THE COMMANDANT OF LUBIZEC: A NOVEL OF THE HOLOCAUST AND OPERATION REINHARD by Patrick Hicks

Patrick Hicks, The Commandant of Lubizec: A Novel of the Holocaust and Operation Reinhard (Steerforth Press, 2013). 252 pages.

Also available for Nook and Kindle.

(Historical Fiction)

Reviewed by Tom Kessler

The Commandant of Lubizec by Patrick Hicks is a novel set in occupied Poland during 1942 and 1943 within the context of the Nazi Operation Reinhard. While the story of Lubizec and Commandant Hans-Peter Guth is a work of fiction, Operation Reinhard was a horrific reality.

The history of Nazi concentration and slave-labor camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau is, at least to a rudimentary degree, widely known. Who can forget the black and white scenes in documentaries of the camps? Lubizec is based on the lesser known camps of Sobibór, Bełżec and Treblinka. The distinction of the Operation Reinhard camps from the concentration camps is that they were strictly extermination facilities, each approximately the size of three football fields, and constructed for the sole purpose of killing thousands of people daily with industrial efficiency. Between 1941-1943 over one and a half million Jews were murdered in the Operation Reinhard camps. No known movie images of these three camps exist, and the facilities themselves were destroyed and plowed into the ground by late 1943.

The novel immediately drew me in, and by the middle of the second page I had to remind myself that I was reading a novel rather than a historical account. Adding to my reading experience was the opportunity to hear the author Patrick Hicks speak at the University of Northern Iowa at an event sponsored by the UNI Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education. Hicks described how he came to write the novel and the extent of his research, and he showed pictures from his trips to the sites of both extermination and concentration camps. He said two things he hoped to accomplish with the novel were to “add color” to those black and white mental images we carry of the concentration camps, and to balance what happened in the camps with the “normalcy” of real life. To my mind Hicks accomplished both intents, and I would go so far as to say that he was successful in transcending the line between fiction and nonfiction so that the reader grapples with deeper issues of truth and human nature.

The Commandant of Lubizec is an accessible and relatively short novel which presents readers with a wide sweep Holocaust related facts, issues, and themes: the incomprehensible magnitude of the death and destruction; the extent of the brutality and cruelty to the “other;” the cold logistics and “learning curve” of Nazi efforts of human extermination; the humanity of the victims and the perpetrators; vivid details of personal experiences in the camps ranging from months/years to a few minutes; the “banality of evil” and associated controversies; the dynamics of collaboration; courage and heroism; moral choice; religious meaning in the face of overwhelming evil; family life and love in the shadow of unspoken evil; lives of victims and perpetrators after the camps; and on and on.

On occasion I found myself wishing for more individual character development. As the story unfolds the reader is confronted with many different perspectives - Commandant Guth, his wife Jasmine, their children, Jewish camp prisoner/workers, Nazi officials, guards and gas chamber operators, murderers and those murdered. Thousands make appearances for the few minutes between cattle cars and the gas chambers, and are reduced to aggregate numbers: August 21, 1942 - 3,837; August 22, 1942 - 3,914; August 23, 1942 - 3,966. In retrospect, the main character of the novel was the Holocaust itself, and it was indeed effectively developed in stark and brutal detail and depth.

Ultimately, to engage deeply with the novel strips one of the shields of objectivity and distance and asks what individual and collective choices we would make in similar circumstances. And no less important, would we individually and collectively even recognize similar circumstances before it was too late? Am I alone in thinking that honest answers to those questions are not as certain or obvious as we would like to think and hope?

During his presentation at UNI, Hicks said that the problem with writing about the Holocaust is how to put it in words. As impossible as that task may be, it is important that there are those courageous enough to make the attempt. Alternatively, the problem with reading about the Holocaust is the understandable reluctance to engage with the magnitude of cruelty, evil and human depravity. As the events of the Holocaust of the 1930’s and 40’s recede further into history, both the courage to write and the courage to read and engage are essential. The lessons of one of the lowest points in human history must not be forgotten.

NOTE: Steven Wingate’s interview with the author can be found at http://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/rich-lives-for-the-departed-an-interview-with-patrick-hicks/.

TWENTY GOOD READS FOR LOVERS OF HISTORICAL MYSTERIES

The “Cadfael Chronicles,” twenty historical mysteries sent during the English Civil War of the 1100s, by Ellis Peters (various publishers and editions available). They were written between 1977 and 1994, in the following order:

                              

 A Morbid Taste for Bones
One Corpse Too Many
Monk's Hood
St. Peter's Fair
The Leper of Saint Giles
The Virgin in the Ice
The Sanctuary Sparrow
The Devil's Novice
Dead Man's Ransom

The Pilgrim of Hate
An Excellent Mystery
The Raven in the Foregate
The Rose Rent
The Hermit of Eyton Forest
The Confession of Brother Haluin
The Heretic's Apprentice

The Potter's Field
The Summer of the Danes
The Holy Thief
Brother Cadfael's Penance

Dialogue between Wilda Morris and Thomas Kessler

WM: I read all twenty of the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters (a pseudonym of British author, Edith Pargeter). Did you also read all of them? If so, what did you especially like about them?

TK: It was quite a while ago, but I believe I read all that were available at the time. I enjoyed them very much for several reasons—I enjoy mystery novels, I enjoy novels set in the Middle Ages, and I enjoy novels that serve to open a window into life in monasteries. I also appreciated Cadfael's perspective on life and events. 

WM: The series was recommended to me during the month we spent on the border between Wales and England. The main setting is the Benedictine Monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul at Shrewsbury. I found one of the books in a store and bought it. I think it was The Hermit of Eyton Forest. It was a mistake not to begin with A Morbid Taste for Bones, the first book in the series. If you don’t start with the first book, you know something that gives away too much in an earlier volume. Thirteen of the books were made into television shows (with Derek Jacobi playing Brother Cadfael). I never understood why our public television station played the third episode first. One of the suspicious characters in the second novel becomes a regular, much-respected character in the later books. If you already know he is a “good guy,” he won’t look like a villain in One Corpse Too Many. That reduces the suspense. I highly recommend starting with the first volume of the series and working your way through in order! Do you have a favorite?

TK: I don't remember enough details to specify a favorite in terms of the story, but the one that I am reminded about most often is Monk's Hood because it involved a poisoning using a toxic plant called Monkshood - which has a beautiful hood-shaped purple bloom. After reading the book I planted some Monkshood in our yard (just to look at - not to use as poison), and think of the novel every time I see the plant.

WK: Maybe you could give me a cutting of Monkshood for my garden! Your mention of that reminds me that Cadfael was an expert in herbs and other plants. As a monk, Cadfael was in charge of the monastery herb garden, which was grown primarily for medicinal purposes. Cadfael was called on when a monk was ill, as well as when a body was found in the area around Shrewsbury. Cadfael had been a soldier in the Crusades and had brought back herbs that were new to English gardens.

TK: I’d be glad to provide you a cutting!  It spreads slowly without being invasive and seems to be quite hardy and I’ve begun to plant cuttings in various places in our yard.  Two interesting features of the books for me was that Cadfael was an herbalist and that being a monk was a “second career” after having led a more worldly life, including service in the Crusades.  That juxtaposition of two radically different life-styles and worldviews is what I was referring to when I said I appreciated his perspective on life and events.

WM: At one point, after the fourth or fifth of the series, I thought the books were getting a bit redundant. I put the series aside for a couple of months, and then went back to it. After that, I never found them redundant or boring. Now I wonder if it was after that that some of the plots drew on Cadfael’s life as a Crusader (and his time as a sailor), before he settled down and became a monk. This back-story gave the author interesting material on which to draw.

TK: Interesting. This conversation is making me want to go back and read the Cadfael series again.  I think that I’d appreciate and enjoy them even more than I did the first time. Do you have copies of most of the books? It just occurred to me that while I spend a fair amount of time in used bookstores and at used book sales, I seldom see Cadfael novels. I can only remember running across one in the past several years. Have you had the same experience?

WM: I have seen some of these books at The Frugal Muse in Darien, Illinois, where I sometimes buy used books.  To change the subject a bit, it seems to me that these books could be used as a resource on which to base a series of discussions of theological issues. Off hand, I can think of several: the use of relics; a Christian view of sexuality; whether it is ever appropriate to lie, etc. What do you think of this idea? Are there other issues you would add to the list?

TK: I think using the Cadfael novels as the basis of theological discussions is a great idea—and perhaps a way to engage some folks who might not think they'd enjoy such discussions. I'd have to re-read some of the novels to comment much more, but certainly issues of faith and authority - as well as historical discussions of 12th Century England.
 

WM: Yes, I should have thought of religious authority as a discussion topic; Cadfael had some interesting conflicts with other members of the monastery community, especially Prior Robert and the prior’s clerk! TK: The issue of religious authority is quite interesting.  Cadfael’s position as herbalist is certainly not a “power position” within the monastery or Catholic hierarchy.  But to my mind his wide previous experience before joining the order provided him more authority in terms of understanding of human nature and society.  I always enjoyed seeing how he managed to maneuver in the hierarchical system. WM: Another interesting topic for discussion would be the relationship between the secular world and the sacred, a theme which occurs regularly in this series. Grace, ethics, and the role of prayer are other potential discussion topics which could be based on reading one or more of the Cadfael series. I learned some things about the history of Great Britain while reading these books. The fact that the stories take place in historical sequence is helpful from that perspective. I don’t recall ever having heard of the struggle between Matilda (also called Maud) and Stephen for the throne of England until I read these books. Did you find the books an enjoyable way of picking up a little historical knowledge?

TK: They were very enjoyable! If you liked the Cadfael novels you might also enjoy books by Sharon Kay Penman. She has at least three mysteries out (example: The Queen's Man) - and if you enjoy "bigger" reads, her novel When Christ and His Saint's Slept is a much longer read about Matilda/Maud's struggle with her cousin Stephen for the throne. For some reason I find this particular period of English history fascinating—although I certainly wouldn't have wanted to live in England at that time. Another novel set in that same period that I enjoyed very much is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. That period of English history provides the grist for discussion on many, many topics and aspects of “the human condition”—much as the U.S. Civil War does.

WM: I really enjoyed The Pillars of the Earth also. You aren’t the first person to recommend Sharon Penman’s books to me. I guess it is time for me to start reading them. And one of these days, I’m going to reread all twenty of the Cadfael novels. Edith Pargeter died in 1995, so there will not be any more books in the series.