If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

Voices in the Wilderness

by Anthony Pyle

198 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-0718; ISBN 1-4120-2890-6; US$19.50, C$22.00, EUR16.00, £11.50

Living within the Nazi regime that had created a physical, moral and social wilderness, were ordinary Germans repressed and fearful of harsh punishment? How did they react and survive?

Read more!

about the book     about the author     sample excerpts     catalogue info

About the Book The book is an attempt to imagine how ordinary Germans reacted to the Nazi regime. It tries to re-create their hopes and fears as they lived in a harsh, tightly supervised society, which severely punished any departure from the party line. A chapter is devoted to each of the years from 1933 to 1945, with a short epilogue in 1946. Each chapter is prefaced with a short, historical summary of the main events that affected Germany during that year. The fictional characters weave across the years, reacting to, or being involved in, the events of each year.

---

About the Author The author is a priest living in retirement in Tenerife. His interest in the historical period, which forms the basis of the book, arose when he studied the basic social history of the period as an undergraduate of the Open University.

---

Sample Excerpts

From Chapter One:

Full of milk, the baby slept peacefully in her mother's arms. Eva Hoffman, herself very much at peace smiled down at her baby daughter. Gently, she wiped away a drop of milk that had adhered to the baby's lower lip. It had not been an easy birth. She was no longer a young woman, as she had been when she had given birth to Hans, some six years earlier. Still, it was all over now and she had a beautiful little baby. As if she could read her mother's thoughts, the baby's eyelids fl ickered and she opened her eyes, clear blue eyes that gazed up at her mother. Eva Hoffman tickled her daughter under the chin and was rewarded with a gummy smile. Eva bent and kissed the little pink face.

Eva glanced down at the fl oor where her six-year old son was playing with his toys.

"Look, Hans," she said, showing him the baby, "she's smiling."

The boy stopped, gave her a brief, emotionless glance, then turned away and continued playing with his toys, a tank and several soldiers. Eva Hoffman sighed. She had never known such an unresponsive child as her son. Even as a baby, he had not responded to her kisses and cuddles, resisting them, as he grew older. She felt, for some reason she could not fathom, that her son was growing inwards, shutting out everyone else. Thinking that he might be lonely, his anxious parents had arranged for other children of his own age to be brought into the house to play with him. But he either ignored them or bullied them. The visits had long been discontinued.

His parents continued to love him and care for him, but were frustrated in their efforts to get through to their withdrawn son. Eva said little to her husband, but she worried about how her son was going to develop. She could still remember, as a small child, her maternal grandfather, a grim, moustachioed man, who had never, to her recollection, ever spoken kindly to her or showed her any sign of affection. Her mother had told her that, several years later, he had developed severe depression and had died in a mental home. To make matters worse, Eva's elder brother had always suffered from depression. He had, inexplicably, committed suicide when he was a teenager. Was there a weakness in her side of the family? Eva was concerned that it would blight the life of her son.

Hans made it quite plain that he did not care for his baby sister. He made it clear that he thought she was a nuisance, resentful when she interrupted his routine, with her crying and the constant need for attention. At fi rst, he had pinched her a few times. She had cried and this had brought him instant retribution in the form of a slap. He soon decided that she was just too much trouble. So he ignored her. His parents gave him all the attention they could, but even from an early age, he had shut them out. Eva often wondered whether that was what he was going to do with people throughout his life.

---

The front door slammed, jerking Eva back into the present. Hans came into the room. At the age of fourteen, he was beginning to gain height and was showing signs of becoming quite well built. Whatever reservations Eva might have about the Hitler Youth as a movement, she had to admit that Hans looked rather handsome in his brown uniform. If only he was different inside, she thought. That's where it really matters.

Her husband had woken from his nap and was reading his newspaper. He looked up and sternly addressed his son. "I hear you've been frightening Helga about joining the Jungmadel, Hans," he said, coldly, "I've already told you to leave her alone. She's only a child."

Hans looked at his father coolly. "When she's old enough to join, there will be other girls of her own age. You should be proud that there will be at least two of the family serving the Fuhrer."

His father fl ushed at his son's implicit reference to the fact that he had refused to join the Nazi Party. Seeing he had scored a point, Hans pressed home his advantage."

I hope you will be proud," he said, insolently. "I wouldn't like to think, father that you were not enthusiastic about the Fuhrer."

Paul Hoffman saw the look in his son's eyes and heard the hidden menace in his voice. He did not drop his eyes.

"Darling," said Eva, nervously, sensing an imminent confrontation between father and son, "of course, your father is proud."

Hans turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

"Don't you dare ignore your mother like that," shouted his father, "AND DON'T SLAM THE DOOR."

Once inside his bedroom, Hans stood taking deep breaths. He was determined to control the red rage that, from time to time, threatened to overwhelm him. The Fuhrer had said, repeatedly, that emotions were not important, that the will was everything. He would not let his father bait him. The time would come, a time of his own choosing, when he would get his revenge.

---

Catalogue Information

---