Here's another book which I have just started reading.
Two Brothers is a novel by Ben Elton, the British comedian, author, playwright, actor and director, whose work includes writing every series of Blackadder apart from the first, and writing the Nineties police comedy series The Thin Blue Line, also starring Rowan Atkinson.
Two Brothers is Ben Elton's 14th novel, and is one of his most personal to date, based on things which happened to his family during World War II.
It tells the story of two German boys brought up as twins who end up on opposite sides in the Second World War – one with the Waffen-SS, the other with the British Army. And it's based on a true story. It is a story based on Elton’s own. Elton's father, Ludwig Ehrenberg and his father's brother, Gottfried Ehrenberg, both German Jews, fled to Britain in 1939 and anglicised their names to Lewis Elton and Geoffrey Elton respectively. Geoffrey enlisted in the British Army and fought in the war.
But there was a cousin of Lewis and Geoffrey- Heinz - who remained in Germany. Heinz Ehrenberg was adopted – and Aryan. When his parents fled the country, he stayed behind to work the family farm until he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. The two cousins - Elton's Uncle Geoffrey and Heinz - both served in Italy on opposite sides and, at one point, fought within a mile of each other.
Two Brothers opens on February 24 1920 with the births of two boys in a troubled Berlin - a Berlin in which everyone is used to the sounds of gunfire, broken glass, shouts and screams as Communists and right-wingers battle each other - and the birth of the Nazi Party in a Munich beer hall. The twin boys are the sons of Frieda, a doctor, and Wolfgang, a musician, but one of the babies is stillborn. Rather than go home with an only child, Frieda decides to take a newborn orphan as her own. That’s how the son of secular Jews and the bastard son of a murdered Communist grow up as twins.
Blackadder writer Ben Elton dispenses with the humour in his 14th novel, Two Brothers, his most personal to date. Ben's father Lewis Ehrenberg and Lewis's brother Gottfried Ehrenberg, both German Jews, fled Germany for Britain in 1939. They anglicised their names to Lewis Elton and Geoffrey Elton respectively. Geoffrey enlisted in the British Army. However, Lewis and Geoffrey's cousin, Heinz, enlisted in the Wehrmacht. At one point, both Geoffrey and Heinz almost fought against each other in Italy
Family affair: Ben Elton's uncle Gottfried, left, and his father Ludwig Ehrenberg, who later changed their names to Geoffrey and Lewis Elton after arriving in Britain
Singled out: Only one member of Elton's family, Heinz, could safely remain in Germany as he had been adopted by Elton's great-uncle and ethnically wasn't a Jew
When the Nazis start to divide the country into 'true' Germans and 'others', the family find themselves faced with a terrible dilemma - which of their boys should be saved?
Will it be Otto, the pure-blood Aryan who wants to murder Nazis and escape to Palestine? Or Paulus, the thoughtful, Jewish rationalist who wants to work things out in Germany?
It's a real page-turner, more serious than you would have expected from Ben Elton but not without its moments of bleak humour.
Two Brothers is a novel by Ben Elton, the British comedian, author, playwright, actor and director, whose work includes writing every series of Blackadder apart from the first, and writing the Nineties police comedy series The Thin Blue Line, also starring Rowan Atkinson.
Two Brothers is Ben Elton's 14th novel, and is one of his most personal to date, based on things which happened to his family during World War II.
It tells the story of two German boys brought up as twins who end up on opposite sides in the Second World War – one with the Waffen-SS, the other with the British Army. And it's based on a true story. It is a story based on Elton’s own. Elton's father, Ludwig Ehrenberg and his father's brother, Gottfried Ehrenberg, both German Jews, fled to Britain in 1939 and anglicised their names to Lewis Elton and Geoffrey Elton respectively. Geoffrey enlisted in the British Army and fought in the war.
But there was a cousin of Lewis and Geoffrey- Heinz - who remained in Germany. Heinz Ehrenberg was adopted – and Aryan. When his parents fled the country, he stayed behind to work the family farm until he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. The two cousins - Elton's Uncle Geoffrey and Heinz - both served in Italy on opposite sides and, at one point, fought within a mile of each other.
Two Brothers opens on February 24 1920 with the births of two boys in a troubled Berlin - a Berlin in which everyone is used to the sounds of gunfire, broken glass, shouts and screams as Communists and right-wingers battle each other - and the birth of the Nazi Party in a Munich beer hall. The twin boys are the sons of Frieda, a doctor, and Wolfgang, a musician, but one of the babies is stillborn. Rather than go home with an only child, Frieda decides to take a newborn orphan as her own. That’s how the son of secular Jews and the bastard son of a murdered Communist grow up as twins.
Blackadder writer Ben Elton dispenses with the humour in his 14th novel, Two Brothers, his most personal to date. Ben's father Lewis Ehrenberg and Lewis's brother Gottfried Ehrenberg, both German Jews, fled Germany for Britain in 1939. They anglicised their names to Lewis Elton and Geoffrey Elton respectively. Geoffrey enlisted in the British Army. However, Lewis and Geoffrey's cousin, Heinz, enlisted in the Wehrmacht. At one point, both Geoffrey and Heinz almost fought against each other in Italy
Family affair: Ben Elton's uncle Gottfried, left, and his father Ludwig Ehrenberg, who later changed their names to Geoffrey and Lewis Elton after arriving in Britain
Singled out: Only one member of Elton's family, Heinz, could safely remain in Germany as he had been adopted by Elton's great-uncle and ethnically wasn't a Jew
When the Nazis start to divide the country into 'true' Germans and 'others', the family find themselves faced with a terrible dilemma - which of their boys should be saved?
Will it be Otto, the pure-blood Aryan who wants to murder Nazis and escape to Palestine? Or Paulus, the thoughtful, Jewish rationalist who wants to work things out in Germany?
It's a real page-turner, more serious than you would have expected from Ben Elton but not without its moments of bleak humour.
The secret Nazi family history that inspired Ben Elton's novel: Comedian's uncle was made to join German army as rest of family were condemned to die: The secret Nazi family history that inspired Ben Elton's novel Two Brothers: Comedian's uncle was made to join German army as rest of family were condemned to die | Mail Online
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