Berlin, 1944. ‘No! Not my child!’ Annaliese screams, her voice breaking as she pounds the window uselessly. But no-one looks up as the man in the SS uniform cradles her precious baby and strides away… She lies unmoving on the threadbare cot, her throat hoarse from long hours of screaming but her tears keep falling. […]
Making room for the master race: the true scope of Himmler’s Lebensborn programme
Catherine Hokin writes about the Nazi Lebensborn programme, the background to her latest novel. What did it involve? And how did the Third Reich plan to make room for the ‘master race’ babies they envisaged being born? “The living space of the Nazis has become the dying space of Europe.” When Karl Frank – an […]
Her Last Promise by Catherine Hokin
Berlin, 1938.When Hanni’s beloved sister suddenly vanishes in the middle of the night, Hanni knows her high-ranking Nazi father, Reiner, is not telling her the whole truth and may hold the key to her disappearance. Years later, after finally learning how to live with her troubled past, Hanni dedicates herself to raising her teenage son, […]
Language and the Nazi propaganda machine
Catherine Hokin examines how the Nazi propaganda machine twisted language to hide mass murder, including their Aktion T4 euthanasia programme. Language and how it is used is particularly important to a writer. That might sound very obvious but it is a truism I have come back to again and again while writing fiction based around […]
The Girl in the Photo by Catherine Hokin
Czechoslovakia, Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, 1944. ‘I have to go away, my darling. Please, be brave, stay alive, for me.’ Her mother’s voice breaks. The little girl tries to stop the forbidden tears from falling, as the train takes her mother, and she is left alone. Berlin, six years later. Hanni Winter shows her new husband […]
The legacy of the village of Lidice
When the Nazi occupiers of the former Czech province of Bohemia, in an act of revenge, obliterated the village of Lidice and killed or transported its inhabitants, they did so intending that its very name should be erased from history. Yet Lidice soon became a symbol of the horrors of fascism and its name was […]
Books for history lovers – summer reading 2022
It’s time for Historia’s summer reading suggestions. We asked 12 historical writers to each recommend two books for history lovers, fiction or non-fiction, which stood out for them recently. Whether you’re going overseas for the first time this decade or relaxing at home, we hope you enjoy our picks! Jean Fullerton My first must-read is The […]
The Pilot’s Girl by Catherine Hokin
‘Smile, nod, and don’t breathe a word of what happens here. Or I’ll put you on the next train to Auschwitz myself.’ Four years later. Hanni Winter shivers in her thin coat as she hurries through the empty Berlin streets to her job. Despite the freezing winter and poverty all around, her cheeks flush when she meets […]