Winner of the 2016 Waverton Good Read Award for
The Death's Head Chess Club
A novel of the improbable friendship that arises between a Nazi officer and a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz
In the autumn of 1943, SS Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz from the Russian front fit only for administrative duty. He is ordered to improve camp morale and he establishes a chess club, which thrives because of widespread betting on the games. Meissner learns that chess is also played among the prisoners, and there are rumours of an unbeatable Jew known as "the Watchmaker." The suggestion a Jew may be unbeatable is an affront and German superiority must be demonstrated by pitting the Watchmaker against the best Nazi players. Meissner finds the Watchmaker, Emil Clément, and a curious relationship arises between them. As more and more games are played, the stakes rise, and the two men find their fates deeply entwined.
Twenty years later, the two meet again in Amsterdam. Meissner is now a Catholic bishop, and Emil is playing in an international chess tournament. Having lost his family in the horrors of the death camps, Emil wants nothing to do with the former SS officer, but Meissner is persistent. "What I hope," he tells Emil, "is that I can help you to understand that the power of forgiveness will bring healing." As both men search for a modicum of peace, they recall a gripping tale of survival and trust.
A suspenseful meditation on understanding and guilt, John Donoghue's The Death's Head Chess Club is a bold debut and a rich portrait of a surprising friendship.