"In spring, when this story begins, all around is lovely, with an almost supernatural intensity that contrasts with the heinous events in the town....But evil is astir. A powerful poison is seeping in."

This is a fictionalized account of a horrific crime that took place in 1942 during World War II in a small village in neutral Switzerland. Although Switzerland was neutral, there were a lot of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers in the population. A group of these Nazis in a small farming community lured a Jewish cattle merchant to an empty stable and brutally murdered him, dismembered him, and dumped him in a lake. The local Nazi cell members believed they would be soundly rewarded by the Nazis in Germany for doing this deed.
The author was a child in the village at the time this crime occurred, and in fact went to school with the children of some of the perpetrators.
I found this to be written in an unemotional, nonsensational manner of telling that almost did not seem to fit with the horror of the events described. But perhaps that was the intent. At the time it was published, the book generated some controversy in Switzerland about what exactly Switzerland's role in World War II was.

3 stars ( )

What better time to be reading this book than now, a time like that time, when people across Europe are saying just that. A Jew must die.

This is the sort of book that will only be read by those who don’t need to.

Rest here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/a-jew-must-die-by-jacques... ( )

What better time to be reading this book than now, a time like that time, when people across Europe are saying just that. A Jew must die.

This is the sort of book that will only be read by those who don’t need to.

Rest here:

https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/a-jew-must-die-by-jacques... ( )

La plume acérée de Jacques Chessex retranscrit avec douleur et précision l'horreur criminelle qui hanta l'écrivain suisse depuis l'enfance jusqu'à la mort. L'assassinat en 1942, dans sa ville natale de Payerne, du marchand de bétails Arthur Bloch, par des sympathisants nazis de la région, ulcérés par sa seule judéité. Dieu sait pourquoi... Le livre n'épargne aucun détail et s'interroge sur l'emprise du mal au sein de l'humain et du divin d'hier et d'aujourd'hui dans une plus si blanche Helvétie. ( )

Told briefly and matter-of-fact, but imbued with the horror of it. Towards the end he explains his need to write the story, quoting philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch's term "imprescriptible" that to use this evil for some aesthetic purpose is inadmissible. He further states that the event itself poisons him and leaves him with an irrational sense of sin. Commonality of the human fall?
This is as powerful as 'Waiting for the Barbarians.' ( )