Fatherland

Charlie is a 25-year-old American journalist who March meets as he investigates Buhler and Stuckart’s deaths. Her mother was a German actress who met her father, a US government official, and moved with him to the US at the start of World War II. Because of her German heritage, she was granted a Visa to work in Berlin. However, it was revoked after her discovery of Stuckart’s body, leaving her just one week before she must return to the US. Although the book doesn’t disclose her fate, March is hopeful that she successfully escapes Germany to enter Switzerland with the information revealing the truth about the Final Solution.

Smart and cunning, Charlie is a strong ally to March during his investigation. Although the two don’t fully trust each other initially (she lies about her phone call from Stuckart, while March refuses to let her go to Switzerland), she eventually proves invaluable to his investigation. She manages to escape Stuckart’s apartment with the safe deposit box information and then hides it successfully during the search of her apartment while using Henry for information through the US Embassy.

The romantic relationship between Charlie and March is a key component of March’s disillusionment with the SS. One of the primary reasons for March’s attraction to Charlie is how different she is from woman in Germany, specifically his ex-wife, Klara. As he talks with Charlie, he thinks, “[S]he was unlike any other woman he had met. She was not one of the homebodies of the Party’s Women’s League […] her husband’s supper always ready on the table, his uniform freshly pressed, five children asleep upstairs” (180). March tells Charlie that Klara “doesn’t have ideas of her own. She’s concerned about what people think. She has no curiosity. She’s bitter” (181). In this way, Charlie is a foil for Klara, providing March insight into what life is like outside Berlin. Although he initially insists that he can’t leave the country, he slowly begins to imagine a life (with or without Charlie) in the US.

The primary antagonist in Fatherland, Globus, is a lieutenant-general in the SS and acts largely on behalf of the SS commander, Heydrich. He assisted in and ordered the murders of each of the men from the Wannsee Conference, hoping to hide the truth about the Final Solution and their decision to remove and murder millions of Jewish people from German territories.

Largely a one-dimensional villain, Globus is motivated solely by hiding the truth and is willing to commit any acts necessary to do so. He brutally tortures March for information about Charlie and manipulates Jaeger, Krebs, and even Pili to try to control March. During March’s first interaction with him, Globus intentionally walks toward March holding his gun, prompting March to think, “[H]e’s crazy. […] He is just about crazy enough to shoot me on the spot, like Buhler’s dog” (132). He then menacingly whispers to March that he has “no witnesses. Not anymore” (133), prompting March to realize that Jost has been sent to his death.

Globus is a real historical figure who was one of the central individuals behind the Holocaust. After fighting in World War I, he was arrested numerous times throughout the early 1930s for his actions on behalf of the growing Nazi Party. He operated largely in Austria, facilitating the overthrow of its government and the annexation by Germany, earning him the position of State Secretary in 1938. During the war, Globus was directly responsible for carrying out Operation Reinhardt to murder the Jewish people in Poland. His actions included “the exploitation of Jews in forced labour camps, the evacuation of the ghettos, deportations to the extermination camps and utilization of the belongings of the victims” (“Lublin - Globocnik Austrian Connections.” Holocaust Historical Society). The real Globus died by suicide in 1945 after his arrest, and much of his history in Fatherland is fictional. However, Harris traces Globus’s brutality, corruption, and dedication to the SS to his real-world actions throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Jaeger is March’s partner in the Kripo investigators. March describes him as “a shambling, untidy hulk of a man, two meters tall, with clumsy hands and feet” (19). He’s 50 years old and has a wife and four daughters. Like March, he often questions the motives and actions of the police force, specifically the Gestapo. However, he maintains his position in the Party by attending meetings and publicly aligning himself with it.

Throughout the novel, Jaeger is an ally to March during his investigation. However, a plot twist reveals that he worked with Globus to set March up and to get him to reveal Charlie’s location. Despite this, he’s a sympathetic character, as he apologizes to March and insists that he had no choice in the matter. He fears for his own life and those of his family members, arguing that he had to follow Globus’s orders to ensure his own safety.

Jaeger is a foil for March, thematically emphasizing The Value of Individual Responsibility Against Corruption. While Jaeger has more to lose than March (he has his family and his children to consider), he fails to take individual responsibility for the corruption and lies that the investigation uncovers. His actions and his betrayal directly contrast with those of March, who likewise loses his son in pursuit of uncovering the truth. While others give the directives and hold power over Jaeger, his acquiescence allows the corruption to continue.

March’s 10-year-old son with his ex-wife, Klara, is Pili. Since his divorce from Klara, March has spent every third Sunday of the month with his son, as is required by marriage law in Germany. At the start of the novel, Pili has his birthday, so he and his father do what they do every time they’re together: They travel around Berlin by tour bus to see historical landmarks. Pili is a Pimpf, a member of a youth organization that leads into the Hitler Youth and eventual membership in the Nazi Party.

Pili’s primary characteristic is his dedication to Germany and the Party. In this way, he physically embodies propaganda. His stepfather indoctrinates him with stories of Germany’s success in World War II and their power on the world scale, creating a path for Pili to one day join the Party as a dedicated socialist. This fact creates a disconnect between Pili and his father, who questions the Party’s actions and refuses to join it himself. Pili’s betrayal of his father at the novel’s end emphasizes the impact that indoctrination by an authoritarian government has on youth. He places the Party and his country above even his own father, lying and manipulating him to do so.