Fatherland (novel)

Fatherland

Cover of the first UK edition
Author	Robert Harris
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Thriller, alternative history novel
Publisher	Hutchinson
Publication date	7 May 1992
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	372 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	(first edition, hardback)
OCLC	26548520

Fatherland is a 1992 alternate history detective story novel by English writer and journalist Robert Harris. Set in a universe where Nazi Germany won World War II, the story's lead protagonist is an SS officer investigating the murder of a Nazi government official who was one of the participants at the Wannsee Conference. In so doing, he discovers a plot to eliminate all attendees of the conference in order to help Germany establish better political relations with the United States.

The novel was an immediate best-seller in the UK. It has sold over three million copies and has been translated into 25 languages.

The story begins in Nazi Germany in April 1964, in the week leading up to Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday. The plot follows detective Xavier March, an investigator working for the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo), as he investigates the suspicious death of a high-ranking Nazi, Josef Bühler, in the Havel on the outskirts of Berlin. As March uncovers more details, he realises that he is caught up in a political scandal involving senior Nazi Party officials, who are apparently being systematically murdered under staged circumstances. As soon as the body is identified, the Gestapo claims jurisdiction and orders the Kripo to close its investigation.

In the story, March meets with Charlotte 'Charlie' Maguire, a female American journalist also determined to investigate the case. They both travel to Zürich to investigate the private Swiss bank account of one of the murdered officials. Ultimately, the two uncover the truth behind the staged murders: Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the SS, has ordered the Gestapo to eliminate the remaining officials who planned the Final Solution (of which few Germans are aware) at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. The elimination is being hurried to safeguard an upcoming meeting of Hitler and United States President Joseph P. Kennedy by ensuring that the fate of Europe's Jews can never be revealed. Maguire heads for neutral Switzerland, hoping to expose the evidence of the extermination to the world. March, however, is denounced by his ten-year-old son and apprehended by the Gestapo.