Breslau was a German city on the border of Czechoslovakia. It is now, since World War II, Wroclaw, in Poland. Marek Krajewski has written a quartet of novels which unfold the history of this exceptional city, standing on the faultline and crossroads of 20th century Europe. In Breslau 1933: the mutilated body of a young woman, an aristocrat, is found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in her slashed stomach - a horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, and is assigned an assistant, Herbert Anwaldt, an orphan.The investigation leads them deep into the city's dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and daggers. As Mock and Anwaldt unravel a mystery of ritual killing that dates back to the time of the Crusades, the elderly Mock and the young, fatherless Anwaldt become close. But the dark, occult aspect of this most macabre of cases, coupled with the heavy presence of Germany's secret police proves too much for Anwaldt's sanity. What makes Krajewski's story so uncommonly powerful is the stifling atmosphere he conjures of a city in the grip of the Gestapo.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Krajewski has Mankell's sharp eye for detail, but he has, too, a more sophisticated frame of reference that may intrigue fans of Umberto Eco and Boris Akunin...Death In Breslau is a stylish, intelligent and original addition to the canon - Financial TimesThe city of Breslau is as much a character in this thriller as the parade of gothic loons that inhabit it ... This addictive soup has an air of the burlesque about it - Daily Telegraph...this thriller is as noir as they get. Steeped in a rank air of cynicism and fear...Danusia Stock's translation is terse and gripping...this complex and atmospheric thriller will find many fans, who will eagerly await the rest of Karjewski's Breslau quartet - Independent...reminiscent of Georg Grosz...Death In Breslau isn't just an exciting mystery, it's the story of lost Fatherland ... wonderful - GuardianKrajewski has Mankell's sharp eye for detail, but he has, too, a more sophisticated frame of reference that may intrigue fans of Umberto Eco and Boris Akunin ... Death In Breslau is a stylish, intelligent and original addition to the canon - Financial TimesKrajewski relishes the period detail as takes us from bloody interrogation cells to Madame LeGoef's sweaty bordello A... Sex and sadism dominate A... above all you get the sense that Krajewski is enjoying teasing and tormenting us with numerous examples of the violent coming together of eroticism and the body-politic. In this respect, Death in Breslau is strongly reminiscent of Alain Robbe-Grillet's Repetition A... What's haunting about Krajewski's book, however, is that the worst was yet to come - Independent on Sunday
About the Author
Marek Krajewski is a lecturer in Classical Studies in the University of Wroclaw. His Eberhard Mock quartet of novels enjoyed massive success in Germany and Poland and is now being translated into the major European language
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A most unusual crime fiction debut,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Death in Breslau (Paperback)
The story begins in 1950 in a Dresden psychiatric hospital, where the director is being pressed by a Stasi official who wants to question the patient named Herbert Anwaldt. Herbert Anwaldt's identity and the reason he is a patient are questions the author answers as the book moves back and forward in time, beginning in 1933 in Breslau (now Wroc'aw). The main character of this novel (and the four that follow) is Counsellor Eberhard Mock, who in 1933 was the Deputy Head of the Criminal Department of the Police Praesidium. That year, Hermann Göring had taken over the posts of Minister of Internal Affairs and Chief of the Prussian police. The Nazis had become very active in the Police Praesidium, and an entire wing of the building had been taken over by the Gestapo.
Mock is summoned to a side track of the main railway station, where he finds the bodies of Marietta von der Malten and her governess in a saloon car, savagely raped and murdered. Clues left behind include some dead scorpions, some live ones, and some cryptic writing in blood on the wall of the train car. Mock knows the dead girl and her father, the Baron, a fellow Mason and someone to whom he owes a great deal. His investigation leads him to Friedländer, a Jewish importer specializing in strange "vermin," which makes the Nazi anti-Jewish propagandists very happy. It also solves some of Mock's political problems, and the arrest leads to Mock's promotion as Criminal Director. But it's not the end of the story -- after Friedländer "commits suicide", the Baron receives a package containing some clothing that had belonged to his daughter and realizes that the real killer is still out there somewhere. Herbert Anwaldt, an alcoholic policeman from Berlin, is summoned to work with Mock to secretly discover the identity of the real murderer. This book is as dark as dark gets. Spies are everywhere, Mock has enemies that would like to bring him down, the Gestapo is a force to be reckoned with. The sinister atmosphere does not let up for a moment. The characters are well developed, especially Mock, who although married, spends his Friday evenings at a brothel playing chess with two lovely women (one under the table, one at the table) who know that "every successful move was assigned a specific erotic configuration." He is quite adept at playing the game with the Nazis, and becomes a master of the art of self protection, both physically and politically. There are many other characters who indulge in hedonistic delights, and there are the Nazis, and nearly everyone seems to have secrets that they'll do anything to keep hidden. And if ever a book captured a place and a time, it's this one. Death in Breslau is stunning, a novel you won't forget any time soon after reading. While it's great fun, it's also claustrophobic sometimes as you sink deeper and deeper into the world of the dark and sybaritic side of Breslau and its inhabitants. It's also an excellent look at the politics and changing Europe of the 1930s. I absolutely loved this book and very highly recommend it to readers who want something truly edgy and way off the beaten path in their crime fiction.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A facinating story during a lost period of history,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Death in Breslau (Paperback)
I couldn't put this book down. There isn't a lot of literature in English regarding Silesia, as fiction or nonfiction. This book (and the second one "The End of the World in Breslau", which I am half-way through) provide a fictional account of life in the big city of Breslau before World War II.
I found this book and the second one very well written and translated. The writing style reminds me of Ian Fleming. But, I have to admit that these books may not appeal to many people. I love them because I can relate the streets and buildings to personal experiences. I spent two weeks last year in Wroclaw and went back again this year, for family history research in Breslau and the villages north of it around Trebnitz (now Trzebnica). I visited many of the spots mentioned in the books and have my photographs, and 1935 and 1939 street maps of Breslau, to help me visualize the story as it unfolds. My small part of the family left Silesia for America in 1840, but a large number of our relatives lived in Breslau during the periods covered by these books. The old Breslau address books available on the Internet helped me locate and photograph where they lived. Perhaps, the books should have included basic maps to help other readers. But, great maps of Breslau from the periods discussed in the books can be found on the Internet. I hope the other books written by the author are translated and available soon.
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A sleight of hand performed on the buyer,
This review is from: Death in Breslau (Paperback)
not by Krajewski, the book's author, but by Amazon (can a bookseller describe a book he didn't even glance at, or, more generally, carry a product not knowing what it is without saying so?) or the reviewers it cites?
I beg you, hypothetical peruser of this rev: re-read Amazon's "Editorial Reviews" (both "Review" and "Product Description"). If you're lazy, I'll reproduce them for you: QUOTE REVIEW: "Krajewski has Mankell's sharp eye for detail, but he has, too, a more sophisticated frame of reference that may intrigue fans of Umberto Eco and Boris Akunin ... Death In Breslau is a stylish, intelligent and original addition to the canon - Financial Times. - the moral laxity of Germany is brought vividly to life in Marek Krajewski's delightfully seedy Death In Breslau - Daily Telegraph. - an historical whodunit with class, a fascinating portrait of a city - Tribune (Labour Party newspaper)" UNQUOTE. QUOTE Product Description: "Breslau was a German city on the border of Czechoslovakia. It is now, since World War II, Wroclaw, in Poland. Marek Krajewski has written a quartet of novels which unfold the history of this exceptional city, standing on the faultline and crossroads of 20th century Europe. Breslau 1933: the mutilated bodies of a young woman and her ladies' maid are found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in their slashed stomach - a horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, and is assigned an assistant, Herbert Anwaldt, an orphan.The investigation leads them deep into the city's dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and daggers. As Mock and Anwaldt unravel a mystery of ritual killing that dates back to the time of the Crusades, the elderly Mock and the young, fatherless Anwaldt become close. But the dark, occult aspect of this most macabre of cases might prove too much for Anwaldt's sanity before a solution is secured. What makes Krajewski's story so uncommonly powerful is the stifling atmosphere he conjures of a city in the grip of the Gestapo." UNQUOTE. Wouldn't you purchase such a book? I did. I started reading: 17-year-old Marietta von Malten has been raped and murdered, together with her governess and a train attendant, just before arriving at Breslau; a bloody scrawl in an unknown alphabet is found scribbled in the compartment's lining. Inspector Mock is in charge, and goes to consult Professor Andreae, an expert in oriental languages. Up to this point, Krajewski's writing style is a little unusual for a conventional noir mystery/thriller, but nothing outlandish. Then Mock starts to speak: "Professor, you've been lecturing at our university for thirty years now ... ". Very correct, very formal, very Prussian (although Breslau is in Silesia). Andreae evades a question, and Mock suddendly rises from his chair, thrusts his face close to Andreae's goatee, and shouts: "Listen here, you old goat: maybe you're the one that killed the girl. Did you chase her in your turban, ... , you grotesque dwarf?" (page 19 of the MMP ed). I stopped reading, puzzled. I reread the 19 pages. I read some more. Then I realized. The book's idiom is a mixture of Berg's opera Wozzek's and expressionist/surrealist/theater of the absurd styles. You can't read it in an ordinary mystery/murder/thriller key. It's not written that way or for that purpose. It's a totally allegorical story in a macabre farcical style as befits the sources I cited. It does have a plot; and the murders' motive does go back to the 13th C (?); and it does depict prewar Silesian/German/Nazi characters as harsh, brutal, sticklers for detail, duplicitous, and all the other stereotypes (or realities, I wouldn't know as I wasn't there); and most people do sweat a lot because of the stifling heat. But, although many things happen, you absolutely can't read it in other than a symbolic key. Otherwise it's like trying to listen to Wozzek (or, say, Schnittke's "Life with an idiot" or Shostakovich's "The Nose") as a collection of cavatinas or romantic waltzing melodies, or searching for Botticelli-like faces in Nolte's paintings. They juss ain't there, man! Or, to put it differently, try reading literally (that is, without Freud, Jung, etc., hovering at the back of your mind) a sanitized version of any fairy tale as adult material. You'd label it as nonsense. That said, I'm going to reread the book because it's complicated and, if you know what it is, it can even be interesting, although never carefree-enjoyable. So I'm not complaining about its quality, and anyway, tastes differ. What really bothers me is the miscathegorization in the papers' reviews and in Amazon's product description. No way an even moderately literate person could have failed to recognize what the book really was (it's true that, as the Financial Times implied, it brings to mind Eco and Bakunin: like those other writers' works, it's also printed on paper). Terefore, (1) either the critics don't read the books they review; or (2) they are ignorant as hell; or (3) somebody's dishonestly abusing the readers' good faith. I knew blurbs don't really mean anything, but to this extent! Why three stars? As I said, it's a good book (although I don't like this genre very much, and as I said IMO you certainly don't read it for fun), and perhaps a very good one. Only, caveat emptor.
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