It certainly has a cast of villagers who could populate a great story: a Dutch aristocrat who smuggles Jewish children out of Germany; the daughter of one of the conspirators who plotted to assassinate Hitler; ‘good’ Nazis; members of the German resistance, to name but a few and, oh, not forgetting the man who made the largest shoe in the world!

The prose is clear, confident and measured, connecting national events to Oberstdorf as often as possible, a device that never feels forced — only human. This was a largely Catholic village at the time, the most southern village in Germany, a farming community which became a tourist destination thanks to the mountains and with the first concentration camp of Dachau close by. Reading about the good, the bad, and seeing the total humanity (or lack thereof) in the individuals within Obertsdorf and the surrounding area was enlightening. including those of the silver bell, shameless propaganda, Napola and the particularly sad stories about the woman who was billed for her son's execution and Russian soldiers taking every last bit of food from others, Moroccan soldiers, reasons people were sympathetic to Nazism (often for survival) and the actions of Mayor Fink who was tolerant and provided safety to Jews though a dedicated Nazi himself. Merryn on Yellowface: what a wild ride Interesting to read in the context of the Hugo Award shenanigans and Kuang's excellent book Babel being mysteriously declared ineligible when the awards are being.There are a few eyewitness accounts which fill those memories in but there is a tendancy for it to be a little dry in places.

At the same time, the authors made the readers aware that their writings presented a generic historical presentation of ordinary village life during these times. Moderate Nazi” is the ultimate contradiction in terms, and there is no indication that Fink was trying to destroy the whole system from within. Many of the villagers viewed Hitler with distrust and Bolshevism with fear, but the villages new mayor, Ernst Zeitler, was unpopular as he expected the villagers to conform to Nazi ideology and policy. she was the namesake of the Henriëtte de Beaufort Prize, is a triennial prize that was established in 1985 by the Society of Dutch Literature. I think it’s even better than its predecessor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one also wins prizes.By the early 1920s it was a favoured tourist spot: its population of 4,000 was swelled to 9,000 by visitors who came for health cures and winter sports. Within its pages we encounter people from all walks of life - foresters, priests, farmers and nuns; innkeepers, Nazi officials, veterans and party members; village councillors, mountaineers, socialists, slave labourers, schoolchildren, tourists and aristocrats.

It explained in detail the chain of events that led to the rise of Fascism and the consequences that followed. We rarely think or hear about the resistance in Germany, except perhaps with regards to the protection of Jewish families. The behaviour of Mayor Fink, as well as some other high-level Nazis mentioned in the book, was on the other hand remarkedly benign. I often find books of this nature too large in scope to really connect with - they feel like just facts. There was, at least at some key points in time, majority support for the NAZIs in the village, even though some key policies were disliked and the bullying antics of uniformed NAZI party members widely disapproved of.As such, this detailed look at what happened from the end of the First World War to the devastation of the end of the Second World War gives the reader a very personal view of events from a number of the village’s inhabitants. by Henriëtte Laman Trip-de Beaufort (1890-1982), where Jewish children were admitted, who were provided with false papers and brought to Switzerland.

Self-interest clearly featured in Fink’s rescue of his son, but many of his other actions were remarkably selfless. The euthanasia programme of the Nazis is also felt in the village and ultimately responsible for the murder of a blind boy. Reading does become difficult, especially in certain parts of the book, because it is actual history. The neutral tone of the narration is a huge plus because otherwise, it can be really easy to generalize people and make a judgment. While historians may have been familiar with such detail, the book provides a doorway through which the rest of us can enter.A Village in the Third Reich tells a tale of conflicting loyalties and desires, of shattered dreams – but one in which, ultimately, human resilience triumphs. Ms Boyd's idea to describe life in a village during the inter-war period sounds interesting as most of the books cover towns or cities whereas countrylife is rather obscure.