Peter Härtling (1933–2017)

my mother gave me this book. honestly, i had never heard of felix's sister, but i was amazed by her motivation to compose and make music. although her family wanted to keep her talent at home, finally her husband supported her first publication. she had so much energy and even though she died young she did more than other people in 100 years. great read to learn about the other side of felix's life.

Nachgetragene Liebe beschreibt the youth, aged six to 11 of author Peter Härtling in Olomouc in Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic. Härtling, born in 1933, grew up during the Second World War. The theme of the novel is the expression of "belated" love for the father.

Some biographical facts are known about the author and the author's family, and seem to correspond with elements in the novel. However, the novel must surely have significance beyond the autobiographical basis of Peter show more Härtling.

Perhaps part of the "belatedness" of the love for the father, as expressed in Nachgetragene Liebe is the tabu that must have surrounded the topic, directly after the War and many years that followed. The father figure in the novel is a barrister and continued working in that position during the war, which would make him an accomplice in the eyes of many. The novel describes how, at the beginning of the war, the family moved from Hartmannsdorf near Chemnitz, in Sachsen, in eastern Germany to then Olmütz in Mähren. The novel suggests that the parents moved to Olomouc in search of "a quiet corner" in the German Reich, and there are many suggestions that the father and mother were benign to the local populace.

Prior to 1939, Olomouc was a Czech city. Bohemia and Moravia were annexed by Nazi Germany. In the night of 15 / 16. March 1939, the synagogue was burnt down and 800 Jews were arrested and deported to the extermination camp Dachau, a fate shared by 3,489 Jewish people from Olomouc throught the Second World War period.

Olomouc is a very beautiful city, essentially quite on a par with Prague. Nachgetragene Liebe is a very nostalgic novel that does not deal with any of the suffering during or after the war. Instead, it presents an idealized view of life in the city through the eyes of a young boy. The focus of the novel are the boys memories of his father. show less

" Djadi tiene once años cuando huye solo de Siria y llega a Fráncfort. Nadie sabe lo que ha vivido en su huida por el Mediterráneo ni sus pérdidas. Djadi se encuentra completamente solo en Fráncfort cuando Jan y Dorothea lo acogen en la casa que comparten con otros mayores y se ocupan de él. Día a día aprende el idioma, las costumbres de su nueva “familia” y a adaptarse al colegio. Pero es la gran conexión y amistad con Wladi, un hombre de setenta y cinco años, lo que ayuda a show more Djadi a convivir con sus miedos. Poco a poco aprende a confiar en las personas que lo acogen en su casa compartida..." show less

This story tells the journey of a 12 year old young man by the name of Thomas. The setting of the story is after World War II which makes it historical fiction and Thomas is traveling to Vienna to fins his aunt. In the process of trying to find his aunt, he loses his mother while trying to escape the Russian Invasion. All alone in Vienna, he stumbles across a man name Crutches, a former German soldier who received his name from losing his leg. Thomas and Crutches take off to Germany where show more they stay for about a year. Thomas eventually finds his mother and he leaves Crutches. The bond and security that Thomas put in Crutches was amazing and it made Thomas promise that he would come back to see Crutches. show less