The Wedding in Auschwitz - Tapa blanda

His most ambitious project as a writer so far (Die Welt)

Convincingly tells the story of a great love during times of war. A complex and demanding book, and it is probably Hackl's darkest and saddest work to date (Berliner Zeitung)

Treads the fine line between literature and literary-historical journalism... A strange little book, shocking and moving, yet tender and kind at the same time (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

This quietly moving book demonstrates why Erich Hackl is unique (Literaturen)

An exceptional book (Tadzio Koelb TLS 2009-05-08)

gracefully measured, conversational and obliquely impressionistic.... a cause for celebration. (Eileen Battersby The Irish Times 2009-06-13)

A remarkable proof of the enduring power of love. (N/A Jewish Chronicle 2010-04-16)

..poignant and ironically inspiring novel...A major contribution to Holocaust fiction. (Booklist USA 2010-04-15)

The book's non-Jewish, political context begins to round out one's understanding of this terrible era. (Baltimore Jewish Times 2010-04-09)

This extraordinary novel is based on a true story of the love between Rudi and Marga. Rudi Friemel fights for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. When the Republican Front collapses, he is interned in France. In 1941, the German prisoners are offered the choice of repatriation, which Rudi agrees to. He and Marga are briefly re-united, and a child is conceived, before he is taken to a Gestapo prison in Vienna, and then onto Auschwitz. Marga and Edi (their son) are left behind in southern Germany. In Auschwitz, Rudi Friemel is privileged. He's given work as a car mechanic, his days are spent servicing the vehicles of the SS. He petitions to be allowed to marry Marga and make his son legitimate. Eventually his petition is granted - no one knows why. Rudi's wife and child are brought to Auschwitz, his father and brother come from Vienna. The officials who normally spend all their time registering the deaths now register a marriage. And the camp band plays.