Bicycles for Utrecht
Baier, Jochen
October 2017
336 pages
13.6 x 21.5 cm
softcover with flaps
ISBN 978-3-7844-3422-3
336 pages
13.6 x 21.5 cm
softcover with flaps
ISBN 978-3-7844-3422-3
Bicycles for Utrecht
A novel
Can you make amends for guilt?
When Hauke visits his grandfather for the last time at the hospital, his grandfather reveals a dark chapter in his past. During World War II he was stationed in the Netherlands and was responsible for, among other things, registering arrested Jews and confiscating bicycles. Grieving for his grandfather is soon mixed with thoughts about reparations: With his friends Safi and Lars, Hauke starts the campaign "Return their bicycles to the Dutch". More and more participants join the bicycle trip to the Netherlands – and this creates a dynamic road trip with unusual encounters. The younger generation’s personable and practical examination of their grandparents’ guilt.
>An entertaining first novel with great depth about an unknown chapter in German-Dutch history>True background: confiscating Dutch bicycles actually happened>After the war, “return my bicycle” became a common saying in the Netherlands
Jochen Baier, born in 1969, is a professor of English literature, regional studies and didactics at the teacher training college in Schwäbisch Gmünd. He had the idea for this novel after a grill party at the house of Dutch friends who told him numerous bicycle jokes he didn‘t understand. Curiosity and research led to this novel in the end. Jochen Baier lives in Cologne.
Can you make amends for guilt?
When Hauke visits his grandfather for the last time at the hospital, his grandfather reveals a dark chapter in his past. During World War II he was stationed in the Netherlands and was responsible for, among other things, registering arrested Jews and confiscating bicycles. Grieving for his grandfather is soon mixed with thoughts about reparations: With his friends Safi and Lars, Hauke starts the campaign "Return their bicycles to the Dutch". More and more participants join the bicycle trip to the Netherlands – and this creates a dynamic road trip with unusual encounters. The younger generation’s personable and practical examination of their grandparents’ guilt.
>An entertaining first novel with great depth about an unknown chapter in German-Dutch history>True background: confiscating Dutch bicycles actually happened>After the war, “return my bicycle” became a common saying in the Netherlands
Jochen Baier, born in 1969, is a professor of English literature, regional studies and didactics at the teacher training college in Schwäbisch Gmünd. He had the idea for this novel after a grill party at the house of Dutch friends who told him numerous bicycle jokes he didn‘t understand. Curiosity and research led to this novel in the end. Jochen Baier lives in Cologne.