Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

World War II has been over for 70 years. Adolf Hitler has been dead for 70 years. Vermes' Look Who's Back imagines what the world would be like if Hitler didn't die in 1945 like previously thought. The book starts with Hitler waking up in Berlin in 2011, and Hitler himself if shocked to see that Germany looks nothing like it did when he last saw it in 1945. There's no Ava Braun, no Nazi Party, and no World War II. Completely confused Hitler roams about Berlin until he stumbles across a newsstand, whose owner mistakes the real Adolf Hitler for a Hitler impersonator. The real Hitler takes offense that nobody takes him seriously as the Führer of Germany. Put to work as a "Hitler impersonator" (who refuses to break character) for a local TV station, this suddenly makes Hitler a sensation once again. Now it's his job to once again put Germany back on track and convince the world that he's the real Adolf Hitler.

Look Who's Back is an entertaining satire, imaging what life would be like if Hitler were alive today. With a focus on how technology has changed the face of politics, it's interesting to imagine what a modern world with Hitler would be like. This book is sure to provide a few laughs and question modern politics.

Visitation by Jennie Erpenbeck

Visitation, in telling the history of a small parcel of land near Berlin, also tells the history of twentieth century Germany. When a wealthy farmer realizes none of his four daughters will provide him with an heir, he divides part of his land, Klara's Wood, into three plots and sells them to prosperous city dwellers--a tea and coffee importer, an architect and a cloth manufacturer who happens to be Jewish. The three weekend neighbors build on and improve their properties while spending summers and weekends in the country with friends and family. Then, events beyond their control interrupt this idyllic life. Hitler comes to power. The cloth manufacturer flees the country with his wife and children but cannot persuade his relatives to follow. War rages. The Jewish relatives are deported. The Russian Army invades and occupies the summer homes. Later, Klara's Wood becomes part of East Germany and the land becomes the possession of the government. Some people escape to the West, some are captured in the attempt and some simply remain and adjust. New people rent and sublease the homes. The Berlin Wall falls and Germany is reunited. Former landowners reclaim their property, uprooting the current tenants. The twenty-first century begins.

With spare but evocative language, Jenny Erpenbeck relates civilian life in twentieth century Germany, focusing on both its congenial and menacing aspects, using small, personal events.

The End of Days by Jennie Erpenbeck

Sometimes a life may be extended by a stroke of good luck or ended by a slight misstep. Did the car run through the intersection or stop just in time? Did a stranger at the restaurant know the Heimlich maneuver or not? Did a slip on the ice result in a broken wrist or a broken neck? What does fate have in store for us?

In The End of Days, Jennie Erpenbeck considers the many ways a life may end or continue for another year or more. Her heroine, unnamed until the last chapter, was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. She dies five times in this compact novel.  After each death, the author considers small changes that could have allowed the infant, girl and woman to survive. Then, in the next chapter, her life goes on. In this way, the history of an ordinary life in turbulent 20^th century Europe is depicted with many possibilities. And so, the surviving infant lives to become a teenage girl who suffers the deprivations brought on by World War I. The girl becomes a woman who dies in a Russian prison camp during World War II. The woman who survives dies in an accident in East Berlin, leaving behind a teenage son.  And then, ninety year old Frau Hoffmann, confined to a wheelchair and suffering from dementia, dies her final death, a death caused by old age. From death there ultimately is no escape. 

Check out The End of Days @ the library!

City of Women by David R. Gillham

The year is 1943 and while most of the men are fighting in the war, Berlin is a city of women.  One of these women is Sigrid Schroder.  Her husband is a soldier at the front and she is living with his mother.  On the surface Sigrid appears to be a good German, going to work every day and sacrificing for the war effort.  In actuality she has a Jewish lover and is helping move Jewish men, women, and children to safety.  In contrast to a lot of books about World War II the Germans aren't all bad just as the Jews aren't all victims.  The author captured the feel of wartime Berlin when everyone was looking over their shoulder and had to watch what they said lest they be turned into the Gestapo.

This story will make you reflect on what you would do when faced with the decision Sigrid faces:  help and risk your own safety or sit by while people are murdered.  Checkout City of Women @ the library!