The German Heiress: A Novel

I remember hearing about the ‘collaborators’ and former Nazi personnel living their ‘best lives’ in Germany after the war. Everyone in the little town knew who they were, what they did, and still, there was little shaming or ostracizing. A few even managed to keep their ‘spoils of war’, passing these stolen goods along to family as their own lives came to an end. I was alternately horrified and angered – as I never did find the “I was following orders” excuse to hold water. But I’d not thought it through – like many people today in this country, we are collectively impacted by the votes of others, and their actions are directly impacting our own lives. Having relatives who were Resistance fighters in France, I heard much of the horrors – but little of the morality play that came into decisions for those Germans who, in survival mode, choose wrongly or poorly as they saw no other option. That brings us to the story of Clara, and how she managed her time in the war – her justifications as she continued to run the family company, her money, and her choice to assume a new identity after the war to evade capture. Sometimes the worst lies we tell are those we tell ourselves to justify actions that are questionable: bad choices, situations that seem clear from a survival standpoint often become murky in the aftermath when the options are all played out. And this brought a series of thoughts to mind as Clara, feeling she had no choices, kept working for and with the Reich from her position of ownership in a factory- and her ‘justifications to herself’ that she had done all she could for the now, slave laborers in her company. After it all, when she sees that staying as Clara leaves a target on her back, she’s taken a new identity, closed in her life to a few people, and constantly watchful, always thinking of how she came to be there – and what she did that was “right” in a situation that has now been shown to be all wrong. Dark, intense and twisted, almost despite myself I was ‘empathetic’ to Clara’s situation – while seeing what she could have seen, or failed to see, or when a choice felt particularly selfish and only to benefit her. But now, as she is running and hiding, she’s starting to become aware of her part in the horrors, and where she may have made a choice that wasn’t particularly morally correct. Still struggling with those decisions and her past, Clara was clearly showing us a morality play in real time: exposing horrors that she claimed to not know of, believing that her ‘treatment’ of employees / slaves was fair – and not until she decided to seek out her former best friend and her son that things really started to turn for her personally. It was hard to trust her ‘telling’ of the story as the only voice, not until the struggles of others, and her recognition of the roles she played (if never actually taking real responsibility) as secrets come out and lines of connections are unearthed that the force of the story comes forward. From a justification and half-hearted recognition to the actual struggles that were (and are) common to us all- this book is a difficult read, thoroughly researched, and will leave you with plenty of moments to wonder “what would I do differently?”. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

She was called The Iron Fräulein, Clara Falkenberg was a curiously captivating and intriguing study of contrasts. Her mother was British yet appeared far more fanatic about the Nazi agenda than her opportunistic German father. Clara was the only daughter and the publicity darling for her wealthy family’s ironworks business, which made several more fortunes during the war using forced labor. Clara was also the former Reich’s most eligible heiress and graced magazines on both sides of the ocean. However, in post-war Germany, her notoriety worked against her. This was my introduction to the powerful and emotive word voodoo of Anika Scott and wow, does this gal have some major skills! The storylines were smartly crafted and absorbing, intricate, well scaffolded, intriguing, thoughtfully observant, and heart-squeezing while cast with a peculiar assortment of broken, flawed, complex, and often unlikable yet deeply compelling characters. I felt conflicted yet totally engaged from start to finish. And all this in a debut novel… the little pea in my brain just exploded.

Great read. I enjoyed learning about the characters. Clara was so convincing about herself and the camp.