Fatherland

The primary protagonist in Fatherland, March, is a 42-year-old homicide detective in Berlin who works for the Kripo of the SS. He’s “slim, with gray hair and cool gray eyes that [match] the sky” (5). During World War II, he was a U-boat commander and received an honorary rank of Major in the SS because of his service. Seven years ago, he divorced his wife, Klara, and they have a 10-year-old son, Pili, together.

Central to March’s character is his disillusionment with the SS and Germany as a whole. Near the start of the novel, Pili and Klara accuse him of being an “asocial,” meaning that he’s disloyal to the Nazi Party. Throughout his career, the Gestapo has amassed a collection of evidence against him showing his disloyalty, such as comments he was overheard making about the Party and his interest in the Weiss family, who used to live in his apartment. Despite this, March has continued to work his job, believing that being an investigator is valuable enough to put aside his personal beliefs. As he explains to Charlie, “I have a choice: either I’m an investigator in that uniform, and try to do a little good; or I’m something else without that uniform, and do no good at all” (184).