El ángel de Múnich – Fabiano Massimi

This post is also available in:

Review of El ángel de Múnich – Fabiano Massimi

Interesting novelized account of Adolf Hitler’s niece’s suicide. Although Nazi novels are my pet peeve, this one is quite bearable. The story is interesting and well developed. The ending, though seemingly clear, can never be proved.

It’s very well told, and as faithful as possible to the real history and the information of the police files and reports that came out in the press at the time (1931), when Uncle Alf had not yet created the mess that almost wiped out the “civilized” world.

In fact, new generations know less and less about history. The other day my son was watching a movie, while I worked from home, and I was looking from time to time, when finally I asked if it was “Midway” (the current version). He said yes and I said: So, the Second (World War).

I was stunned when she said no, that it was the war between the United States and Japan. I’m a History graduate, and even if I wasn’t, everyone form my generation with a bit of general culture knows that WWII had multiple fronts and one of them was the Pacific, initiated with the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese. In fact, WWII didn’t end until the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, with the surrender of Japan. I’m amazed at the little culture that there is today (and not only my son’s, who’s neither dumb nor uneducated, just that the educational system isn’t enough).

Well, whatever, I’ve deviated a “little” from the subject of the review on “El ángel de Munich.”

As the author explains in the end, he followed all the police reports and historical documents he found and studied. It’s full of interrogations of notorious Nazis such as Adolf himself, Goebbels, Himmler, etc., etc.

Out of the cops who actually investigated the “suicide” (I put it between quotes because in the end we’ll never know if it was anything else) only the last names are known, not even the first name: Sauer (Commissioner) and Forster (Deputy Commissioner).

The author develops the story from the character of Commissioner Sauer, making up a personal and family life for each of them. Everything serves to assemble a very interesting story and development of it.

I’m not saying any more. I repeat: I do not like novels about Nazis and novels of the same style, but this is very interesting and serves to know a facet of Uncle Adolf that is not precisely why he’s most remembered, although it’s just as disgusting.