My Father's War

My Fathers War is simultaneously a history of the Nazi occupation of Norway in World War II and a sons sincere attempt to understand the silences, motivations, and experiences of an estranged father. In this carefully researched book, combining family memoir and historical retelling, Bjrn Westlie uncovers his fathers actions as a volunteer soldier for the Waffen-SS, the military wing of the infamous Schutzstaffel (SS), in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Balancing his role as both son and critical investigator, Westlie unflinchingly interrogates his fathers fascist convictions, which speak to the appeal Hitlers ideology held for a small, disgraced segment of Norways mid-century population. A story of collaboration, tragedy, and treason, My Fathers War reveals the little-known history of Norway's frontkjempere (front fighters), the atrocities the Waffen-SS committed against Ukrainian Jews, and the complex legacies of ethnonationalism in Norway. With an insightful introduction from translator Dean Krouk, My Fathers War is a contemporary classic of war literature. Committed to genuine understanding without falling into undue sympathizing, this sober and reflective book presents an eye-opening, moving, intense, and necessary account of the allure of fascism in a world at warand its personal costs.