Winter Men
Jesper Bugge Kold
Language: English
Pages: 338
ISBN: 1503954757
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
As the dark specter of the Nazis settles over Germany, two wealthy and educated brothers are suddenly thrust into the rising tide of war. Karl, a former soldier and successful businessman, dutifully answers the call to defend his country, while contemplative academic Gerhard is coerced into informing for the Gestapo. Soon the brothers are serving in the SS, and as Hitler’s hateful agenda brings about unspeakable atrocities, they find themselves with innocent blood on their hands.
Following Germany’s eventual defeat, Karl and Gerhard are haunted by their insurmountable guilt, and each seeks a way to escape from wounds that will never heal. They survived the war and its revelation of systematic horrors, but can they survive the unshakable knowledge of their own culpability?
He’d come to console and be consoled. His mother, Anna, had been confused and agitated, but she’d gradually settled down. By the time Karl walked into the room, his father had had another stroke. His hulking body shuddered, then fainted, as though life and death had met in a battle of gladiators. They fought over the poor figure caught in the center of the arena. Death lunged, and again his father’s body shuddered. Life parried the blow, and Reinhardt opened his eyes. Death struck again, and
that’s all it could ever be. He’d promised Emma that they’d always be together. A promise he intended to keep, even though that now meant it would be in the grave. Tuberculosis had claimed her. The disease had snuck up on her. At first she’d tried to hide it, but eventually she began leaving a trail of bloody handkerchiefs around the apartment. In February 1931 her body gave up. In her final months she’d been isolated from the world at a sanatorium, and when Gerhard visited her, a glass window
place to work. By the time he inserted his key in his door, he was at a loss. Hamburg, Germany, June 12, 1939 “Perhaps we can agree on a price.” Karl put his checkbook on the table and gazed questioningly at the two men. “What would you like?” He wasn’t able to catch any of what they were saying as they conferred softly between themselves. He couldn’t imagine a sum that he wouldn’t be willing to pay to wrest Gerhard free of the Gestapo, so he felt quite confident. He glanced around the
observe the entire crowd. He seemed satisfied. “Names?” “Carl, Helene, and Herbert Maidanek.” Next to the Gestapo man with the jutting ears sat a second man; he leaned back just slightly in his chair, looking pleased, then glanced at Gerhard and blinked. Gerhard shifted uncomfortably and eyed the throng. The platform was filled with well-dressed people. Everyone had donned their best clothes, but with their bowed heads and anxious body language, they resembled a burial procession. Their arms
everywhere, and it penetrated everything. A few weeks ago, the prodigious rainfall had been replaced by snow. The frost set in, and the mud froze. Though this meant that their vehicles could once again advance with supplies, their joy was short-lived because everyone began to freeze. They’d spent the night in their vehicles, and Karl was still disoriented from sleep as he leaned back in his seat, feeling as though the cold were coming from inside him, freezing him from his bones outward. He