Hilmar and Odette

by Eric Koch

Part detective story, part biography, this is the fascinating tale of Hilmar and Odette, both born illegitimately in Germany before the Second World War, both half-Jewish, both brought up by "Aryan" families. Eric Koch, having discovered that his well-to-do family has two skeletons in the closet (Odette is his half-sister and Hilmar is his step-cousin), embarks on a search into his family history and into the very different fates of these two "Half-Jews" who grew into adults as the Nazi party came to power. Hilmar's adoptive mother discovers he is a Jew, and (despite his being a dutiful, even loving, son) when the opportunity arises denounces him to the Gestapo. Hilmar's increasingly desperate attempts to escape deportation and stay with the woman with whom he has fallen in love prove futile. He finally falls victim to the machinery of oppression and is sent to Auschwitz. By contrast, Odette, never suspecting that she is part-Jewish, ascends the social ladder and comes to hobnob with t