Twins

Anna and Lotte are twin sisters, born in Cologne in 1916. Their mother died when they were three years old, their father of tuberculosis when they were six. Their grandfather, a brutish farmer, took Anna to his farm, expecting many years of hard work from her; but he would not take Lotte, who was herself possibly tubercular: he sent her to his sister who lived in Holland, and whose daughter and son-in-law took her into their family. And so the twins were separated. Neither of them were happy in their adoptive families, though Anna had the more dreadful experiences. The book begins in 1990, when by chance the now 74-year old twins meet again at Spa in Belgium where they are both taking the cure for arthritis. Lotte had survived the war under German occupation in Holland, although her Jewish lover had not. Her Dutch family had, at huge risk to themselves, sheltered many Jews and left-wingers from the Germans. So there are reasons why she wants to keep her distance from Anna, who had grown up in Nazi Germany. It doesn't help that Anna displays a German tactlessness, insensitivity and loudness. But they can't keep away from each other, and over countless visits to the cafés of Spa (among other hardships, they had both experienced extreme hunger during the war) they do tell each other about their past lives. Lotte listens reluctantly, bristles frequently, especially when she feels called upon to sympathize with the sufferings Anna had gone through, while Anna is trying hard to get close to her sister, who is after all her only relative. Anna's husband, an army officer, had been killed right at the end of the war. Only a fortnight before that, though he did not like the Nazis or the war, he had, as a fit young man, been pressured to join the Waffen-SS: Lotte, by now a mother and grandmother, is not disposed to sympathize with her widowed and childless sister. Actually, for all her brashness, Anna is not a bad person. She is feisty, tough, and fearless. She had initially ignored, then despised the Nazis, but had ended up by not thinking much about politics. During the war she, like Lotte, had worn herself out selflessly helping those who needed help (not Jews, true; she was not in a position to do that; but wounded soldiers and, one occasion, Russian prisoners of war.) She does rage against the ferocious bombing of the Allies and against the occupation forces after the war, whom she does not see as liberators. She does not feel any personal guilt and finds Lotte's reactions hard to cope with; but she has never been a person to give up, and she keeps on battling against Lotte's attitude. There are vivid descriptions of suffering, both in Holland and in Germany. Clearly the sheer scale of destruction that befell the German armies and German civilians at the end of the war (and the terrible conditions after the war) exceed even the horrors the Dutch had experienced during and after the war. In this way they certainly weigh more h

This is a very unique book and reading it will almost undoubtedly change the way you look at both history and the world today as at times nothing much seems to have really changed. We still judge people on their nationality and judge entire nations on the actions of a minority without even thinking about it but reading this book will make it impossible to continue to do so. At times it puts a little too much effort into explaining how the German people suffered just as much as the people of the occupied countries but I think it's necessary to really prove the point. Even today there are people who paint the picture of the war in complete black and white and see all Germans of the time as Nazi-sympathizers and this book manages to put a much more human and personal face to each side of the war. The story of the two women being sisters doesn't always work that well - in fact it's not until the last third of the book that it begins to seem real - and there's a bit too much emphasis on Anna but it is still a marvellous and thought-provoking read. I grew up listening to my great-grandmother's stories of the war and the way that she never forgave neither the Germans nor the Russians (and consequently I was 14 years old before I started questioning still laying the guilt at the feet of all Germans and Russians alive today) and I wish that she was alive now so that I could read this book to her. It's strong enough to might even have been able to broaden her perspective and given her some peace of mind. The ending was so sad yet perfect that it gave me goose bumps all over my body.

I absolutley loved this book. I have always enjoyed WWII novels so when I noticed this one I was intrigued. This story allows you to see both sides of the war and really feel sympathy for both sides no matter what you beleive, Tessa De Loo created a masterpeice when she wrote this I think it is wonderful book for anyone.

The previous reviewer gave a good summary of this book, which was strongly recommended to me by an English family member who works in both the Netherlands and Germany. It tells a highly believable,but presumably fictional based on true experiences, account of the pre, war and post war experiences of the two twins reared apart in these two countries. It depicts very well the perceptions, values and interpretations of events which represent the cultural attitudes of these two nations. For me it was a long but compelling read which helped me understand attitudes to WW2 from two intimately involved countries who were in very different situations. Perhaps to know all is to forgive all. I should say that some others who I have recommended it to found it too lengthy, to me WW2 still provides the major moral questions for my generation even though I was born after it.

Twin sisters, orphaned and separated at age six, brought up on opposite sides of World War II, meet by chance at a health resort 70 years later in Dutch author Tessa De Loo's absorbing novel of loss, war and moral ambiguity.Born in Cologne, Germany, Lotte and Anna are inseparable for their first six years, brought up by their consumptive father after the early death of their mother. But when their father dies, Lotte, also suffering from TB, is taken to Holland by Dutch relatives and Anna, the stronger, is sent to her grandfather's pig farm in rural Germany. Lotte's letters are kept from Anna, who is regarded as cheap labor on the farm, and, while the two meet briefly as adults, they remain strangers until thrown together at the spa in Belgium where both have gone for treatment of arthritis.Anna, always more boisterous and gregarious, pursues a reconciliation with her quieter sister, who is embittered by the war and resistant to all things German. Anna disliked Nazism but went along. When she met and fell in love with a reluctant Austrian soldier, he accepted SS officer training in order to be temporarily close to her. He eventually died in a bombing attack. Lotte fell in love with a Jew who died in a concentration camp. At great risk, her family hid Jews during the war. But these are the broad outlines of their lives. As they tell each other their stories, the color and shading emerges, painting a vivid, tumultuous, sometimes horrific picture of lives shaped by war. Interwoven with the moods and melancholy of old age, the sisters' narratives begin tentatively. Anna gives hints of the privations she suffered at the pig farm, Lotte recalls a better life with siblings and school and loving parents.As personal bitterness and long held grudges surface, the anecdotes become pointed, fueled by anger or hurt, or more pensive, plaintive ruminations of deprivation and what might have been. Anna's childhood is revealed as a bleak, loveless time of backbreaking drudgery and humiliation. The local priest offered the only hope and at last was instrumental in extracting her from her relatives, providing an education and finding her work as a servant. Lotte's childhood, while loving, was dominated by a monumentally selfish uncle whose obsession with music inexplicably excluded his niece's beautiful singing voice, which the war then crushed.As the girls come of age, the world explodes into war. Without hammering the point home, De Loo explores the poignancy of this timing - their first forays into the wider world, into love, independence and responsibility, are hesitant steps into chaos and increasing ugliness.Nor does De Loo allow the immense, horrific backdrop of war subsume the girls' individuality. The war is all consuming but Lotte and Anna struggle within its confines to grow and love. War batters their youth and shapes their future but at their core, they remain true to their natures.Anna, yearning for reconciliation,