The Kindly Ones (Blagovolitelnitsy)

This historical novel by an American-born French author is written from the perspective of its protagonist, SS officer Maximilian Aue, one of the rank-and-file executors of the Nazi program, the 'Final Solution.' The book's action takes place on the Eastern Front (Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Stalingrad), in Poland, Germany, Hungary, and France. In 2006, 'The Kindly Ones' won the Prix Goncourt and the Grand Prix of the Académie française, and became a European bestseller, translated into 20 languages ​​to date. Critics noted the novel's 'absolute historical accuracy,' calling it 'an outstanding literary and historical phenomenon' (Pierre Nora). The Times described 'The Kindly Ones' as 'a great literary event that readers and scholars will return to for decades to come,' and placed it among the five most significant works of fiction about World War II. The book is being published in a new translation edition.