Germania: A Novel of Nazi Berlin
348 Pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: December 1, 2020
This book is set in Berlin in the 1940s under Nazi Germany. The main character, Richard Oppenheimer, was a police investigator before Hitler came into power. Since he was Jewish, he was removed from his position and made to live in the Jewish house. SS Hauptsturmfuhrer
Vogel was tasked with solving the murder. He sought out Oppenheimer and asked him to assist in a top-secret investigation. A woman was found dead and her body mutilated.
The story takes place in about one month’s time and the characters are developed. It is written in third person point of view. I really liked Oppenheimer. In his character, I could see the struggle the Jewish people endured during the Nazi occupation. He lost his job, his home and was not able to freely move about the city. He was ingenious with his tricks to avoid detection while he was investigating without Vogel’s knowledge.
Although this was a book of fiction, it had a very real feel to it. The book is very descriptive from the nightly bombings of the city to the condition of Oppenheimer’s worn shoes. I finished this book in two days and barely put it down. I wanted to see what was going to happen and how the investigation would be solved.
