Review of THE WILLOW WREN by Philipp Schott (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This is a fictionalized memoir of the author’s father, Ludwig Schott.  The focus is Ludwig’s life when he is between 6 and 15 years of age in the 1940s in Germany. 

Ludwig’s father Wilhelm is a senior Nazi leader.  His position means that initially the family does not suffer unduly when compared to other Germans.  However, once fighting comes to Germany, Wilhelm is not able to protect his family and their situation becomes more challenging.  Leaving her husband in Leipzig to continue his duties for the Reich, Luise takes her children to Colditz, a town deemed safe from bombing because it is home to a POW camp for officers.  Once the war is lost, Colditz is controlled by the Soviets.  The Schott family faces harsh conditions, including food shortages.  Ludwig, as the second-eldest child, helps however he can to ensure that he, his mother, and his five siblings survive. 

The book provides an interesting perspective of World War II, that of a German child living through the war and its aftermath.  The book shows the situation in Germany during the war but also after the war.  Civilians suffered greatly.   The Americans entered Colditz, but they were replaced by Soviet occupation forces when Germany was divided into four occupied zones.  It is this latter period that I found most interesting, since I have encountered little written from a first person perspective about the Soviet occupation of Germany. 

As a child, Ludwig is exposed to differing political views.  Ludwig’s father Wilhelm is devoted to Hitler; Luise tells her son that, “’If the Party said do not breathe on Sundays, [your father] would hold his breath until he passed out.’”  Even when the war does not go well for the Germans, Wilhelm has no doubts:  “The situation for our beloved Fatherland may appear to be difficult, but we must trust in the Fuehrer.  He has knowledge that we do not have, and he has wisdom that we do not have.”  Ludwig’s mother, on the other hand, is skeptical.  She calls Goebbels an idiot and the Nazis clowns.  Because of his parents’ differing views, his closeness to his mother, and his father’s emotional and physical distance, Ludwig questions what he is told.    

Ludwig is an interesting child.  He tends to be a loner who prefers his own company.  He is bothered by excessive noise and finds solace in nature in the company of birds.  He is an intelligent and observant boy.  Though he is not able to always fully understand what is happening around him, he recognizes propaganda and “lethal fanaticism.”  He is also a loving child who supports his mother as best he can even though he does not completely understand the burden she has of looking after six children.  Though his life is very much at the mercy of forces beyond his control, he doesn’t give up.  He certainly shows that he possesses the resourcefulness of the little wren, his favourite bird.

The story I would love to know more about is that of Wilhelm and Luise.  How did two people with such opposite personalities come to marry?  Luise seems not to wear blinders when it comes to her husband.  When Ludwig asks about what his father does, she begins with “’When he is not combing his hair or smiling at pretty young women . . .” before explaining his duties.  She emerges as an admirable person who looks after her children alone during very difficult circumstances.  Wilhelm, on the other hand, as one of his sons points out, “’doesn’t accept personal responsibility.  Not really anyway.  Not in an honest emotional sense.’”  Instead, he spouts, “‘Let us not burden our remembrances with a heaviness that’s gone.’”   Wilhelm seems a stereotypical German:  emotionally cold, inflexible, and extremely disciplined.

I enjoyed the book.  It provides a look at a historical time period from an original perspective.  It also offers advice on how to overcome obstacles. 

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.  The book will be released on March 23.