Berlin Police and the Holocaust in the Benie Gunther Series (Part II)

Albert Battel

In my previous post I delved into the decisions of German policeman becoming active participants in the Holocaust. I discussed fictional police officers from the Berlin Noir trio of books by Philip Kerr and real life officers. With Arthur Nebe he was a real life officer who appeared in the fiction of Kerr.

While some of those officers claimed after the war they had no choice but to take part in the Holocaust each man had a choice. Bernie refused to take part and asked for a transfer to a front line unit. Instead, he was transferred to an intelligence unit investigating war crimes.

Bernie’s actions are supported by real life. At the Berlin exhibition referred to in the last post it was stated:

"There was certainly no such thing as an obligation to obey orders," said police historian and project manager Detlef Graf von Schwerin. No evidence has been found that suggests refusal to take part in a mass execution would have had negative consequences for policemen, but very few dared to defy orders, he said.

One of the most powerful examples of direct action involved Dr. Albert Battel. As set out on his page at The Righteous Among the Nations page at the Yad Vasham website:

When the SS prepared to launch their first large-scale “resettlement” (liquidation) action against the Jews of Przemysl on July 26, 1942, Battel, in consort with his superior, ordered the bridge over the River San, the only access into the Jewish ghetto, to be blocked.  As the SS commando attempted to cross to the other side, the sergeant-major in charge of the bridge threatened to open fire unless they withdrew.  All this happened in broad daylight, to the amazement of the local inhabitants.  Still later that same afternoon, an army detachment under the command of Oberleutenant Battel broke into the cordoned-off area of the ghetto and used army trucks to whisk off up to 100 Jews and their families to the barracks of the local military command.  These Jews were placed under the protection of the Wehrmacht and were thus sheltered from deportation to the Belzec extermination camp. The remaining ghetto inmates, including the head of the Judenrat, Dr. Duldig, underwent “resettlement” in the following days.

His actions were reported up the SS command and reached Heinrich Himmler but Battel was only reprimanded. He was subsequently promoted. Himmler vowed to have him prosecuted after the war.

I do not know if it made a difference but Battel was a lawyer.

Stangl tried to say he would likely have been shot if he had not built and commanded Sobibór. His assertion of what happened to someone who said “no” was not supported by the example of an Auschwitz doctor, Dr. Hans Münch who refused to take part in the selection process of prisoners arriving at Auschwitz on who would go immediately to the gas chambers.

While working as a research pathologist at a medical institute near Auschwitz. Directed to work on mass immunization techniques because of typhoid and typhus epidemics he did immunization experiments but subverted the intent by ensuring they were harmless and getting extra rations for those participating.

Gitta Sereny interviewed Dr. Münch:

It was in mid-1944 that he finally felt forced to take a stand. A new camp commandant decided that as all the SS doctors were being overworked the two Rajsko research physicians had been sufficiently coddled, and would now have to take part in the selection. ‘I traveled to Berlin and told my department chief that doing that was against all my medical ethical principles and that I refused. He asked who had ordered me to do it, and said that certainly I didn’t have to'.

There was no punishment.

His assistant, Dr. Delmod, initially refused but, after being worn down by triple shifts and visited by his wife, was talked into taking part in the selections. Dr. Delmod committed suicide at the end of the war.

After the war forty SS doctors from Auschwitz were tried in Poland. Dr. Münch was the only one acquitted.

What it took to resist being drawn into the killing was strong character.

 

Bernie is a stubborn believer in police solving crime not committing crime. He is not interested in career advancement. Financial reward is not his goal in life. In my review of March Violets I asked if Bernie could remain a man of integrity during the Nazi regime.

By the time I completed German Requiem I say he did not sacrifice his honour. He did not conspire against the Nazi state but focused on surviving the war. (Nebe, after returning from his command in Russia, was a member of the 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler and was executed for his actions.)

Bernie was never an angel but he refused to join in mass murder.

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Kerr, Philip – (2004) - Dark Matter; (2016) - March Violets; (2016) - The Pale Criminal; (2016) - A German Requiem; (2016) - Berlin Police and the Holocaust - Part I and Part II

Berlin Police and the Holocaust in the Benie Gunther Series (Part I)

Berlin Police in 1945

I have just completed and reviewed the trio of books featuring Bernie Gunther that make up Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr. In the books the role of Berlin police in Nazi Germany is not limited to their enforcement of the law and the solving of crime. Kerr explores the roles police officers took in implementing Nazi ideology against German citizens prior to the war and their participation in World War II.

It is little surprise that police officers were brought into the Army during the war to deal with issues of crime especially in occupied areas. Soldiers are not trained to be police officers. However, police officers participated in the Holocaust especially during the invasion of Russia in 1941.

Arthur Nebe, a senior police officer in the books, was a real life high ranking Berlin police officer before the war. During the war he volunteered to lead Einsatzgruppe B. Wikipedia describes some of its actions while he commanded:

Around 5 July 1941, Nebe consolidated Einsatzgruppe B near Minsk, establishing a headquarters and remaining there for some two months. The killing activities progressed apace. In a 13 July Operational Situation Report, Nebe reported 1,050 Jews had been liquidated in Minsk, and that in Vilna, the liquidation of the Jews was underway, and that five hundred Jews were shot daily. In the same report Nebe remarked that: "only 96 Jews were executed in Grodno and Lida during the first days. I gave orders to intensify these activities". He also reported that the liquidations were being brought into smooth running order and that the shootings were carried out "at an increasing rate". The report also announced that in Minsk Einsatzgruppe was now killing non-Jews.

Nebe’s unit, as with the other units, kept careful track of their killing. Nebe’s troops killed 45,467 people during the 4 months he was in command.

Bernie had considerable regard for Nebe prior to the war. He thought of Nebe as less political and more concerned with proper policing than most of the police leadership anxious to gain favour with the Nazi leadership.

Why would police officers sworn to uphold the law and find criminals take part in mass murder? A Berlin exhibition in 2011 delved into the issue:

     What was it that turned respectable family men into henchmen

     involved in mass murder? Hölzl (historian and curator Martin

     Hölzl) said there many reasons, including the stable income,

     social acceptance and respect which the role of policeman

     guaranteed. Police were also spared frontline duty which had a

     greater chance of survival than Wehmacht soldiers.

     The exhibition also points to obedience, peer pressure, esprit de

     corps, as well as ideological convictions, brutalization and

     reutilization as important factors. Some policemen got rich at

     the expense of victims and others pursued perverse career

     ambitions, Hölzl explained.

In Wikipedia it states that historian Ronald Headland “concluded that Nebe was an ambitious man who may have volunteered to lead an Einsatzgruppe unit for careerist reasons, to get a ‘military decoration’, and to curry favor with Heydrich.”

Another example involving police is Austrian police officer Franz Stangl who commanded concentration extermination camps. In her powerful book The Healing Wound, German writer Gitta Sereny interviewed Stangl after his conviction for war crimes long after the war.

Sereny explored how he became a mass murderer. To keep a promotion in Austria he had to give up his Catholic faith. Subsequently, he was called to Berlin to be put in charge of a special unit for euthanasia of “people who were hopelessly insane or monstrously deformed”. Reluctant to take the command he was assured he would not have to kill anyone but “merely to be responsible for law and order”. Later he had a choice of returning to Austria or going East on some vague anti-partisan action. He opted for the East to fight against partisans. Stangl claimed that he did not know that he was building a death camp at Sobibór and that he would likely have been killed if he had refused. He subsequently commanded the Sobibór and Treblinka death camps. He came to think of the prisoners as “cargo” not human beings.

Step by step Stangl had let himself be turned from an ordinary police killer to an efficient mass murderer.

Stangl died of heart failure 19 hours after the interview was completed.

In German Requiem Bernie is called upon to find the evidence that would clear Emil Becker, a police colleague before the war, who had helped Bernie solve the murders in A Pale Criminal. Becker has been wrongfully charged with murder.

During the investigation Bernie learns that during the war Becker was a member of an execution squad in the Ukraine and personally engaged in murdering Jews. Becker is a Nazi killer. Should Bernie work to clear Becker of this charge when he was actually a mass murderer?

Bernie chooses to work on Becker’s case for much the same reason lawyers represent all clients. It was not Bernie’s job to decide guilt for Becker’s actions during and after the war.

While Becker did not achieve a high ranking position like Stangl he was comparable to a real life example of a police officer referred to in the Exhibition:

Julius Wohlauf was one of them. Born in Dresden in 1913, he completed a commercial apprenticeship after taking his school leaving examinations and then became a member of the Nazi Party. He progressed from constable to commander of a reserve police battalion in Poland, which was responsible for deporting Jews and killing them in mass shootings.

Bernie did not follow the above paths to the killing fields and camps of Eastern Europe. My next post will discuss his decisions and comparable real life individuals. 

****

Kerr, Philip – (2004) - Dark Matter; (2016) - March Violets; (2016) - The Pale Criminal; (2016) - A German Requiem; Paperback

A German Requiem by Philip Kerr

A German Requiem by Philip Kerr - A German Requiem is the third book in the Bernie Gunther series and the Berlin Noir collection. I cannot recall reading three books in a row by the same author in the last 15 years. I have found when I read more than one book in a series consecutively I find myself losing interest. It was different with Berlin Noir. I was as eager to complete A German Requiem as I had been to finish March Violets, the first of the trio. The 835 pages of the three books just glided by.

I was caught off-guard by A German Requiem. With March Violets being set in 1936 and A Pale Criminal in 1938 I was expecting A German Requiem to be set during World War II. I wondered what Bernie would be doing with real crime amidst the murderous excesses of Nazi Germany.

Instead, the book is set in 1947. Bernie is back in a devastated Berlin working again as a private detective. He has received his denazification certificate. What he did during the war will be discussed in my next two posts.

An even greater surprise is that Bernie has married since A Pale Criminal. His wife, Kirsten, is working in Johnny’s American Bar which only admits American First Three Graders from the occupying American forces. Many evenings she returns home with some PX items.

Bernie and Kirsten are just scrapping by in a city now divided between the Four Occupying Powers. While they remain together the marriage is strained.

Recovering from a hangover is hastened when Bernie answers a knock on the door to find a Russian colonel, Palkovnik Poroshin, visiting him. Having just had a violent encounter with a Russian soldier Bernie is worried about the purpose of the visit. He relaxes briefly when Poroshin says he is there to discuss a mutual friend, Emil Becker. (Bernie had worked with Becker in A Pale Criminal.)

Poroshin, a colonel in Russian intelligence, wants to retain Bernie to help clear Becker who has been charged with the murder of a Captain Linden in the American army in Vienna. Becker has been involved in shifty dealings.

After initially refusing Bernie accepts the proposal. Bernie has had a series of reluctant services to the powerful.

Becker will hang unless Bernie can find evidence that would clear him.

Poroshin provides the funds and authorizations and Bernie takes the train to Vienna. He finds a city barely touched by the war when compared with Berlin. The difference can be summed up by what is available in his simple pension:

The place was warm and there seemed to be a never-ending supply of hot water – an unaccustomed luxury. I had not long finished a bath, the duration of which even Marat might have baulked at, when there was a knock at my sitting-room door, …

Bernie’s task is challenging for he must find evidence that shows false evidence has been assembled against Becker. No case is harder than trying to prove an accused has been framed.

Bernie starts his investigation and immediately encounters representatives of both the American Army and the American Military Intelligence Agency. They do not share information freely.

Bernie is a weary man. The time he spent as a Russian POW was draining. Going back to Berlin has been stressful. Existing in post-war Germany is exhausting as everyone struggles to find food and accommodation.

What Bernie finds goes back to the War and its consequences. While the Third Reich has perished there are still a lot of Nazis around and Bernie knows many of them.

While appreciating the comforts of Vienna Bernie can barely keep track of all the treachery around him. Everyone is scheming. The black market is flourishing. While the war is over intrigue never ends.

A German Requiem, despite the difficulty of life in post-war Europe, is not as grim as March Violets and A Pale Criminal. I was grateful there was finally a glimmer of hope for the future in Germany.

****

 Kerr, Philip – (2004) - Dark Matter; (2016) - March Violets; (2016) - The Pale Criminal; 

The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr

The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr – It is 1938 and a time of great apprehension in Germany as Hitler makes demands with regard to the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. War looks imminent as the Czechs resist. Beyond the Nazi leadership there is no enthusiasm for war. I would say it is a time of great tension in Germany but every day is a day of great tension under the Nazi regime. Citizens live in fear of running a foul of the Gestapo.

Bernie Gunther has prospered since March Violets. Business, especially searching for missing Jews, is strong. He has added a partner in Bruno Stahlecker, a fellow former police officer.

Early in the book Bernie is retained by a wealthy publisher, Frau Lange. She is being blackmailed over correspondence between her son, Reinhard, and Dr. Lanz Kindermann. They have had a homosexual relationship. Should the authorities receive the letters the writers are subject to imprisonment under S. 175 of the Criminal Code as moral deviants.

Bernie looks at the relationships of Reinhard to see who might have been able to gain access to the letters. The blackmailer has already received thousands of marks from Frau Lange.

As he proceeds with the investigation Bernie gets an offer he cannot refuse. He is called to a meeting with Reinhard Heydrich, a confident of Hitler and a high ranking member of the SS.

There have been four blonde Aryan teenage girls abducted, sexually assaulted and slain by having their throats cut while they are hanging upside down.

The regular police have made no progress in actually identifying the killer. They have a dubious suspect in custody and would be quite content to have him condemned as the killer.

Heydrich is not satisfied with simply having someone convicted and executed. He knows that more murders will occur until they find the real killer. Heydrich is concerned about the German family.

He tells Bernie:

     'The new Germany,' he said, 'is all about arresting the decline of 
     the family, you know, and establishing a national community of
     blood. Things are changing. For instance, there are now only
     22,787 tramps in Germany, 5,500 fewer than at the start of the
     year. There are more marriages, more births and half as many    
     divorces. You might well ask me why the family is so important
     to the Party. Well, I'll tell you. Children. The better our children,
     the better the future for Germany. So when something threatens
     those children, then we had better act quickly.

He wants Bernie to return to the police to find the serial killer. Heydrich is not confident his police force of politically correct officers (a much different use of the term from today) can solve the crimes.

Heydrich wants Bernie as an experienced investigator who has "no racial or political axe to grind".

While Bernie is reluctant to return he has no choice if he wants to stay in Germany. Heydrich can casually destroy him. Bernie accepts the offer but insists upon being given the rank of Kommissar, far above his former detective status.

In the context of Nazi Germany choosing to work for the State sets a man on a perilous course. What will be the next choice and the next choice and .....?

Bernie awkwardly finds himself with the fearsome authority of the Nazi state. There are no limits to his investigation beyond connections with the Nazi elite and even with the men at the top he can discreetly pursue issues.

Reasonable cause is not needed. Torture is the preferred method of interrogation. Threats of concentration camp to uncooperative witnesses are readily made.

Bernie already has a rough edge to his character. He speaks to the mother of a missing girl looking for some sympathy:

     'Whatever must you think of me, Kommissar?' she said. 'My
     daughter is missing, probably murdered, and here I am spending
     money as if I hadn't a care in the world. You must think me a
     heartless sort of woman'.

     'I don't think anything of the kind,' I said, and started telling her
     how people dealt with these things in different ways, and that if
     a bit of shopping helped to take her mind off her daughter's
     disappearance for a couple of hours then that was perfectly all
     right, and nobody could blame her.

While Bernie wants to conduct a lawful investigation he is part of the Nazi police state. It is inevitable he will be tainted.

The motivation for the serial killings is as chilling as any I can recall in reading mysteries.

The book raises the troubling question of what does a man of integrity do when the ends justify the means is the rule of law in Nazi Germany.

The Pale Criminal, the second book in the Berlin Noir trilogy is definitely dark. At the same time the book is compelling readable. Kerr does a remarkable job of melding the murder mystery with the historic events of the day. While I do not normally read three books in a row by an author I have already started the third, A German Requiem.

March Violets by Philip Kerr

(2. – 844.) March Violets by Philip Kerr – A trio of Bernie Gunther thrillers titled Berlin Noir had been waiting for too long on a shelf in the den next to my desk. It rested there as I had a lingering desire but no urgency to read the book. Going on vacation to Mexico at the beginning of January encourage me to pack Berlin Noir as I would have three books within the covers of one volume.

March Violets is set in Berlin at the time of the 1936 Olympics and brought to mind In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson about William E. Dodd and his family in Berlin at the same time. Dodd was the American ambassador to Germany. It took years of constant contact for the Dodd family to appreciate the cruelty and danger in Nazi Germany that Bernie lived each day.

Bernie drew me in with his sardonic, often crude, never subtle wit. His personality compels him to mock every situation. Such an attitude, while entertaining to the reader, provokes the recepients of his comments. Fortunately, Bernie is big enough and tough enough to deal with the consequences.

Still Bernie is not suicidal. He restrains his tongue while meeting with senior Nazi leaders. He is actually respectful in the presence of Hermann Goering. (When no Nazis are around Bernie refers to him as “Fat Hermann”.)

The Gestapo and SS already dominate life in Germany by 1936. It has been three years since the Nazis took power. Everyone lives and talks carefully for all are at risk of being whisked away to a KZ (concentration camp).

In a police state I wondered what need can there be for a private investigator. Yet there is a real need. Much of Bernie’s time is taken up with searching for missing persons, especially Jewish Germans. As well, the wealthy need determined investigators. Bernie has three virtues his clients prize. He is discreet and confidential and is not an official of the State.

Hermann Six, a Ruhr steel magnate, summons Bernie to his home. He tells Bernie that his daughter, Grete, and her husband, Paul, have been murdered and their home burned. Taken from their safe was a very valuable diamond necklace. Grete’s estate went to Paul. Paul bequeathed his whole estate to the Reich. Six has not reported the necklace stolen because he is appalled by the thought the necklace would go to the German government as part of Paul’s estate. To encourage Bernie, Six will pay a generous 70 marks a day and, if the necklace is recovered, promises Bernie 37,500 marks (5% of its insured value).

The next evening Bernie receives a summons from Ilse Rudel, the sultry movie actress, who is Six’s much younger second wife. She is very interested in Bernie’s investigation. To gain his confidence she invites him into her bed. He but briefly hesitates. After their frolic she is angry and disbelieving when Bernie tells her that she is not the subject of his investigation.

Bernie seeks out jewelers who might be willing to deal with such a special necklace. The quest takes him into the heart of Nazi evil. Jews, desperate to leave Germany, are lined up at jewelers selling their family gems for a fraction of their real value.

Inevitably, the investigation encounters Nazi bureaucracy. There is more to the original robbery than Bernie realized. He receives an invitation to meet with Goering who also wants Bernie’s discretion and confidentiality and unofficial status. There is a distinct tone of menace should Bernie fail Goering.

Abundant violence accompanies Bernie. It is a book with a lot of bodies. Unlike some thrillers the violence does not feel gratuitous. Aggression and death are very much a part of the culture of Nazi Germany.

Noir does not always attract me but I was fascinated by Bernie, the fomer Berlin police officer, functioning in the midst of the Nazi regime. How does a man preserve his integrity in a nation that has abandoned the principle? Compromise is prudent but it is a difficult concept for Bernie. In March Violets his honour is battered. I will see how Bernie fares two years later in the second book, The Pale Criminal, as the Nazis impose ever more strongly their twisted vision on German society.

Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson and Real Life

In Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson which I reviewed in my last post a flight attendant finds a note in an aircraft bathroom threatening there is a bomb aboard, providing demands and directing the plane to continue on its course pending compliance with the demands. While the air traffic controllers and authorities in Sweden want the plane to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport the pilot refuses stating that he is not prepared to put the passengers at risk by not following the instructions in the note.

As I read of the pilot’s position I thought of what I had read and heard about actual planes and bomb threats. It was my recollection that upon receipt of a bomb threat against a plane it would be diverted to the nearest airport.

Wondering what actually happens in real life I did some searching on the internet.

Under Code 7700 American air traffic controllers are directed:

a.       When information is received from any source that a bomb has been placed on, in, or near an aircraft for the purpose of damaging or destroying such aircraft, notify the supervisor or facility manager. If the threat is general in nature, handle it as a suspicious activity. When the threat is targeted against a specific aircraft and you are in contact with that aircraft, take the following actions as appropriate:

1.      Advise the pilot of the threat.

2.      Report the threat to the Domestic Events Network (DEN) Air Traffic Security Coordinator (ATSC) via (202) 493-4170. If unable to contact the DEN ATSC notify the Transportation Security Administration/Transportation Security Operation Center (TSA/TSOC) directly at 703-563-3400.

3.      Ask if the pilot desires to climb or descend to an altitude that would equalize or reduce the outside air pressure/existing cabin air pressure differential. Obtain and relay an appropriate clearance considering minimum en route altitude (MEA), minimum obstruction clearance altitude (MOCA), minimum reception altitude (MRA), and weather.

NOTE − Equalizing existing cabin air pressure with outside air pressure is a key step which the pilot may wish to take to minimize the damage potential of a bomb.

4.      Handle the aircraft as an emergency, and/or provide the most expeditious handling possible with respect to the safety of other aircraft, weather conditions, ground facilities, and personnel.

NOTE − Emergency handling is discretionary and should be based on the situation. With certain types of threats, plans may call for a low-key action or response.

5.      Obtain and relay clearance to a new destination, if requested.

6.      When a pilot requests technical assistance or if it is apparent that such assistance is needed, do NOT suggest what actions the pilot should take concerning a bomb, but obtain the following information and notify the supervisor who will contact the DEN ATSC or TSA/TSOC as explained in a2 above.

NOTE − This information is needed by TSA explosives experts so that the situation can be assessed and immediate recommendations made to the pilot. The aviation explosives experts may not be familiar with all military aircraft configurations but can offer technical assistance which would be beneficial to the pilot.

§  Type, series, and model of the aircraft.

§  Precise location/description of the bomb device, if known.

§  Other details which may be pertinent.

At the SKYbrary site it indicates controllers should expect a pilot would request landing at the nearest airport.

On how to respond to the situation controllers are advised to follow ASSIST:

Best practice embedded in the ASSIST principle could be followed (A - Acknowledge; S - Separate, S - Silence; I - Inform, S - Support, T - Time):

·         A - acknowledge the bomb warning, ask for intentions and provide information regarding next suitable for landing aerodromes as necessary;

·         S - separate the aircraft and if necessary prioritise it for landing, allow long final if requested, keep the active runway clear of departures, arrivals and vehicles;

·         S - silence the non-urgent calls (as required) and use separate frequency where possible;

·         I - inform the supervisor and other sectors/units concerned; inform the airport emergency fire rescue services and all concerned parties according to local procedures; as tower controller expect airport authorities to execute their bomb threat emergency plan.

·         S - support the flight by providing any information requested and necessary such as type of approach, runway length and any additional aerodrome details, etc.

·         T - provide time for the crew to assess the situation, don’t press with non urgent matters.

After a week in which Canadian airline WestJet received 5 bomb threats and Air Canada 1 bomb threat The Toronto Star published an article on what happens when a bomb threat is received:

 

      Edward McKeogh, President of Canadian Aviation Safety 

      Consultants, said the basic approach is the same – every threat

      must be taken seriously.

 

       “As soon as they find out about a threat of this nature, they

       relay it to the flight in question, or sometimes all flights that

       are airborne, and those flights will then divert to the nearest

       suitable airport,” he said.

 

 

It is easy to find articles of diversion taking place where a passenger, usually drunk, makes some comment about a bomb threat.

 

None of the online articles advised if the procedure of diversion changes when the source of the threat on the plane cannot be identified.

 

Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson translated by Marlaine Delargy

(1. – 843.) Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson translated by Marlaine Delargy – Fredrika Bergman has returned to Sweden after a year in New York on maternity leave following the birth of her second child. She has not gone back to working for the police but is employed as an analyst for the Department of Justice.

Her former boss at the police, Alex Recht, continues to regret her departure and wishes she were still working with him.

Eden Lundell is the head of the counterterrorism unit of Säpo (the Swedish Secret Service). The tall striking Nordic beauty is wrestling with the issue of Zakaria Khelifi, an Algerian refugee, who has been acquitted of planning to commit an act of terrorism. In the same trial two other men from North Africa had been convicted of plotting a major attack on the Swedish Parliament.

Though acquitted Säpo believes that Khelifi was a collaborator with those convicted and has had contact with other European terrorists. Säpo is recommending to the government that his residency permit be revoked and that he be deported. Säpo’s submissions are accepted and Khelifi is taken into custody.

The next morning an SAS leaves from Stockholm on a flight to New York City. Shortly after departure a shaken flight attendant delivers a note to the pilots found in the toilet for first class passengers.

The note says the plane will be blown up unless the United States government closes Tennyson Cottage and the Swedish government revokes its decision to deport Khelifi. The pilots are to keep flying the plane and not land it until the demands have been met. The governments are given the time provided by the fuel aboard the plane to comply with the demands.

The lead pilot is Karim Sassi and the co-pilot is Erik Recht. Erik is Alex’s son.

Agents and officials in numerous departments and agencies of each government are called on to assess the threat and work on a response.

Sassi refuses to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport fearing for the safety of the passengers if he deviates from the instructions in the note. In the air the main pilot holds the power to decide what is the safest decision for the passengers and crew.

It is swiftly determined that Tennyson Cottage was a secret American detention and interrogation facility in Afghanistan.

Swedish investigators can find no connection between Khelifi and Tennyson Cottage.

American intelligence agencies are reluctant to share any information though there are over 100 Americans on the plane.

Tension gradually builds as the plane sails over the Atlantic.

Frustrations build in Sweden as investigators cannot find a reason why these two apparently separate demands were made of different governments.

Both governments proceed on the basis that the demands will not be honoured. In the world of the 21^st Century governments will no longer meet terrorist demands. Innocent lives may be shed but they are not willing to create a precedent for future terrorists to exploit. In any event, in Hostage there is no one with whom the demands can even be discussed.

With no way to determine if there is a bomb on the plane the security and police organizations must reach a decision on how likely it is that an explosive is aboard.

The investigation is focused in Sweden where the flight originated and investigators can seek out information on Khelifi.

As the moment of decision approaches the tension becomes acute.

There are clever twists in the plot. Overall Ohlsson does well at creating a thriller which is a form of locked room mystery. No one can gain access to the plane during flight.

The format is the opposite to the painstaking, often leisurely, investigations of Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte in the mysteries of Arthur Upfield. The whole plot of Hostage takes place over 48 hours.

I come late with this book being my first in the series featuring Bergman. Hostage is the 4^th book of the series. In Hostage I found Bergman’s role was under-stated. It was interesting to see the lead character not dominate the book.

I found Hostage a very good thriller. There were some decisions that did not add up to me. On the other hand the ending was a real surprise and would never be in a major American thriller.

Hostage could be a strong movie. Hollywood has made several major movies involving terrorist threats to airplanes but even Hollywood would struggle to make Hostage into a movie for Bruce Willis to extend the Die Hard series.