In the spring of 1940, Eric Koch was a law student in London. By autumn, he was being held behind barbed wire in Quebec. Koch was arrested as an enemy alien by the British government and sent to a prison camp in Canada; but he and hundreds of other "dangerous Nazi" prisoners were really refugees--most of them young and Jewish, themselves fleeing from Hitler. In this book Koch recounts the struggles and joys of his Canadian internment, the relief at being spared the horrors of Nazi-occupied Europe, the bitter irony of being confined as a German enemy. Written with a rare blend of honesty, humour and warmth, Deemed Suspect vividly recreates life in Canada's prison camps during World War Two.

Deemed suspect: A wartime blunder

History

Koch, Eric

Americas

METHUEN

Part detective story, part biography, this is the fascinating tale of Hilmar and Odette, both born illegitimately in Germany before the Second World War, both half-Jewish, both brought up by “Aryan” families. Eric Koch, having discovered that his well-to-do family has two skeletons in the closet (Odette is his half-sister and Hilmar is his step-cousin), embarks on a search into his family history and into the very different fates of these two “Half-Jews” who grew into adults as the Nazi party came to power. Hilmar’s adoptive mother discovers he is a Jew, and (despite his being a dutiful, even loving, son) when the opportunity arises denounces him to the Gestapo. Hilmar’s increasingly desperate attempts to escape deportation and stay with the woman with whom he has fallen in love prove futile. He finally falls victim to the machinery of oppression and is sent to Auschwitz. By contrast, Odette, never suspecting that she is part-Jewish, ascends the social ladder and comes to hobnob with the Nazi bohème in her Berlin salon. To ingratiate himself with the right people, her publisher husband dreams up new forms of propaganda to help the Nazi cause. Hilmar and Odette’s parallel stories advance in step through this book, each casting light on the other. And around the fringes of their lives move the spectres of Napoleon, Joseph Goebbels, and Lili Marleen. The narrator’s detective tale becomes a third story, as he probes his family’s past and explores the shadowy territory where personal uncertainties and frailties meet the implacable sophistry of Nazi ideology.

Hilmar and Odette: Two Stories from the Nazi Era

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

MCCLELLAND STEWART

In the spring of 1940, Eric Koch was a law student in London. By autumn, he was being held behind barbed wire in Quebec.Koch was arrested as an enemy alien by the British government and sent to a prison camp in Canada; but he and hundreds of other "dangerous Nazi" prisoners were really refugees--most of them young and Jewish, themselves fleeing from Hitler. In this book Koch recounts the struggles and joys of his Canadian internment, the relief at being spared the horrors of Nazi-occupied Europe, the bitter irony of being confined as a German enemy.Written with a rare blend of honesty, humour and warmth, Deemed Suspect vividly recreates life in Canada's prison camps during World War Two.

Deemed Suspect: A Wartime Blunder (Goodread Biographies)

Historical

Goodread Biography

The Man Who Knew Charlie Chaplin: A Novel About the Weimar Republic

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Mosaic Pr

Earrings begins in Baden-Baden, 1883. The summer capital of European high society. A place of amusement and intrigue. Earrings brings together the most intriguing figures of the nineteenth century: Empress Josephine, Kaiser Wilhelm, Johannes Brahms, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edward VII, Richard Wagner, Napoleon III, Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Prince Otto von Bismarck. In the hands of Eric Koch, who has been called the master of historical fiction, the lives, foibles and fantasies of nineteenth century Europe come to life.

Earrings: Baden-Baden, 1883

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

Mosaic Press

Arabian Nights 1914 begins in 1914…the world is on the precipice of a World War. The great powers, Germany and the Ottoman Empire face each other. Ouda is a small Arab desert kingdom, poor and isolated. Zade, a direct descendant of Scheherazade, is convinced that Ouda is doomed unless it becomes a modern, secular state and adopts science and technology. Her king’s model must be the quintessential modern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The Oudian Ambassador in Berlin sends books, documents, information praising the virtues of the forward-looking Kaiser. Late June, 1914. Zade learns about the assassination in Sarajevo of the Austrian heir to the throne. The world war must be stopped. She immediately decides to go to Berlin, seduce the Kaiser and preserve the peace. Full of intrigue, seduction, exotic characters, where the ‘seductive middle east meets the modern west Arabian Nights 1914 is a totally engrossing novel. Like his previous works, Eric Koch introduces the reader to a by-gone but crucially important historical world. All his characters are well researched and reflect the reality of the period. In the master’s hands, they are plausible, human and fully entertaining.

Arabian Nights 1914: A Novel About Kaiser Wilhelm II

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

The Weimar Triangle continues Eric Koch’s exploration of German culture and society. It is set in Frankfurt, 1927, and the famed International Music exhibition. This exhibition, now almost forgotten, marked the first occasion since the end of World War I when Germany played a major role in the world’s cultural life and provided hope that the Weimar Republic would survive and thrive.

The Weimar Triangle: Frankfurt 1927

British & Irish

A poignant memoir of lives cleaved by war, Otto and Daria is the first-hand account of Eric (or Otto) Koch. As a Jewish refugee from WWII Germany, Otto first left his country for England, and later arrived in Canada, where he was for a time imprisoned in a camp. The counterpoint to Otto's recollections are the letters from his long-distance love interest, Daria Hambourg, a London girl of bohemian temperament, unusual literary talents and a distinguished, but restrictive, family background. These parallel writings tell the story of two young people caught in the grip of history, and together show what you have to give up in order to move forward.

Otto & Daria: A Wartime Journey Through No Man's Land (The Regina Collection, 4)

University of Regina Press

Good night little spy: A novel

Ram Pub. Co

A lively account of the remarkable Hambourg brothers -- Mark, Jan, Boris and Clement. Their father, Professor Michael Hambourg, escaped Tsarist oppression for England. His oldest son, Mark, studied with Leschetizky and pursued a career as an international piano virtuoso. In 1910 Michael Hambourg took his three younger sons to Toronto, where he established the Hambourg Conservatory of Music. Jan, a violinist, married Isabelle McClung, close friend of novelist Willa Cather, and moved to Europe. He appears as "Uncle Jan" in Yehudi Menuhin's autobiography and was a scholar and editor of Bach's music for violin. Boris, a cellist, co-founded the Hart House String Quartet. A favourite interest of Vincent Massey, it became a major Canadian musical institution and toured widely. Clement, pianist and the self-styled black sheep, was proprietor of the House of Hambourg, one of Toronto's first jazz clubs.

The Brothers Hambourg

Arts & Literature

Robin Brass Studio

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