I read an ARC (Netgalley) of the NYRB edition translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo.

There is a breakout at a German concentration camp for political prisoners in the 1930s. Seven men escape. Seven 'crosses' are erected in front of the parade ground, and the officer in charge of the camp announces that all the men will be returned.

Told through multiple voices, as inexorably the Nazi regime hunts down the tired, underfed, overworked and tortured men on the run, I found this slow at first. Then the pace accelerates as prisoner after prisoner is tracked down. Seghers shows the great courage (often alongside fear) required to step out from the crowd and challenge the system. At first it seems impossible that anyone will make it, when even small children are weaponised to hunt. Guards stand at every crossing point on the river. Wives and girlfriends are taken in, questioned. Photos of the escapees are posted in the press. Alongside the narrative of escape, friends question what they can do to help (if they can help?) but in the rural areas around the camp men and women largely continue their daily lives.

One of the other reviewers who has recently read this book on LT talks about the similarities to the present day. I also felt this, Seghers points to the difficulties of opposing unjust political systems, but you never feel that it is anything less than vital that we do. This is more than a narrative of heroes, of those who are somehow different from everyone else, superhuman. Instead, she acknowledges the role of chance, of people who are flawed human beings, of the power of friendship and of challenging the idea of those who claim opposition is impossible.
I think the style is of its time (1942) - I wondered how it would have been edited if submitted today. But an amazing book.
Recommended.
(and then read Transit!)

Hard to get through given the difficult reading matter but an poignant story of nazi germany concentration camps

I was keen to read this translation, as I had originally read it during my German degree, in German. In fact, this book was a central part of my dissertation and was one of three Anna Seghers novels. They were all set in the National Socialist period of 1933-1945 (or thereabouts). I remember the German version being a very dense, challenging book - but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for me! I like a book that makes me think, and there’s plenty of food for thought here.

This story is jam packed with characters from all sides of the German story: National Socialists, Communists, the SS and the ordinary working German,

Georg Heisler (I’m using the German derivative of his name; I have no idea why his name was anglicised to ‘George’ whilst other characters kept their German names) escapes from a fictitious concentration camp (Westhofen) along with six other men. This is pre World War II, this is what the National Socialists did to their own countrymen and any dissent.

The story follows the recapture of the other six, Georg’s escape and all those who help him. Persecution on this scale is still happening today, and whether or not it is happening, we should still read about it and remember, in order to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

I’ve touched on the language and style. It’s not easy. It wasn’t easy to read and understand in German, and it can be hard going in English. It seems quite detached from emotion, and I think this is a deliberate device. If we look at the historical context, people clearly disengaged froma large part of what was happening around them. One of the SS soldiers refers to “Sarah’s”; the men in the concentration camp are there being starved and tortured due to their political ideology, and people live within hearing distance, hear the shouting, crying and the pain of the prisoners and do nothing: an embarrassed shrug, a closing of their ears.

This is the part that we should never forget: inaction, and the necessity to stop these things in their tracks at the beginning, rather than before it’s too late.

Georg has his helpers, those who risk their lives to save his (just as Seghers and her husband, both communist Jews had their helpers). The startling thing to me about this novel, is the normalcy: the countryside stays the same, the relationships, work. All seemed normal in the face of such evil. This is a novel to remember and learn from. It has as many lessons for us today as it did seventy years ago,

Written in 1942 the story follows the story of 7 prisoners who escape from a concentration camp. Primarly it focuses on George and interweaves his past with the present. Will his past friends come out and help him. What happens to the other prisoners. It is in place hard to read but would recommend that people keep going as a really fascinating book especially considering when it was written. Would really recommend.

Many books are published every year that detail the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime during World War II, but The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers, translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo, and originally published in 1942, is one of those rare books that provides us with an almost eye-witness account of the time when these horrifying events where still unfolding, and without the hindsight that later novels about this time period have.

The novel begins with the escape of seven prisoners from the Westhofen concentration camp, who were imprisoned there for their communist beliefs, and their escape causes a turmoil among the Nazi officers, who are tasked by their Commandant with recapturing them within a week, as well as the local community, who live in a town close to the concentration camp. Almost all of the fugitives are soon recaptured, except for one, George Heisler, who manages to evade his pursuers, and is on the run. But who can he trust in this precarious situation? As George tries to stay ahead of his pursuers, the novel uncovers the many layers of the fascist regime, vividly evoking the atmosphere of fear, distrust, and oppression, and providing a glimpse into the lives, beliefs, hopes, and fears of ordinary Germans during this time.

The book mainly focuses on the effects that the escape has on the local community, as asks important questions about how informed the local German population was about what was going on in the camps on a daily basis. Some of the most memorable and chilling scenes of the book were the ones that described how the townspeople continued to lead their ordinary lives so close to the horrors that were happening almost next door in the concentration camp. We see different facets of the local community, some are willing to help George, and others, wilfully, out of fear, or simply ignorance, choose to not get involved. When George first arrives in the town, he is struck by the sheer normality of the situations that he sees on the streets.

"In Westhoven he'd pictured a street here differently. He thought he would see a feeling of shame in every face, on every cobblestone, and that sorrow would mute the steps and voices and even the children's games. The street here was calm; the people looked happy."

This is an important read that documents a particular moment in history, and shows the insidious, almost banal, rise of evil.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book via Netgalley.

This is an important topic and I thought this was a good book. However I personally wasn't a huge fan of the writing style and so the book as a whole felt a little flat for me. It was interesting to read a book set during WWII that was written by a German author.

Having read the original German version and the English translation, there are comments here on both:

The merit of this book really lies in its significance as a historical document, written by a German communist exile in 1942, and as such I suppose it is a product of its time. Its main protagonist, Georg Heisler, is a political prisoner in a concentration camp, and the book follows him as he escapes and seeks refuge from the people who help him – or not. Along the way it provides a vivid portrayal of the brutality of the concentration camps, the oppressiveness of the regime and the fear among the general population of the time. But as a piece of literature, it is ponderous and full of overblown, florid ramblings.

I don’t envy Margot Bettauer Dembo the task of translating this, but I’m disappointed at the publisher’s decision to not produce a UK English version for the UK market. I’m also not sure why it was deemed necessary to anglicise the main protagonist’s name to George in this translation – all other names are retained.

There’s a good story in here somewhere and - much like Georg himself - it’s desperate to escape, but it’s trapped by the oppressive verbiage, and only manages to peek out between the bars.

Useful if you’re studying the historical period, and the translation may be useful for clarifying some of the more impenetrable passages in the original, but don’t expect a satisfying literary experience.

I was intrigued by this book, written in 1942 by the German writer, Anna Seghers when she was in exile from her homeland of Germany. Seghers who was born Jewish and who married a Hungarian Communist left Germany in the mid thirties but she clearly had a good idea of what was going on. The Seventh Cross is one of a very few books written about German Concentration Camps contemporaneously and this makes it very interesting. The story concerns seven prisoners who escape and who are variously captured or helped by their fellow countrymen. For me the language felt quite heavy and plodding at times and I wondered if this was a feature of the translation. Unfortunately my german isn't good enough to read the original. However you do get a sense of the time. Thousands of books have been written about World War 2 but mostly these are with the benefit of hindsight. I wasn't quite as gripped by this novel as by the wonderful Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada or Nemirovsky's exquisite Suite Francaise but it is worth reading nonetheless to get a perspective on what it was like at the time. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

An important book, but not necessarily (for me anyway) a book I...enjoyed is always the wrong word for a WWII book, but it's the closest I can think of. Anyway, the story fell a little flat for me and I didn't really like the writing style. This is an issue sometimes with translated books, and it's impossible to know whether it's the original work or the translation that hasn't been your cup of tea (unless you read the original language obviously) so I've been a little more generous with the stars than I would have been.

I really didn't enjoy the writing style very early on.
There was far too many characters introduced very early on and then multiple descriptions of the fog.
The book lost me and sadly it was a DNF fairly early on.

Without doubt one of the main issues that often causes concerns when talking about the 2WW is just how much information the everyday German populace received or knew about what the Nazi party were involved in on a day to day basis. Here of course we are referring to genocide and the manipulation and control of not only the German people but those in neighbouring countries which soon fell under the control of jack booted terrorists and in particular the annihilation of groups who did not conform to the Nazi Aryan ideology. So digging deep within the storyline of The Seventh Cross we are almost exclusively given a glimpse into the thinking of the everyday German at that time and in particular their knowledge or lack of just what was happening on a daily basis. Did they know of the existence of concentration camps in the years immediately before war broke out? And if they did know were they supportive? Did they condone what was going on? Were they prepared to help individuals who were incarcerated and brutally beaten for merely condoning a particular belief?

Anna Seghers book is of particular significance as it a product of its time. It paints a picture of a country in change/turmoil but most importantly it is written from someone who actually lived through the rise of Nazism, the emergence of an elitist SS, the indoctrination of the very young into the Hitler Youth, the brown uniforms and fascist beliefs held by the SA whose official role was to protect party meetings, march in Nazi rallies and physically assault and intimidate political opponents. 7 men imprisoned in the fictitious Westhofen camp have escaped. George Heisler, a communist, is the main character and the story follows him negotiating the outlying countryside and taking shelter with those who were prepared to risk the wrath and torture of the Gestapo. As the story unfolds six of the escapees are gradually captured. The title of The Seventh Cross refers to the work of the camp commandant "Fahrenberg" where he has ordered the creation of seven crosses from nearby trees to be used when prisoners are returned not as a means of crucifixion but a subtler torture: the escapees are made to stand all day in front of their crosses, and will be punished if they falter. As in historical document this is an important work primarily because it portrays the mindset of the German people; would they adhere to the barbarous actions of a ruthless government in waiting or were they prepared to stretch out the hand of friendship and help the escapees.

I must confess that as a story I did not find the book as well written as I had hoped (that honour must certainly go to the wonderful Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. and the dangerous actions that Otto Quangel takes when he discovers that his son has been killed on the Russian front) yet it is still an excellent account of its time, written by a lady who herself was a committed communist. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley and the publisher Little Brown Book Group UK, Virago for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

Originally published in 1942, this is set a few years before the outbreak of WW2 when the concentration camps were prison camps for German 'criminals' as designated by Nazi typology. Seven men escape at the start, and as six of them are recaptured, we witness George Heisler's attempts to keep ahead of his dedicated pursuers.

This is undoubtedly an important book in terms of its content and its representation of resistance to Nazi power - but the writing style (or maybe the translation?) makes this flat and laborious reading, lacking vividness, pace and literary flair. I persevered because of my interest in the subject matter: the way George's flight allows a view of ordinary Germans, some ready to hide and help him, others shutting the door in the face of their former friend, out of fear or just the unwillingness to get involved.

There are often (not always) pertinent reasons why books drop out of favour: this is worth a read for the way in which it documents its historical moment but it's somewhat lacking for me as a literary novel of style and engagement.