SS Obersturmführer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz fresh from fighting on the Russian Front. After being badly wounded, he is fit only for administrative duty and his first and most pressing task is to improve flagging camp morale among the officers and the enlisted men. He sets up a chess club, which thrives as under-the-table bets are made on the results of the games. When Meissner learns from a chance remark that chess is also played by the prisoners, however, he becomes intrigued by the rumour of a Jewish watchmaker who is 'unbeatable'...
A deeply moving novel about an impossible friendship between a Nazi and a Jew, The Death's Head Chess Club challenges us to consider what might be the very limits of forgiveness and what might be the cost of a lifetime of bitterness.
- ISBN10 1782396454
- ISBN13 9781782396451
- Publish Date 5 March 2015
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 19 July 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Atlantic Books
- Edition Main
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 400
- Language English