Book Review of Crooked Cross by Sally Carson

Why did ordinary Germans support Hitler and join the Nazi party in 1930s?  Crooked Cross explores this question through fiction and provides food for thought for today.

The Klugers are a close-knit family living near Munich. Elder son Helmy and his brother Erich are both unemployed. Their sister Lexa is looking forward to marrying young doctor Moritz.

Helmy and Erich are offered roles in the Nazi party, providing structure and purpose. But Moritz, a Catholic who has a Jewish name, loses his job, and his life becomes constrained as prejudice against Jews grows. Lexa is torn between her love for Moritz and her relationship with her family.

Crooked Cross spans just a few months in 1933 in which the world changes for Lexa, Helmy and Erich. The pace of change is dizzying, and we follow how each family member adapts, as more and more of their peers and neighbours are drawn into the Nazi party and feel emboldened to criticise Communists and Jews. A British visitor, Michael, provides an external view of the mounting prejudice and justification for violence.

Whilst only a portrait of one family divided by political change, the novel has plenty of lessons for contemporary British and European society.

Originally published in 1934, now republished by Persephone https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/crooked-cross

Interesting background article in Guardian here.