Those interested in Nazi activity in neutral Switzerland during WWII will best appreciate this slight novella from Prix Goncourt winner Chessex (The Vampire of Ropraz
). In April 1942, in the small market town of Payerne, an anti-Semitic pastor incites a band of local Nazis “to set an example for Switzerland and for the Jewish parasites on its soil.” National Movement leader Fernand Ischi and his thugs target a representative Jew, cattle-dealer Arthur Bloch, whose murder will make a fine birthday present for Adolf Hitler. While this book generated controversy in Switzerland, where the country's role in WWII is still a sensitive issue, U.S. readers will find that it falls short of, say, Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird
and other works that view the Holocaust through isolated instances of violence. Chessex (1934–2009), who was born in Payerne, was also an essayist, poet, and painter. (Apr.)
