Hassel’s WWII novels mix history and fiction, in a perfect blend of brutal, vivid honesty that paints scenes hard to read and yet should be read. Here’s an excerpt from THE COMMISSAR

‘Let me go,’ babbled the old Jew, trying to tear himself away from
the brutal grip of the three young men.
‘Where’ve you hidden the-stuff?’ shouted the big stormtrooper,
hitting the old man in the face.
The woman screamed and tried to help her husband. She was
thrown back into the dark corridor. She screamed again when the SS
man’s boot sank into her. She screamed for the last time when a rifle
butt smashed into her face. Then they looted the shop.
When the police arrived, they found the old man lying weeping
across his wife’s body. They turned him in to the collection point at
Old Moabitt and hanged him for wife murder eight days later.

That was the day Dr Goebbels decreed:

Ordnung muss sein!*
* Order must be

It was 3 April, 1936.

THE COMMISSAR