Katharina Geiser

Diese Gezeiten

«Ob sie jüdisch war – Jew?! Chew? Wohl kaum. Ich glaube, sie hat niemals Kautabak genommen. Sie verstehen mich nicht! Lucy schweigt.»

In 1940 the German armed forces occupied the Channel Island of Jersey to the dismay of two artists who had settled there some time previously in order to escape the unrest in Paris. The Nazis' conduct is comparatively restrained but the dictatorship and discrimination are omnipresent, so Lucy Schwob and Suzette Malherbe begin to resist. They design posters and display them in public – until they are found out. Katharina Geiser's novel takes up this astonishing subject matter and weaves an atmospheric and very convincing story. The narrative tells of personal courage and the price to pay for it.

It is its subtle nuances that make this novel. Not all of the inhabitants of Jersey were courageous, and not all Germans were despicable henchmen. Some «saw and heard nothing». Geiser imagines what happens to the two friends after their arrest. The voice of the narrator blends with the inner voices of Lucy and Suzanne in a delicately orchestrated narrative. They remain faithful to their strategy even in moments of danger by resisting the Germans through wordplay. This does not stop them being sentenced to death, but the end of the war chases the Germans from the island just in time.

(Beat Mazenauer, trans. by Andrea Willfratt)

Jung und Jung, Salzburg 2011

ISBN: 978-3-902497-89-5