“THE SON AND THE HEIR,” BY ALEXANDER MUNNINGHOFF.

 Mr. Munninghoff’s, “The Son and the Heir,” is the fifth novel I have read about the Netherlands, with World War II at the center of the story, in the last couple of months. Some of the books I’d decided to read on my own and a few were purely by accident. All five were really good, but “The Son and Heir,” was fantastic.

“The Son and the Heir, a Memoir,” begins at the beginning of the 20th century, around World War I, and follows the Munninghoff family, to the very end of the century. It is different not only in scope, but also highlights the devastating effects that World War 2 had on the Netherlands and on this particular family in general. The Netherlands, which borders Germany to the West, was taken over by the Germans early in war, 1940. 

The Munninghoff family was rich, and the grandfather, The Old Boss, was behind the family’s good fortune. He was a wise, perceptive, somewhat corrupt businessman who was a devout Catholic, anti-German, patriotic Dutchman, and a man who tried to keep his family together in the Dutch tradition anyway he could, even if it meant discarding one of his son’s wives who was German and eventually discarding that son who joined the SS.

Previously, I did not think of the Netherlands as playing a big part in World War 2. I knew that General Patton fought some vicious and famous battles in the Netherlands against the occupying Germans at the end of the war before finally arriving in Berlin, but not much else. Mr. Munninghoff’s  memoir gives a clear picture of how the war, the occupation, and the liberation of the Netherlands, to this very day, still plays a role in the everyday life of the Dutch people. It is truly a fantastic memoir with unforgettable characters and many intricate plots.