Stella
by Takis Würger
(translated from the German
by Liesl Schillinger)
In 1942, despite the raging war, would-be
artist Friedrich leaves the relative safety of his native Switzerland for
Berlin, a city which haunts his imagination.
Friedrich has barely started his art classes when he falls for the
model, Kristin. Kristin appears to
Friedrich to be whatever he is not – confident, worldly, enigmatic,
glamorous. Despite Friedrich being
something of an introvert, the two soon become lovers, sharing his rooms at the
Grand Hotel and seemingly oblivious to the cataclysmic world events going on
around them. Kristin, however, has her
secrets. When, one day, she comes back
battered, bruised and abused, Friedrich starts to realise that there is more to
his lover than he realised at first – for a start, the fact that her real name
is Stella and that she is a Jew, notwithstanding her surprising friendship with
members of the Gestapo.
Stella
is hardly the first novel inspired by the tragic situation of the Jews under
the Nazi regime. Certainly, it will not
be the last. Würger’s approach, however,
is both original and sensitive. In
choosing as his subject a real historical figure who chose to hide her Jewish
identity, he confronts the reader with a moral dilemma which ultimately lies at
the heart of the book – is all fair in love and war?
What also struck me about this novel is the
narrative voice. This is a book full of extremes of passion – love, hate, lust,
tears and laughter, life, death. Yet Friedrich,
who acts as the narrator, is often detached and matter of fact. The chapters of the novel are set in consecutive
months in 1942 – each starts with historical snippets, as if we’re reading a
history book. This deliberate attempt to eschew melodrama makes
the salient scenes of the novel more effective, shocking and moving. The final paragraphs, in which an older
Friedrich abandons himself to nostalgia, are nothing short of heart-breaking.
Stella is
a quick read but one which, I suspect, will not be easily forgotten.
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