Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

Set in Munich, Germany in 1931 before WWII, this book deals with the period before Hitler's rise to power as Germany's leader when he was the leader of the National Socialist Party. Seen through the eyes of 17 year old Gretchen Muller, we see Hitler as her kind Uncle Dorf who has looked after her mother, brother Reinhard and her since her father,who was a friend of Hitler's was killed at a demonstration where he threw himself in front of Hitler, saving Hitler's life and taking the bullet that would have killed Hitler.

On the way to visit Hitler with her brother, his friend Kurt and her friend Eva, Reinhard and Kurt pick on a Jew and Gretchen tries to stop them. She succeeds and a casual observer says he is surprised that she has defended a Jew, given who she is and her well known relationship to Hitler. This chance meeting with Daniel Cohen, a Jewish reporter for a Munich newspaper, is the catalyst for Gretchen to begin questioning all that she has believed about Hitler's plans for Germany and for Jewish people. Daniel tells her that her father was murdered. Gretchen doesn't believe him until she checks the shirt her father was wearing when he was shot and discovers the bullet hole indicates he was shot in the back. But who killed him and why? And why does Hitler maintain that he was a martyr who gave his life for Hitler? This is the turning point for Gretchen as she sets out to find the truth and who was responsible for her father’s murder. With Daniel's help she begins to unravel all the clues that will lead to the culprit.  As she searches for the truth she has to work out who she can trust and realises that the people she knows through Hitler must not find out what she is doing. Finding the truth will place both Gretchen's life and Daniel's in danger.

Rita @ Hawthorn Library.

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