ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

I don’t know if there is much of a Dutch film industry. but if there is, they should think seriously about turning this remarkable book into a film…

The Unsung Family Hero is the story of anti-Nazi resistance fighter Gerhard Badrian, whose story has recently come to light via the author’s interest in his own family history.  Paul Gardner was only a four-year-old boy safe in Melbourne when Badrian was murdered in Amsterdam, and he spent most of his life knowing nothing about Badrian, who was his mother’s cousin.  But a chance contact led to his research into the story of this extraordinary man, and the result is this book.

It’s not a memoir, and it’s not a history and it’s not a conventional biography: it’s an engrossing adventure story framed by the real-life occupation of Holland by the Nazis.  Gardner has chosen to write the story as a narrative with invented conversations, thoughts and feelings, underpinned by the biographical, genealogical and historical facts and based entirely on documented evidence, which is provided in an extensive epilogue at the back of the book.  In this way, the book avoids the traps that have led to criticism of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and has an authenticity which adds to the power of the story.

Gerhard Badrian (1905-1944) was a German Jew, from a family long integrated into German society.  However, his parents evacuated him to Holland for the duration of WW1 when he was a boy, and the author has used his own childhood experience of receiving a gift of a camera when he was a boy, as a fictional catalyst for Badrian’s eventual career as a commercial photographer.  It was with fond memories of his foster family that he turned to Holland as a refuge when he realised the risk to his parents, sister and nephew in Germany under the Nazis.

Gerhard Badrian at work in the PBC office in the Amsteldjik, The Unsung Family Hero, p 96

But as we all know, Holland turned out to be no safer than Germany for Jews, and before long this quiet, unassuming man transitioned from an inconspicuous photographer to a valuable member of the Dutch Resistance.  At first it was a matter of using his photography skills to make false ration cards and identity documents, but when his parents Hermann and Frieda Badrian were stripped of their assets and deported to their fate at the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland, his involvement became more personal.  He became involved in brazen rescues, sometimes dressed in Gestapo uniform and issuing orders to compliant Nazis in his native German.  For three years, working with another Resistance hero Gerrit van der Veen in the Verzet group, he lived undercover with multiple identities before finally being trapped and killed in an ambush.  He was only 39.

This gripping story retells one nail-biting incident after another, and it flows like a well-plotted novel, the only difference being that it includes more characters than most novels would venture to include. Badrian’s betrayal and death comes as a shock because it’s only half way through the book when the reader isn’t expecting it: the remaining pages are Acknowledgements and an extensive Epilogue of sources and notes.  The Unsung Family hero is written in sturdy prose, leavened with flashes of sardonic humour at the expense of the Nazis outwitted by Badrian.  (So many of those who served the Nazi regime in Holland and elsewhere were stupid, inadequate men, guaranteed to abuse power because they had never had it before.)

The book also pays homage to other heroes of the Dutch Resistance: Cokkie Dickson (based on Elisabeth van Lohuisen, Anne-Marie Deij, Walter Süskind, Jacques and Rachel de Vries and Frans Meijer who ran the network.  Yet despite the sombre purpose of the work these people were doing, there are glimpses of satisfaction in their enterprise:

A man who is in hiding, an illegaal, living in the midst of a brutal fascist regime motivated simultaneously by aggressive imperialism and murderous antisemitism, is hardly likely to describe himself as happy.  And yet, once he joined the PBC and became deeply involved in its work, Gerhard felt happier than he had been for a long time.

If not joy, then at least he felt satisfaction in being able to participate in a project that potentially saved lives.  The feelings of boredom and uselessness that he had expressed to Cokkie in Groningen quickly dissipated.  He gained pleasure from being able to work with others who shared his humane values and demonstrated the same commitment to producing high quality work that he valued in his former work as a commercial photographer.  And there was camaraderie, the enjoyment of being with men and women who could do serious work and still find a little time for sharing a joke, a story, a friendly smile.  (p.98)

The author also pays homage to the leadership of Gerrit Van der Deen.

It did not take Gerhard long to discover the range of skills that made Gerritt so effective in his role as head of the PBC.  He was more than just a generator of creative ideas, more than just a skilled organiser who could delegate tasks to the right people.  He was a true leader in the fullest sense of the word, a man who brought people together, enthused them, valued them, helped them to continually learn and improve.  (p.98)

---

Premier Dan Andrews, working from home

I paid particular attention to this snippet because across the world we are all witnessing different kinds of leadership at the moment, on stages grand and small. In my State of Victoria, we have a leader who inspires us to be our best during this difficult period, reminding us that we are cooperating with stringent regulations not just for ourselves, not just for the people we love, but also for the people we don’t know, because everyone matters.  And in my street, we have a Facebook Neighbourhood group led by a real estate agent,  Trevor Bowen, whose leadership has brought us together as a community to share and help each other, keep the kids happy with a Teddy Bear hunt, to chat from one side of the road to the other when we’re out taking the dog for a walk, and to make sure that the elderly are not alone and lonely.  The generosity and kindness and good humour in our neighbourhood makes everything a lot easier, and we feel secure knowing that help is nearby if anyone has to go into isolation.  Not everyone is so lucky, and I know it.

Amsterdam street scene, 1944, The Unsung Family Hero p182

B&W photos and reproductions of documents are included to amplify the text.  This is one of them:  it is a photo of a mass arrest of hidden Jews, on their way to Gestapo headquarters, unremarked by the pedestrians in the rear.

The cover design of the book cleverly reproduces the tools of Badrian’s trade as an expert forger of documents!

See also the review at JWire.

Image credits: (listed among others on p345 of the book)

• Gerhard Badrian at work in the PBC office in the Amsteldijk, Frans Meijer Archive/annefrank.org
• Amsterdam street scene 1944, Jack Dudok van Heel/New York Times blog ‘Bamboozling ourselves’, opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

Update 20/4/20 A couple of minor details have been amended on the advice of the author.  Thanks, Paul!

Author: Paul Gardner
Title: The Unsung Family Hero
Cover design: Gittus Graphics
Publisher: Hybrid Publishers, 2020
ISBN: 9781925736366, pbk., 350 pages
Review copy courtesy of Hybrid Publishers

Please note that in the interests of social cohesion,
comments on all books about the Holocaust or set in Palestine or Israel,
and books written by Palestinian, Israeli, and Jewish authors are closed for the duration.
I have taken this action because of intemperate comments made by readers
who have ignored requests to refrain from commenting on the current conflict.