the book she had been there for over six months.
Historical inaccuracies
- The capital of the Greater German Reich is Berlin, yet Hitler specifically wanted to rename it Welthauptstadt GermaniaWelthauptstadt GermaniaWelthauptstadt Germania refers to the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Germany after the planned victory in World War II...
. Instead, 'Germania' appears as another name for the Reich. - Throughout the film, the SS wear M1932 black uniforms, for which they became infamous. However, around 1934, and in the wake of the Night of the Long KnivesNight of the Long KnivesThe Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
, the SS adopted a grey service uniform which resembled that worn by the ReichswehrReichswehrThe Reichswehr formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht ....
and WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. - In part of the film, a Nazi is seen escorting convicts through a Berlin park. Despite being clearly middle aged, the man wears a Hitlerjugend swastika band on his arm. This band specifically was redesigned in the early 1920's to distinguish HJ members from the SA, whose younger members were often mistaken for Hitler Youths. The same man also wears the M1929 SS uniform of a brown-shirt and black breaches, yet this uniform was retired in 1932, to be replaced with the aforementioned M1932 uniform.
- During the film, some swastikas appear which do not adhere to Hitler's designs. A Nazi swastika should be clockwise rotating and fit on a 5x5 grid, however some fail to do this.
- Motor vehicles clearly drive along the North-South Axis, from the Arch of Triumph to the People's Hall. However, this was to be closed off as a parade ground for the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf HitlerThe Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...
, and all traffic diverted into an underground highway running directly underneath the parade route; sections of this highway's tunnel structure were built, and still exist today.
Radio
The novel was also serialised on BBC radio, starring Anton LesserAnton Lesser
Anton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
as March and Angeline Ball
Angeline Ball
Angeline Ball is an award-winning Irish actress who currently resides in London, England. She is a trained dancer in ballet, tap and modern dance. Her breakthrough role came in 1991 when she starred alongside Maria Doyle Kennedy and Bronagh Gallagher as back-up singer Imelda Quirke in Alan...
as Charlie Maguire. It was dramatised, produced and directed by John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
and first broadcast on 9 July 1997. The ending is changed slightly to allow for the limitations of the medium: the entire Auschwitz death camp is discovered in an abandoned state, and Charlie Maguire's passage into Switzerland definitely occurs.
Audiobook
The unabridged audiobook version of the novel was released by Random HouseRandom House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
Audio in 1993, read by Werner Klemperer
Werner Klemperer
Werner Klemperer was a comedic and dramatic actor, best known for his role as Colonel Klink on the CBS television sitcom, Hogan's Heroes.-Early life:...
, best remembered for his two-time Emmy Award-winning role of bumbling Colonel Klink on the 60s TV series Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
.
Release details
- 1992, UK, Hutchinson (ISBN 0-09-174827-5), Pub date 7 May 1992, hardback (First edition)
- 1993, UK, Arrow (ISBN 0-09-926381-5), Pub date 12 May 1993, paperback
See also
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- It Happened HereIt Happened HereIt Happened Here is a 1966 British film, directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo. It is set in an alternate history in which Nazi Germany successfully invades and occupies the United Kingdom during World War II.-Setting:...
- The Man in the High CastleThe Man in the High CastleThe Man in the High Castle is a science fiction alternate history novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It won a Hugo Award in 1963 and has since been translated into many languages....
- The DivideThe Divide (novel)The Divide is a 1980 alternate history novel by William Overgard.-Background - historical divergence from our history:After the Nazis force the surrender of Britain and France in 1940, Burton K. Wheeler, running as the Isolationist Party candidate, defeats President Franklin Roosevelt on a pledge...
- The Ultimate SolutionThe Ultimate SolutionThe Ultimate Solution is an 1973 alternate history by journalist and former Playboy interviewer Eric Norden, set in a world where the Axis forces won World War II and partitioned the world between them, and is noted for its particularly grim tone....
- 19451945 (novel)1945 is an alternate history co-authored by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen in 1995, describing the period immediately after World War II wherein the United States had fought only against Japan, allowing Nazi Germany to force a truce with the Soviet Union, after which the two victors...
- SS-GBSS-GBSS-GB is an alternate history novel by Len Deighton, set in a United Kingdom fictionally conquered and occupied by Germany during World War II. The novel's title refers to the branch of the Nazi SS that controls Britain.-Plot summary:...
- In the Presence of Mine EnemiesIn the Presence of Mine EnemiesIn the Presence of Mine Enemies is an alternate history novel by American author Harry Turtledove, expanded from the eponymous short story. The novel depicts a world where the United States remained isolationist and did not participate in the Second World War, thus allowing victory to the Axis...
- CollaboratorCollaborator (novel)Collaborator is an alternate history novel by Murray Davies, published as a hardcover on 19 September 2003 and released in paperback in the United Kingdom and the United States in September 2004. The novel is set in a Nazi-occupied Great Britain in 1940 and 1941...
- The Sound of His HornThe Sound of His HornThe Sound of His Horn is a 1952 dystopian time travel/alternate history novel by the senior British diplomat John William Wall, written with the pseudonym Sarban. It relates the story of a British naval lieutenant, Alan Querdillon who, after becoming a POW during the Battle of Crete awakens in a...
- The Iron DreamThe Iron DreamThe Iron Dream is a metafictional 1972 alternate history novel by Norman Spinrad.The book has a nested narrative that tells a story within a story. On the surface, the novel presents an unexceptional pulp, post-apocalypse science fiction action tale entitled Lord of the Swastika...
- The Proteus OperationThe Proteus OperationThe Proteus Operation is a science fiction novel which was written by James P. Hogan and published in 1985. Alternate history, time travel, and parallel universes form the basis of its plot, in which a group of military commandos, diplomats, and scientists travel back to 1939...
- Clash of EaglesClash of Eagles-Plot summary:Nazi Germany launched a major invasion across the Atlantic, out of the United Kingdom which was conquered in the previous year. German forces under Erwin Rommel land in Quebec and sweep across New England to New York City...
- Making History
- Swastika NightSwastika NightSwastika Night is a futuristic novel first published in 1937 and republished in 1940 by Katharine Burdekin, writing under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. Swastika Night was a Left Book Club selection in 1940....
- '48
- The Children's WarThe Children's WarThe Children's War is a 2001 alternate history novel by J.N. Stroyar. It is was followed by the sequel A Change of Regime. The book was the long form winner of the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2001.-Background:...