Erika Sattler -

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  • Today, “Erika Sattler” by Hervé Bel, published on November 19, 2020 by Éditions Stock.

Caroklouk, journalist and contributor to the

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, recommends

Erika Sattler

 by Hervé Bel, published on November 19, 2020 by Éditions Stock.

Her favorite quote:

The voice awakened in her almost musical emotions, all kinds of feelings, anger, elation, sadness, and joy, an indescribable joy.

Erika was sixteen.

She had returned home transformed.

It would be National Socialist.


Why this book?

  • Because you had to dare to tell the story of an ordinary Nazi woman

    and because Hervé Bel brilliantly takes up this challenge without forcing the line.

    Erika Sattler is obnoxious, but she is real.

    We don't like him, but we share a few episodes of his life at the heart of a terrible period.

  • Because this woman is both terrifying and deeply human

    in her struggle for survival.

    What she has to go through is appalling.

    However, she remains true to her convictions until the last page of the book.

  • Because Hervé Bel offers no redemption to Erika,

    a selfish woman even when she shows generosity.

    A cruel manipulator, she believes herself to be an example of the perfect Nazi woman who does not hesitate to exploit the desire she inspires in men and to bring about the death of those she considers unworthy of living.

  • Because the characters who revolve around Erika

    are also well camped.

    Strange, pitiful or terrifying, they pass through existence in the young woman without marking her, so incapable of empathy for anyone other than for herself.

  • Because Hervé Bel's style is dry and sober to describe horror

    without concession or complacency, and to describe the indescribable.


The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

 Erika Sattler dreamed of becoming an exemplary Nazi woman.

Disappointed by her SS husband imprisoned for treason, she found a job in Poland but soon had to flee this country which the Russians threatened to take back from the Germans.

Characters.

 Erika Statter, a Nazi woman as beautiful as she is tough, her husband Paul, SS disgusted by what he is being made to do.

Katherine and her very young son Albert whom Erika will take under her wing.

Men, women.

Places.

 Poland.

Germany.

The time.

 January 1945 as the Russian army invades Poland.

Germany before, during and after World War II.

The author.

 We owe to Hervé Bel several very beautiful novels

La Nuit du Vodj

(2010) and

Des

Choix

secrets

(2011) published by JC Lattès.

The Woman Who Lies

(2017) published by Escales.

This book was read with

 deep discomfort and great revolt against the character and his surroundings.

Erika's mediocrity and cruelty was intolerable to me, but I still read the book in one go.

It had been a long time since a book had hurt me so badly.

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