![\"\"](\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Crooked-Cross.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sally Carson, born in 1902, <\/span>worked for a publisher <\/span>in England<\/span> and, in her late twenties and early thirties, spent her holidays in Bavaria, staying with German friends. An intelligent and observant woman, she <\/span>was<\/span> able to see the situation in Germany from an \u2018outsider\u2019s\u2019 perspective; she could see what others could not, or refused to, see. <\/span>Although f<\/span>ocused on the early years of the Nazi Party, <\/span>Crooked Cross<\/i><\/span> could <\/span>now be seen as<\/span> describing the political scene globally (but especially in USA) almost 100 years later, <\/span>and t<\/span>he fact that we seem <\/span>to be turning<\/span> history back to the <\/span>1930s<\/span> shows how little we have <\/span>managed to learn<\/span> from past events<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Carson\u2019s book<\/span> shows<\/span> how the majority of well-meaning, ordinary German citizens blindly followed Hitler, trusting him <\/span>implicitly<\/span> when he promised them work and bread. After years of hardship <\/span>in the wake of<\/span> WWI, these promises painted a wonderful life where Germany could shake off <\/span>an<\/span> imposed inferiority complex and, <\/span>hopefully,<\/span> rise to new heights. <\/span>But, to achieve this utopia, it was necessary <\/span>not only to band together but also<\/span> to have someone to blame.<\/span><\/p>\n As a result of the <\/span>Great War,<\/span> German youth <\/span>w<\/span>as<\/span> floundering with<\/span> no <\/span>real <\/span>prospects: there was no work, no ambition and no <\/span>future<\/span>. Hitler and the Nazi Party offered a solution, giving young people a sense of importance as they donned the Party uniform and performed the oftentimes senseless activities required by the Party. The insistence on symbolic routines and regulations united these people as they raised their arms in the Nazi salute or marched through the streets of their village, singing patriotic Nazi songs. Perhaps this had been sufficient <\/span>to give young people a sense of meaning<\/span>, but the <\/span>Party had a more complicated agenda. The<\/span> chasm between \u2018them\u2019 and \u2018us\u2019 had to be emphasised, and the Nazi Party explained to its new recruits how it was the \u2018them\u2019 \u2013 <\/span>the <\/span>Jews, the Communists<\/span>, the <\/span>non-Germans \u2013<\/span> who<\/span> had caused the suffering, the hunger, the unemployment and the discord. The \u2018them\u2019 was beaten, humiliated and killed.<\/span><\/p>\n When the book opens, i<\/span>t is<\/span> Christmas 1932 in a small village on the outskirts of Munich, <\/span>and <\/span>the Klugers, a normal German family, <\/span>are<\/span> happily <\/span>celebrating the religious feast. <\/span>Herr <\/span>Kluger is proud of the fact that he received the Iron Cross during the war. Frau Kluger is a typical homebody wanting no more than her family\u2019s happiness, but <\/span>the two sons,<\/span> Helmy and Erich, are bored, having been unable to find employment, and they <\/span>are <\/span>already<\/span> beginning to eye<\/span> the newly formed Nazi Party. Lexa, the middle child, about to be married to Moritz <\/span>Weissmann<\/span>, a Catholic doctor, is not particularly interested in Parties or politics, but in <\/span>early <\/span>1933, when Hitler becomes Chancellor, the Nazi Party bursts into the limelight and <\/span>the reality of national socialism <\/span>can no longer be avoided. <\/span><\/p>\n With hate and discontent now given a legitimised outlet, anyone who does not fit the description of Aryan German becomes fair prey. To his concern, Moritz learns that because of his Jewish <\/span>sur<\/span>name<\/span> he is considered <\/span>to be <\/span>a Jew. He loses his position at the hospital and <\/span>soon<\/span> realises that his very life is in danger. Lexa wants him to leave the country, but his father – his only living parent – is old and blind and would never manage such a journey. Lexa, who is very close to her brother Helmy, finds herself torn between her family and her love for Moritz. When Helmy says to her: \u2018First I\u2019m a good Nazi \u2013 after that I\u2019m your brother\u2019, she <\/span>is certain<\/span> that <\/span>it is <\/span>Moritz <\/span>who <\/span>needs her more.<\/span><\/p>\n Carson\u2019s habit of <\/span>changing from third to second person in the middle of a paragraph <\/span>(when referring to the same person) <\/span>may be a little disconcerting at times, but<\/span> the writing is <\/span>on the whole <\/span>beautiful and immediate. Set against a dark and troubling background, this is a sad and thought-provoking <\/span>love story <\/span>on at least two different levels \u2013 the obvious political level but also the personal level where Lexa is pulled between conflicting ideologies of those she loves the most<\/span>. <\/span>Whether <\/span>the reader decides to view the book through the prism of political turmoil or <\/span>that of <\/span>personal heartache is irrelevant. This is an important book with <\/span>a pertinent message, more especially in the present political climate.<\/span><\/p>\n Crooked Cross \u2013 <\/i><\/span>first book of<\/span> <\/i>a trilogy<\/span> –<\/i><\/span> <\/i>was followed by <\/span>The Prisoner<\/i><\/span> in 1936 and <\/span>A Traveller Came By<\/i><\/span> in 1938. <\/span>The <\/i><\/span>Prisoner<\/i><\/span> will be republished by Persephone Books <\/span>on 17 April 2026. My understanding was that <\/span>The Prisoner <\/i><\/span>and <\/span>A Traveller Came By<\/i><\/span> were to be published in the same volume in 2026, <\/span>though<\/span> that no longer seems to be the case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sally Carson, born in 1902, worked for a publisher in England and, in her late twenties and early thirties, spent her holidays in Bavaria, staying with German friends. An intelligent and observant woman, she was able to see the situation in Germany from an \u2018outsider\u2019s\u2019 perspective; she could see what others could not, or refused … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sally-Carson.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Bavaria-1024x765.jpg\")