Simon Pasternak

Sjældent har krige været ført med så stor foragt for menneskeliv, som den tyske udryddelseskrig på østfronten 1941-45. Store områder blev udråbt til ”dødszoner”, hvor den tyske strafferet var sat ud af kraft, jøder blev systematisk henrettet og partisanbevægelserne bekæmpet med uhørt brutalitet. Pasternaks roman foregår midt i dette helvede – men den beskæftiger sig kun indirekte med krigsforbrydelserne, og det er grunden til, at den fungerer så godt.

Politibetjent Heinrich Hoffmann er udstationeret i Lida i Hviderusland, og i juli 1943, mens sovjetiske tanks definitivt knuser de tyske sejrschancer i panserslaget ved Kursk, sidder han med et problem. En jøde er blevet skudt, og sagen er opklaret. Ingen skal straffes, det er klart, men når nu drabet er sket i et opgør mellem to SS-officerer, hvordan skriver man så en konklusion, der ikke skaffer en magtfulde fjender på halsen?

Inden Hoffmann finder et svar på det spørgsmål, hiver Manfred Schlosser, hans gode ungdomsven fra Hamborg og mulige svoger, ham med til en langt vigtigere sag. Partisaner har angrebet SS-general Steiner, torteret ham og dræbt alle i hans følge, og det eneste vidne er en lille pige. Et sådant angreb skal selvfølgelig hævnes, men Manfred er ikke tilfreds med nedbrænding af landsbyer og nedskydning af tilfældige civile. Han vil have fingrene i netop dén person, der har myrdet hans gamle mentor, og det bliver op til Hoffmann at finde ham.

Og her er netop det geniale træk i Pasternaks bog. Vi får en rundvisning i de værste dele af den tyske krigsførelse, lige fra genopgravning og afbrænding af jødiske lig over slavebinding af civile til SS’ernes hæmningsløse og alkoholinficerede udskejelser, men i sin kerne er Dødszoner en klassisk kriminalroman. Hoffmann efterforsker og forfølger spor, og de fleste peger ind i en rivaliseringer og magtkampe inden for SS.

Heinrich Hoffmann er ikke uskyldig. Ingen deltager i den tyske besættelse var uskyldig, og han angrer f.eks. aldrig udryddelsen af jøderne. Men han prøver at agere efter bogen, og han har stadig så meget moral i behold, at han forfærdes over SS’ernes handlinger, da han ser dem ved selvsyn. Han prøver også at redde dem, han kommer i berøring med, men som regel er det forgæves.

Dødszoner giver et fascinerende indblik i det nazistiske vanvid, og samtidig er det en effektiv krimi og spændingsroman. For en gangs skyld virkede volden ikke unødigt udpenslet, og fordi den ikke var i centrum hele tiden, var overgrebene så meget mere chokerende.… (meer)

Death Zones – Can Anyone Remain Uncorrupted?

Death Zones from Danish author and screenwriter is not something that would ever be classed as Nordic Noir, in fact it is far from it. This is no beach read, something to pick up on the way through departures it is far too depressing for that. At times the plot may seem rather convoluted but even though it is, it never really detracts from the story.

I am sure there will be some that will object at the amount of mindless violence in Death Zones but where and when this book is set the whole area was the wild east. Law meant nothing, life meant nothing, and if you were Jewish or Slavic you could expect a very violent death. The book is set in 1943 and the action takes place in what was Belorussia and Hamburg during the Battle of Kursk.

The book is based on real events that did happen out in Eastern Europe during the war while creative licence has added the added dimension of a story behind what was happening. Death Zones reminds the reader that evil not only consumes the victim but the perpetrators are also consumed even if they do not recognise it.

The story is set around German detective Oberleutnant Heinrich Hoffmann, who also acts as the narrator, who has been posted out to the limits of the Reich in Belorussia. A German General and his wife have been murdered by partisans, he has been told, but he is charged with leading the investigation. At the same time, he must also walk the fine line between the SS and other Nazi units as well as the Wehrmacht and numerous Reich officials.

In the manhunt that follows Hoffmann tries to retain his humanity in the face of mounting struggles between his friend an SS officer and others within the SS. This is a divide nobody would want to be on because the wrong word or decision could mean instant death. Little does he realise the manhunt and chase will lead him home to Hamburg as it is being destroyed by the Allied bombings.

They way in which Pasternak has written Death Zones and it has been excellently translated it may seem somewhat disjointed. But the way it is written is as if the narrator is replicating a machine gun and the way in which it rattles when being fired.

Death Zones is an excellent book that does have large amounts of violence which replicate the events that took place during this period on the eastern fringes in the Reich. Death Zones does not sit easily in to any genre while it is both historical and a thriller, it does not really belong to that genre. Death Zones is an excellent read, and the reader may not like looking in to the face of humanity at its worst and asks can anyone remain uncorrupted?… (meer)