I’d never read a novel with the perspective of an SS officer overseeing a concentration camp, or an SS officer’s wife. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to understand the daily lives of people we all outwardly despise, and to see any humanity and how that humanity isn’t enough. The novel progresses quickly and was at moments so beautiful and heartfelt. I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

Remote Sympathy is the story of Doktor Lenard Weber in the Buchenwald concentration camp whose life intersects with the Sturmbannfuhrer Dietrich Hahn and his wife Frau Greta Hahn. Told from four points-of-view – Lenard’s letters to his daughter dated 1946, recorded interviews of Deitrich in 1954 from prison, the ‘imagined’ diary entries of Greta while living with her husband at the camp, and the collective voices of the people of Weimar near Buchenwald.
On the eve of the war, Doktor Weber developed a machine he named the ‘Sympathetic Vitaliser’ to treat cancer based on the theory of remote sympathy “that the energetic power produced in one part of the body could influence another part some distance away.” His contact plates attached to various parts of the body would send electrical pulses through the body directly to the tumor to destroy it. After testing, it became apparent the machine did not work. Lenard is forced to divorce his Jewish wife in order to keep his job at the hospital, necessary to keep his family fed, and live apart to keep up the façade. They are eventually sent to a camp. When it is discovered that Lenard’s grandparents had Jewish blood, he is fired from the hospital and sent to Buchenwald.
When SS officer Dietrich Hahn is assigned to Buchenwald, Greta must leave behind her beautiful home in Munich to move with their son to the well-appointed officer housing at the camp. When Greta becomes ill with cancer, Dietrich is desperate to find a cure. He hears of the Sympathetic Vitaliser and its inventor is a prisoner at the camp. Even though Lenard tells Dietrich that the Vitaliser does not work, Dietrich must try. The two men strike a deal. If Lenard would rebuild his machine and treat Greta, Dietrich will make inquiries as to the fate of Lenard’s wife and daughter.
The multiple perspectives of this novel give it a level of depth and meaning not often seen in a WWII narrative – the poignancy of Lenard’s letters to his daughter and the horrific occurrences in the camp; Dietrich’s disillusioned sense of morality as an SS officer, as well as his love and protection of his family; Greta’s avoidance of the horrors a stone’s throw outside her door, and fulfilling her role as the perfect German wife; the people of Weimar who ignored what was going on and didn’t ask questions. The complexities of the characters and their interactions within this tragic point in history is perfectly executed by the author.

This is such a powerful novel. I didn’t realise how much it had affected me until I reached the last few pages and the ending had me in a flood of tears. The setting is Buchenwald concentration camp so obviously I was prepared for horrors and the author has done her research well.
The story begins in 1930 with Doktor Lenard Weber describing how he met his wife Anna at the exhibition of ‘The Transparent Man’ a see-through model of a man. Doktor Weber is the inventor of a machine that could be a cure for cancer using ‘remote sympathy’. His ‘Sympathetic Vitaliser’ uses electricity to create resonance through the body and therefore reduce tumours. They marry and have a daughter. The Doktor’s narrative is written as a letter to his daughter after the war. By 1936 Weber is coming under pressure to divorce, Anna is Jewish and even though Weber is very Aryan looking himself he also has a Jewish grandfather.
But Lenard is only one of the narrators. The other two are the Hahns, Greta and Dietrich. They have a five year old son and they move to Buchenwald where Dietrich takes up an administrative position. Greta’s narration reads like a diary. Dietrich’s is from a recording much later in 1954. Greta is young and naive, more worried about her son seeing through the fence into the camp than what her husband does there!
As the story brings the characters together their narratives are joined by the voices of citizens from the nearby town of Weimar.
This book is an impressive work. So beautifully written and constructed, I was immersed in the story from the beginning and while not an easy read I couldn’t look away.

Remote Sympathy is a good book. A doctor hopes his daughter is still alive while a kommamdant of Buchenwald desperately hopes his wife can be saved. How the two stories intertwine is very creative. I was aghast at how gullible Greta was about the camp and the first parts of the book reminded me of The Boy in Striped Pajamas. I did think some of the scenes could have been condensed as they went on and on. The ending proved a nice surprise that I hadn’t anticipated. Remote Sympathy is a compelling historical read.

This....this was a lot.

A different perspective of WWII - an SS officer, a woman dying of cancer - a rather gross group of Nazi women talking about their new homes - I don't know. It's...powerful story telling but just didn't sit well with me.

I didn't hate this - and I didn't like it but it's still so well written and a powerful view that I can't help but rate it 5 stars.

Thank you to netGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Beautiful. This book is classic, beautifully written, intriguing, heartbreaking, raw, honest, and descriptive in all the best ways. I felt like I was living this book out in my imagination because the picture was painted so well by Catherine Chidgey. This might be one of my favorite historical fiction books from this time period and certainly the first one I've read from this perspective that I enjoyed.

“People want to make us into monsters, but it’s easy to accuse someone else of atrocities to deflect attention from your own involvement - to salve your own conscience. I can see you know what I mean.”

Remote Sympathy (love the title, ambiguous and interesting) is set in and near the concentration camp of Buchenwald. Several of the characters are based on historical figures.

I learned about several interesting things that I hadn’t been aware of: the existence of a German Blood Certificate, a “waiver” which erased any evidence of Jewish heritage from a person’s bloodline; the exodus of Jewish people to Shanghai; the connections between some American business interests and Nazi Germany. The inclusion of historical notes at the end of the novel was helpful, and spurred my interest to learn more.

Both of the principal male characters are remarkably oblivious to the dangers they and their wives are in, physically, socially and politically. Both choose passivity rather than action; this apathy seems at odds with their training and career choices. Hahn’s behavior and attitude is just exactly what I’d expect from someone in his position (rather cardboard-cutout). It’s difficult to believe that someone with Hahn’s connections would have been taken in by the “Sympathetic Vitaliser” treatment program. Weber’s willingness to risk everything to steal for his captor’s wife is unfathomable, and despite his medical education he remains clueless about several fairly obvious things right to the end.


Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to review the ARC via Netgalley.

Rounded up from 4.5 stars.

"Banality of evil" and "willful ignorance" get tossed around a lot when discussing Nazi Germany. "Remote Sympathy" shows how these terms translated to daily life. There are no heroics here, no noble suffering. Instead there is precise, at times beautiful writing that more than once led me to think, "How did Catherine Chidgey come up with this turn of phrase/incident/setting?" And while few of the characters are likable (many are Nazis, after all), they are all believable, and you'll come away with an understanding of how people can (and did, and do) fall in with evil. A few parts dragged a bit, but especially by the final portion I was swept away.

Thank you, NetGalley and Europa Editions, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.