無情戰地有情天
BY ERIC MARIA REMARQUE
A poetic love story set in the brutal background of World War II and Nazi Germany; not for the faint-hearted.
5 stars out of 5 stars
This is the third book by Eric Maria Remarque that I read in two months. I started with “All Quiet on the Western Front”, followed by “The Road Back”. My reviews of these have recently been posted.
Two horrific scenes began “A time to love and a time to die”. The setting was 1944, on the Eastern Front in Russia toward the latter stage of World War II. Snow was melting, exposing the corpses of soldiers who died recently, mostly Russian but also German. The central character was a German soldier named Ernst Graeber. He and his company comrades were asked to dig up the corpse who was German and gave him a decent burial. In the meantime, several Russians, including an elderly man and a woman, were caught, and accused to be guerillas. They were to be executed. Several of Ernst’s comrades were ordered to carry out the executions using their guns. The narratives in this beginning chapter were graphic and are not for the faint-hearted.
For those who have the stomach to go on reading, there was the seemingly good news that Ernst was granted his long-awaited furlough of three weeks. The last furlough was two years ago. He did not write to inform his parents, for fear that the leave would be cancelled, which was not an infrequent occurrence. Indeed, one soldier was told that, although he was granted leave, he could not go to his hometown Rhineland, where his wife and children were. He could go to another city, such as Cologne. No reason was given. The soldier was devastated.
After an arduous journey by train and bus, Ernst arrived at his hometown. Neither the city nor the country was the same as he left behind. The city had endured repeatedly Allied bombing. With the S.S. and their informers everywhere, people were suspicious of one another. Statements not favorable to the State, such as not believing Germany would win the War, may get one arrested and sent to a concentration camp.
After considerable difficulty of navigating streets in ruins, Ernst arrived at the address of his parent’s house, only to find that it had been bombed to ruins. No one knew whether his parents were still alive, and if so, where. Inquiring at the local government offices yielded no information.
While hopelessly searching for his parents, he met lovely Elizabeth Kruse, a former schoolmate and daughter of a political prisoner. Together they try to wrest sanity and survival from a world full of hatred. They felt in love and got married, about a week before his furlough ended.
In one scene, when they were going through a picture book given by Ernst’s former teacher, they pointed to the various beautiful cities they would like to visit after the War. Suddenly, they realized that they would probably not be welcome in France, Begium, Holland, England, and most countries in Europe. “Everybody hates us”, said Elizabeth.
Shortly after they were married, Elizabeth’s apartment was destroyed in one of the bombing raids. They had to sleep in open air and in church shelters, until a kind lady allowed them to stay in one of her rooms. By then, only a couple of days of Ernst’s furlough were left.
Ernst went back to the Eastern front when his furlough was up. More descriptions on the brutality of war were given in the last chapter. While the reader anticipates and dreads that tragedy looms, the ending crafted by the author is hauntingly unexpected.
In conclusion, a war time love story which is poetic but not for the faint-hearted.
P. S. To his credit, the author, in his series of books, has turned the stereotype of the German soldier from a brutal, cold-blooded robot to a human being with feelings just like anyone else.
Link to Amazon Review:
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