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The House by the Lake: A Story of Germany
In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding travelled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been her ‘soul place’ as a child, she said – a holiday home for her and her family, but much more – a sanctuary, a refuge. In the 1930s, she had been forced to leave the house, fleeing to England as the Nazis swept to power. The trip, she said, was a chance to see it one last time, to remember it as it was. But the house had changed. Nearly twenty years later Thomas returned to the house. It was government property now, derelict, and soon to be demolished. It was his legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over – a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it be saved?
He began to make tentative enquiries – speaking to neighbours and villagers, visiting archives, unearthing secrets that had lain hidden for decades. Slowly he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived there – a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widower and her children, a Stasi informant. All had made the house their home, and all – bar one – had been forced out. The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. It had weathered storms, fires and abandonment, witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation.
As the story of the house began to take shape, Thomas realized that there was a chance to save it – but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family’s feelings towards their former homeland – and a hatred handed down through the generations.
The House by the Lake is a groundbreaking and revelatory new history of Germany over a tumultuous century, told through the story of a small wooden house. Breathtaking in scope, intimate in its detail, it is the long-awaited new history from the author of the bestselling Hanns and Rudolf.
He began to make tentative enquiries – speaking to neighbours and villagers, visiting archives, unearthing secrets that had lain hidden for decades. Slowly he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived there – a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widower and her children, a Stasi informant. All had made the house their home, and all – bar one – had been forced out. The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. It had weathered storms, fires and abandonment, witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation.
As the story of the house began to take shape, Thomas realized that there was a chance to save it – but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family’s feelings towards their former homeland – and a hatred handed down through the generations.
The House by the Lake is a groundbreaking and revelatory new history of Germany over a tumultuous century, told through the story of a small wooden house. Breathtaking in scope, intimate in its detail, it is the long-awaited new history from the author of the bestselling Hanns and Rudolf.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2015
451 people are currently reading
4382 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Harding
39 books196 followersThomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, among other publications.
He is the author of HANNS AND RUDOLF which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction; THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award; and BLOOD ON THE PAGE which won the Crime Writers’ Association “Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction”. For all his books, reviews and updates, go to thomasharding.com and follow him on X/ twitter @thomasharding
He is the author of HANNS AND RUDOLF which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction; THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award; and BLOOD ON THE PAGE which won the Crime Writers’ Association “Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction”. For all his books, reviews and updates, go to thomasharding.com and follow him on X/ twitter @thomasharding
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 457 reviews
July 28, 2020
Berlin. One House. Five Families. A hundred years of History.
The above description on the cover of The House by the Lake caught my attention straight away because I love stories about old houses and their inhabitants down through the years and the fact that The house by the Lake by Thomas Harding was located on the outskirts of Berlin and Harding's ancestors were forced to leave when the Nazis swept to power really enhanced my interest. A home which played a major part of so many family's lives, a home where a concrete footpath cut through the garden marking where the Berlin Wall had stood for nearly three decades.
Thomas Harding was eager to save his ancestral home from demolition and began the mammoth task of researching the house's history and that of the five families who were connected with the house. A noble farmer, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned Nazi composer, a widow and her children and a Stasi informant.
This book is a wonderful read well researched and well written, and and what could easily have been just a family memoir turns out to be a book that will be of great historical interest to many. The author has a talent for research and turning his research into a terrific historical read and account of life behind the Iron curtain. I have read a few books about the Iron Curtain and German reunification but this is one that really really offers so much more and brings to life twentieth century Germany for the reader.
I picked up a hard copy of this book in my local bookstore and had never come across the writer before. I have enjoyed every minute I spent with this book so much so that I announced to my husband on finishing the book " I have to visit Berlin" and his usual response was " another book another trip"
A great read for those interested in social history and twentieth century Germany and a book that is moving and evocative but never too sentimental. The book contains numerous photographs, Family trees, Maps of Germany & Berlin and an extremely detailed notes section which I really appreciated.
The above description on the cover of The House by the Lake caught my attention straight away because I love stories about old houses and their inhabitants down through the years and the fact that The house by the Lake by Thomas Harding was located on the outskirts of Berlin and Harding's ancestors were forced to leave when the Nazis swept to power really enhanced my interest. A home which played a major part of so many family's lives, a home where a concrete footpath cut through the garden marking where the Berlin Wall had stood for nearly three decades.
Thomas Harding was eager to save his ancestral home from demolition and began the mammoth task of researching the house's history and that of the five families who were connected with the house. A noble farmer, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned Nazi composer, a widow and her children and a Stasi informant.
This book is a wonderful read well researched and well written, and and what could easily have been just a family memoir turns out to be a book that will be of great historical interest to many. The author has a talent for research and turning his research into a terrific historical read and account of life behind the Iron curtain. I have read a few books about the Iron Curtain and German reunification but this is one that really really offers so much more and brings to life twentieth century Germany for the reader.
I picked up a hard copy of this book in my local bookstore and had never come across the writer before. I have enjoyed every minute I spent with this book so much so that I announced to my husband on finishing the book " I have to visit Berlin" and his usual response was " another book another trip"
A great read for those interested in social history and twentieth century Germany and a book that is moving and evocative but never too sentimental. The book contains numerous photographs, Family trees, Maps of Germany & Berlin and an extremely detailed notes section which I really appreciated.
April 14, 2024
Charming example of microhistory: the tumultuous history of Germany is outlined from 1890 to 2014 on the basis of a small house near Berlin, actually no more than a wooden country residence on Lake Glienicke. The author is a descendant of the Jewish Alexander family, who built the cottage, but fled to the UK in 1936 (and changed their name to Harding). He combines the account of the successive families who occupied the cottage with his own efforts to save the building from demolition and turn it into a place of memory. Of course, the Nazi period is extensively depicted, but also the Soviet occupation, up to and including the fall of the Berlin Wall (which stood 20 meters from the house), and the period afterwards. As far as I can estimate, Harding does this in a very balanced way, with many eyewitness accounts and extracts from documents, all very smoothly written. A great achievement, and indeed, the Alexander Haus is a story of hope.
April 6, 2016
For me, this is the most enjoyable type of history. Thomas Harding's starting point is the story of his German jewish family prospering in 1920s Berlin. They buy the eponymous house by the lake outside Berlin as a weekend and holiday retreat. But then, instead of giving us a history of his family's struggles through the Nazi era, he focuses on the house itself and details the lives of the numerous families who occupied it both before and after his own. This structure provides a fascinating history of 20th century Germany.
Of course, Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent persecution of the Jews is covered but it's the lesser known stories of ordinary Germans living through the 2nd world war and the immediate aftermath followed by the long years of communist rule and the building of the Berlin Wall (the barrier built between the east and west cuts the lake house off from the lake!) that is even more interesting.
The story is brought up to date by describing how the house and it's occupants have fared since reunification. But despite all the sad and tragic events during the house's history, Harding ends on an uplifting note with his family and the local people fighting to save and renovate the house.
Of course, Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent persecution of the Jews is covered but it's the lesser known stories of ordinary Germans living through the 2nd world war and the immediate aftermath followed by the long years of communist rule and the building of the Berlin Wall (the barrier built between the east and west cuts the lake house off from the lake!) that is even more interesting.
The story is brought up to date by describing how the house and it's occupants have fared since reunification. But despite all the sad and tragic events during the house's history, Harding ends on an uplifting note with his family and the local people fighting to save and renovate the house.
January 2, 2016
BOTW
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sg2m9Description: In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding travelled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been her 'soul place' as a child, she said, a holiday home for her and her family, but much more - a sanctuary, a refuge. In the 1930s, she had been forced to leave the house, fleeing to England as the Nazis swept to power. The trip, she said, was a chance to see it one last time, to remember it as it was.
But the house had changed.
Nearly twenty years later, Thomas returned to the house. It was government property now, derelict, and soon to be demolished. It was his legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over - a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it be saved?
He began to make tentative enquiries - speaking to neighbours and villagers, visiting archives, unearthing secrets that had lain hidden for decades. Slowly he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived there - a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widower and her children, a Stasi informant. All had made the house their home, and all - bar one - had been forced out.
The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. It had weathered storms, fires and abandonment, witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation.
As the story of the house began to take shape, Thomas realized that there was a chance to save it - but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family's feelings towards their former homeland, and a hatred handed down through the generations.
1/5: Dr Alfred Alexander builds a holiday home by the side of lake in the village of Gross Glienecke2/5: The Alexanders have fled Germany and the house is to become home to a new family3/5: The Meisels can no longer visit the lake house, so Ella Fuhrman and her children move in.4/5: The Berlin Wall now cuts the lake house off from the lake. 5/5 The Berlin Wall is now down but the house is still under threat
May 11, 2021
The book is interesting and I enjoyed it. It is thoroughly documented and researched. By studying the people who resided in a house 15km west of Berlin one gets a quick summary of German 20th Century history. It was built in 1927 as a summer residence, located on the picturesque Groß Glienicker See. Perfect for weekends, a place to relax, and that is exactly how it was used in the beginning. Then came the Depression and Hitler, ever increasing persecution of Jews, inflation, the nearby Gatow Airfield and the war. After the war itself, the ruthless take-over by Russians, the division of Berlin and all of Germany, the denazification process, the Cold War, the establishment of West and East Germany, the erection and fall of the Berlin Wall, border dramas, Stasi surveillance and finally the reunification of the country. Every bit of this is depicted through the lives of those living in the house, children and parents, owners and caretakers and those who leased the buildings, even vagrants. The lake which began as a pristine bathing spot on which the house was built became separated from the houses by the Berlin Wall itself! It became unreachable, unusable, polluted and held detritus from the war. It has since been sanitized and is again considered one of cleanest and most delightful spots in Europe.
The book concludes on a positive note. We observe as descendants of the family who built the house, had leased the house or had simply occupied the house return to clean up the property with nearby villagers and neighbors. It is a feel good story of people working together to forgive and heal last century’s transgressions. Do I find the house worthy of restoration? Look and judge for yourself:
https://www.google.se/search?q=Gro%C3...
(See the larger picture on the left.)
My view? Perhaps not for “the house” itself, but for the healing process embodied in its restoration.
I didn’t give it more stars because I never came close to any of those living in the house; their fears and sorrows and joys never became mine. Parts are long-winded, over-detailed.
The history covered is a quick review of what can be found in other books on German history. One of the residents was a Stasi informant. There is little depth here. It is revealed that he was a heavy drinker, but nothing is said of his work as a Stasi agent. People interviewed say only what they wish to reveal. One has to keep this in mind as one reads the entire book. For more information on the secret police in East Germany I would recommend: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (4stars).
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Mark Meadows. I have no complaints. It was fine. Easy to follow, good German pronunciation.
The book concludes on a positive note. We observe as descendants of the family who built the house, had leased the house or had simply occupied the house return to clean up the property with nearby villagers and neighbors. It is a feel good story of people working together to forgive and heal last century’s transgressions. Do I find the house worthy of restoration? Look and judge for yourself:
https://www.google.se/search?q=Gro%C3...
(See the larger picture on the left.)
My view? Perhaps not for “the house” itself, but for the healing process embodied in its restoration.
I didn’t give it more stars because I never came close to any of those living in the house; their fears and sorrows and joys never became mine. Parts are long-winded, over-detailed.
The history covered is a quick review of what can be found in other books on German history. One of the residents was a Stasi informant. There is little depth here. It is revealed that he was a heavy drinker, but nothing is said of his work as a Stasi agent. People interviewed say only what they wish to reveal. One has to keep this in mind as one reads the entire book. For more information on the secret police in East Germany I would recommend: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (4stars).
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Mark Meadows. I have no complaints. It was fine. Easy to follow, good German pronunciation.
October 18, 2017
A clear and well written chronicle about the residents of the house at the lake of Gross Glienicke, near Berlin. We follow the five families and the history of the area during a whole century. At the same time it's the history of the house itself, how it was built, how it got ruined and how the project of restoration was started. I loved it and recommend it to everyone interested in German history.
November 22, 2016
This is a wonderful chronicle of a cottage house by a lake during the twentieth century; of its inhabitants, neighbors, and the growth of the nearby village.
The house is situated by a small lake on the outskirts of Berlin. From the pictures in the book the landscape still has a very picturesque feel to it – making it very attractive to Berliners who wanted, and could afford, a home away from home. The lake’s surroundings were bought by a developer in the early 1900’s. His idea was to make money by leasing off the lake-side views.
At the centre of the narrative is the lake-side property leased to a Berlin family in 1927 that were Jewish. The father [Dr. Alexander] was a well-known physician in Berlin. They paid for the construction of a new house on the vacant lot and furnished it. For the family, there were four children, it became their summer paradise. They all went swimming in the lake, played tennis on the court they had constructed facing the lake, and basically relaxed. The author of this book is the grandchild of one of the daughters who lived in the house as a teenage girl.
Life was still idyllic for them even after Hitler came to power. The lake even provided a calming retreat from the increasingly racist and ruthless politics emanating from Berlin. But gradually the family came to feel under siege in Germany and fortunately they fled to England in 1936. “Fortunately”, because family members who remained were later forcefully taken from their homes and murdered. After they fled the Nazis seized the house with all its possessions. And not only that -
Page 377 (my book)
Not content with collecting mere physical assets, the Gestapo had written to the former patients [of Dr. Alexander] to collect any outstanding debts. Though such bills were as little as three hundred reichsmarks, the authorities were determined to pursue even the smallest claim. It must have been quite a shock to receive such a collection letter, for the patients would have realized that the Gestapo now knew that they had been treated by a Jewish doctor. It is interesting to see how the various patients responded. One promises to immediately make good on his debt. Another sends pages of documents detailing the purity of her Aryan lineage.
The house was later bought by a Wilhelm Meisel from the German government at a bargain price. Meisel was a musical writer who remained and prospered in Nazi Germany. How does one feel when one walks into a house looking at all the possessions (furniture, cutlery, dishes, tennis court...) of a former owner who was evicted solely due to their ethnic background? An owner, who just a few years before, was a prominent German doctor.
The Nazi party also seized much of the land around the lake – and significantly, given the future, constructed an airport nearby. The house during the later stages of the war became the main residence as Berlin became uninhabitable after waves of Allied bombers devastated the city – while flying over the house by the lake. Later Soviet troops marched by in huge numbers.
With the advent of Soviet control and then East Germany Wilhelm fled to the Germany of the Western powers. The house then became a residence for those sympathetic to East Germany. The new owners renovated, making the house habitable year-round. However the view to the lake was blocked abruptly in 1961 by the construction of the Berlin Wall on the side of the lake of our house in question. So the bucolic view was replaced by a concrete wall, barbed wire, and control towers with lights and patrol guards. This was all done to prevent the mass migration from East to West Germany that had been going on since the wars end. The East German government, with its vast Stasi network, was presenting itself as an illusionary socialist utopia to its inhabitants.
This is a fascinating history with many personal views of this era with diverse and often repressive regimes.
The house is situated by a small lake on the outskirts of Berlin. From the pictures in the book the landscape still has a very picturesque feel to it – making it very attractive to Berliners who wanted, and could afford, a home away from home. The lake’s surroundings were bought by a developer in the early 1900’s. His idea was to make money by leasing off the lake-side views.
At the centre of the narrative is the lake-side property leased to a Berlin family in 1927 that were Jewish. The father [Dr. Alexander] was a well-known physician in Berlin. They paid for the construction of a new house on the vacant lot and furnished it. For the family, there were four children, it became their summer paradise. They all went swimming in the lake, played tennis on the court they had constructed facing the lake, and basically relaxed. The author of this book is the grandchild of one of the daughters who lived in the house as a teenage girl.
Life was still idyllic for them even after Hitler came to power. The lake even provided a calming retreat from the increasingly racist and ruthless politics emanating from Berlin. But gradually the family came to feel under siege in Germany and fortunately they fled to England in 1936. “Fortunately”, because family members who remained were later forcefully taken from their homes and murdered. After they fled the Nazis seized the house with all its possessions. And not only that -
Page 377 (my book)
Not content with collecting mere physical assets, the Gestapo had written to the former patients [of Dr. Alexander] to collect any outstanding debts. Though such bills were as little as three hundred reichsmarks, the authorities were determined to pursue even the smallest claim. It must have been quite a shock to receive such a collection letter, for the patients would have realized that the Gestapo now knew that they had been treated by a Jewish doctor. It is interesting to see how the various patients responded. One promises to immediately make good on his debt. Another sends pages of documents detailing the purity of her Aryan lineage.
The house was later bought by a Wilhelm Meisel from the German government at a bargain price. Meisel was a musical writer who remained and prospered in Nazi Germany. How does one feel when one walks into a house looking at all the possessions (furniture, cutlery, dishes, tennis court...) of a former owner who was evicted solely due to their ethnic background? An owner, who just a few years before, was a prominent German doctor.
The Nazi party also seized much of the land around the lake – and significantly, given the future, constructed an airport nearby. The house during the later stages of the war became the main residence as Berlin became uninhabitable after waves of Allied bombers devastated the city – while flying over the house by the lake. Later Soviet troops marched by in huge numbers.
With the advent of Soviet control and then East Germany Wilhelm fled to the Germany of the Western powers. The house then became a residence for those sympathetic to East Germany. The new owners renovated, making the house habitable year-round. However the view to the lake was blocked abruptly in 1961 by the construction of the Berlin Wall on the side of the lake of our house in question. So the bucolic view was replaced by a concrete wall, barbed wire, and control towers with lights and patrol guards. This was all done to prevent the mass migration from East to West Germany that had been going on since the wars end. The East German government, with its vast Stasi network, was presenting itself as an illusionary socialist utopia to its inhabitants.
This is a fascinating history with many personal views of this era with diverse and often repressive regimes.
May 8, 2018
One house. Five families. A hundred years of German history.
Very nice reading, a thoughtfully written, deeply personal and highly enjoyable book.
A vivid, brilliant, riveting history of the tumultuous twentieth century of the German nation, narrated through the detailed, fascinating chronicle of the lives of the subsequent owners and tenants of a lakeside house located just outside the south-western suburbs of Berlin; a very special house that happened to be cut off from West Berlin (and from the lake itself), by the Berlin Wall, a scar that was literally located in its backyard.
It is really fascinating to see how the history of this house closely reflects the overall vicissitudes of Germany, while undergoing a series of incarnations that are narrated by the author (whose great grandfather, a successful Jewish doctor living in Berlin in the early twentieth century, initially built the house as a holidays home) in a deeply personal, balanced, thoughtful manner.
The personal spiritual journey of the author himself, who has long been coming to terms and reconciling himself with his complex mixture of German and Jewish heritage, is also symbolically represented by the many events that characterise the history of this house.
Highly recommended to everyone interested in German culture and history.
PS: this house, currently known as the "Alexander Haus", thanks to the author has been declared of national historical significance, is now being restored, and it will be used as a center for education and reconciliation. The status and objectives of this initiative is described in this website https://alexanderhaus.org/ :
Our intention is to use the extraordinary history of the Alexander Haus to bring people together from different cultures and religions, within German and European societies, with a global perspective. Our vision is to create dialogue and to build a resilient, vibrant and tolerant society today, and for our common future.
Europe is once again witnessing extremism and racism in all its forms. Globally we live with the risk of terror attacks, intolerance and hatred. We are convinced that we must use history and memory to learn from our past in order to collectively build a tolerant, inclusive and bold future.
Very nice reading, a thoughtfully written, deeply personal and highly enjoyable book.
A vivid, brilliant, riveting history of the tumultuous twentieth century of the German nation, narrated through the detailed, fascinating chronicle of the lives of the subsequent owners and tenants of a lakeside house located just outside the south-western suburbs of Berlin; a very special house that happened to be cut off from West Berlin (and from the lake itself), by the Berlin Wall, a scar that was literally located in its backyard.
It is really fascinating to see how the history of this house closely reflects the overall vicissitudes of Germany, while undergoing a series of incarnations that are narrated by the author (whose great grandfather, a successful Jewish doctor living in Berlin in the early twentieth century, initially built the house as a holidays home) in a deeply personal, balanced, thoughtful manner.
The personal spiritual journey of the author himself, who has long been coming to terms and reconciling himself with his complex mixture of German and Jewish heritage, is also symbolically represented by the many events that characterise the history of this house.
Highly recommended to everyone interested in German culture and history.
PS: this house, currently known as the "Alexander Haus", thanks to the author has been declared of national historical significance, is now being restored, and it will be used as a center for education and reconciliation. The status and objectives of this initiative is described in this website https://alexanderhaus.org/ :
Our intention is to use the extraordinary history of the Alexander Haus to bring people together from different cultures and religions, within German and European societies, with a global perspective. Our vision is to create dialogue and to build a resilient, vibrant and tolerant society today, and for our common future.
Europe is once again witnessing extremism and racism in all its forms. Globally we live with the risk of terror attacks, intolerance and hatred. We are convinced that we must use history and memory to learn from our past in order to collectively build a tolerant, inclusive and bold future.
June 18, 2025
The author’s German Jewish family emigrated from Germany to England in the 1930s, pushed out by Hitler’s increasing persecution. Among what they left behind was the weekend home his great-grandfather, a physician, had built on leased land on a lake. The author grows curious about this house and tracks it down decades later after the fall of the Wall. Finding it derelict, he begins to investigate its history, including that of the various families who inhabited it, and the historical periods it passed through.
The resulting account is very readable, and peppered with photos. The house fell in East Germany after the war, and it was particularly interesting reading about the post-war period and the period after the fall of the Wall - which had actually run between the house and the lake, cutting it off from the water, so that the house’s residents required a special border zone pass to get to their own home. The author ended up spearheading a successful campaign to preserve the house as a historical landmark, which is admirable, though I felt a twinge about it given that the spot had previously been earmarked for an affordable housing development. The book itself is such a wonderful monument to tbe house’s history that I wondered whether it might have been better to let the land move naturally into its next incarnation. But it was great to read about how his own enthusiasm and increasing investment in tbe house’s history and what it represents rubbed off on others, and when I looked at the website of the Alexander Haus, I admired the beautiful restoration.
The resulting account is very readable, and peppered with photos. The house fell in East Germany after the war, and it was particularly interesting reading about the post-war period and the period after the fall of the Wall - which had actually run between the house and the lake, cutting it off from the water, so that the house’s residents required a special border zone pass to get to their own home. The author ended up spearheading a successful campaign to preserve the house as a historical landmark, which is admirable, though I felt a twinge about it given that the spot had previously been earmarked for an affordable housing development. The book itself is such a wonderful monument to tbe house’s history that I wondered whether it might have been better to let the land move naturally into its next incarnation. But it was great to read about how his own enthusiasm and increasing investment in tbe house’s history and what it represents rubbed off on others, and when I looked at the website of the Alexander Haus, I admired the beautiful restoration.
April 18, 2022
Een boek over een huis aan een meer ... klinkt niet bijster interessant, toch ?!?
Niets is echter minder waar.
Thomas Harding gaat op zoek naar het vakantiehuisje bij de Gross Glienicker See dat zijn (Joodse) overgrootvader liet bouwen tussen de twee wereldoorlogen.
Het is een zoektocht naar de geschiedenis van de vijf families die er woonden (waaronder dus de familie van de schrijver als eerste), maar ook een blik op 100 jaar Duitse geschiedenis.
Uitermate boeiend !!!!
Niets is echter minder waar.
Thomas Harding gaat op zoek naar het vakantiehuisje bij de Gross Glienicker See dat zijn (Joodse) overgrootvader liet bouwen tussen de twee wereldoorlogen.
Het is een zoektocht naar de geschiedenis van de vijf families die er woonden (waaronder dus de familie van de schrijver als eerste), maar ook een blik op 100 jaar Duitse geschiedenis.
Uitermate boeiend !!!!
October 19, 2021
Lezen over de geschiedenis van Duitsland is geen lachertje, want die wordt gekenmerkt door onmenselijke wreedheid. Je leest over een huis dat aan een meer staat, dicht bij Berlijn. Gebouwd door een jood die door het nazisme de wijk naar Engeland moet nemen. Aan de hand van zijn belevenissen en die van de vier andere families die vervolgens in het huis komen wonen, krijg je een idee hoe het leven in (Oost-)Duitsland evolueerde. De muur bevindt zich letterlijk in hun voortuin, omdat die net tussen hun huis en het meer wordt gebouwd. Stel je voor, van de ene dag op de andere gedaan met zwemmen. Het wantrouwen en gespioneer van de burgers in dienst van de Stasi maken het verdere leven moeilijk, maar ook de val van de muur brengt niet het verhoopte geluk. Geen opbeurende literatuur en ook de stroeve schrijfstijl kan beter. Sommige passages vol ontelbare adjectieven en bijzinnen zijn moeilijk leesbaar. Maar het beklijvende verhaal blijft toch wel lang hangen, heb ik gemerkt.
February 10, 2017
By choosing the house lived in by five families as the focus of his story, Harding is able to tell their micro stories against the wider backdrop of political and social events in twentieth century Germany.
Like other readers, I was most interested in the parts of that history with which I am least familiar - the lives of ordinary people during and after World War II, the Russian domination of East Germany, the wall itself (imagine it going through your garden, which is what happened to families living on the eastern side of the lake at Gross Glienecke).
Much of the detail is prosaic, and I found much of the book flat in tone. There are some gems in the extensive notes, though, which were full of lively personal detail. Perhaps they just couldn't be fitted into the house narrative, but at least they are on the record.
Like other readers, I was most interested in the parts of that history with which I am least familiar - the lives of ordinary people during and after World War II, the Russian domination of East Germany, the wall itself (imagine it going through your garden, which is what happened to families living on the eastern side of the lake at Gross Glienecke).
Much of the detail is prosaic, and I found much of the book flat in tone. There are some gems in the extensive notes, though, which were full of lively personal detail. Perhaps they just couldn't be fitted into the house narrative, but at least they are on the record.
August 19, 2025
Read in 2018.
5*
5*
September 3, 2017
In Germany, as in other European countries, the lime was a sacred tree, whose presence protected against ill luck.
We know not the place where our loved ones are - we know the place where they are not.
Music will feed you in your life.
For the second time in its history, its shuttered windows endured a long summer, autumn and winter unopened and unwarmed by human company and the heat from a fire.
This is my last chance to tell my side of the story, to prove I am not an enemy, otherwise there is no reason to prolong my useless life. How should I prove that I am not an enemy if I am not an enemy? I have always fought for the working class and the party. I may have made mistakes but I am not an enemy of the people. I always had to work, sometimes I was not aware who I was working for. -Leopold Bauer
Most simply walked, enjoying the monochrome tranquility. (frozen lake)
We know not the place where our loved ones are - we know the place where they are not.
Music will feed you in your life.
For the second time in its history, its shuttered windows endured a long summer, autumn and winter unopened and unwarmed by human company and the heat from a fire.
This is my last chance to tell my side of the story, to prove I am not an enemy, otherwise there is no reason to prolong my useless life. How should I prove that I am not an enemy if I am not an enemy? I have always fought for the working class and the party. I may have made mistakes but I am not an enemy of the people. I always had to work, sometimes I was not aware who I was working for. -Leopold Bauer
Most simply walked, enjoying the monochrome tranquility. (frozen lake)
September 15, 2015
Thomas Harding's great grandfather, a successful Jewish doctor living in Berlin in the early twentieth century, built a summer house by a lake just outside the city where he and his family spent all their leisure time. Then Hitler came to power and the family was forced to flee to Britain.
Their house underwent a series of incarnations. Seized by the Nazis, it was subsequently bought for a knock down price by a successful music publisher. But he, too, lost possession when the land it stood upon became part of the East German Republic. The house was appropriated by the local government and a series of tenants enjoyed the tranquillity of the the lakeside view until suddenly, overnight, the Berlin Wall was thrown up, right outside the back door.
This book is the story of all the individuals who lived in that house and by illuminating their lives Harding renders the colossal upheavals of the twentieth century deeply personal, and therefore understandable. Compassionate and full of insight, The House By The Lake is a remarkable piece of social history.
Their house underwent a series of incarnations. Seized by the Nazis, it was subsequently bought for a knock down price by a successful music publisher. But he, too, lost possession when the land it stood upon became part of the East German Republic. The house was appropriated by the local government and a series of tenants enjoyed the tranquillity of the the lakeside view until suddenly, overnight, the Berlin Wall was thrown up, right outside the back door.
This book is the story of all the individuals who lived in that house and by illuminating their lives Harding renders the colossal upheavals of the twentieth century deeply personal, and therefore understandable. Compassionate and full of insight, The House By The Lake is a remarkable piece of social history.
September 22, 2024
I read and liked this book a great deal but I can't separate from the novel 'Visitation' by Jenny Eprenhick which covers similar ground. I have reviewed 'Visitation' at:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...
and discussed 'The House by the Lake' at the same time. I suggest reading that review to understand my thoughts on both books.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...
and discussed 'The House by the Lake' at the same time. I suggest reading that review to understand my thoughts on both books.
May 8, 2020
After reading and enjoying Hanns and Rudolf by Thomas Harding, I had high expectations of The House by the Lake and I wasn't disappointed. In this book Harding tells the story of a hundred years of German history by using a house at a lake and its occupants (partly his own family history) and he does it well. A must read for people who like history brought to life.
September 24, 2018
Geweldig interessant boek. Moeilijk weg te leggen eenmaal je er in begonnen bent.
Leest ook erg vlot.
Leest ook erg vlot.
May 19, 2020
Geschiedenis verteld aan de hand van de belevenissen van de bewoners van een huis. Bijzonder boeiend en origineel.
August 17, 2020
Really interesting story of a a summer house build in the late 1920s, which when it was build was the picture of a quite, tranquil East-German countryside, close to Berlin, but which has since then been witness to all the historical changes which has happened in Germany since then. Thomas Harding has managed to give not only a very detailed and interesting view of the House, the area, the country the Governments within the area where the House stands, the families which lived in it but he has done so in a very generous and conciliatory, forward-looking way. He is a descendant of the Jewish Alexander family who build the House and who of course, like so many of their faith have suffered greatly from the Nazis and were robbed of their property. Thomas Harding however, has as much sympathy for them as for the most of the other residence of the House, telling how and why they came to live and for parts "own" it and why they had to leave. He has clearly taken a lot of care of trying to understand the people of this area, which was split for 40 years through the Berlin Wall. Really fascinating recount of what happened and how people living there coped with the changing situation they found themselves in.
This is of course much more than the story of a not so little summer house on a lake, but the story of ordinary and some not so ordinary people. I would highly recommend this book to anybody who is interested in German history.
This is of course much more than the story of a not so little summer house on a lake, but the story of ordinary and some not so ordinary people. I would highly recommend this book to anybody who is interested in German history.
October 19, 2020
This is my second book by this author, the other being Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. For me there is no doubt Thomas Harding has a real talent for writing absorbing accounts of his own family history mixed in with interesting historical research around WWII. What a fascinating family background this guy has!
In Hanns and Rudolf he gives us a brilliant account of his great Uncle Hanns’ determined efforts to track down Rudolf Hoss, the commandant of Auschwitz. In this book he skilfully weaves in a short history of Germany against the backdrop of his ancestors fleeing the country and their beloved house by the lake just before the outbreak of the war. It’s an impressive feat to use the house, its inhabitants and the lake area from the 1920s to the present time to help us understand how Germany has changed over time. I went with 4 stars rather than 5 as I felt some of the stuff in the post war era was a bit light on in detail and not as compelling or as interesting as the earlier material.
In Hanns and Rudolf he gives us a brilliant account of his great Uncle Hanns’ determined efforts to track down Rudolf Hoss, the commandant of Auschwitz. In this book he skilfully weaves in a short history of Germany against the backdrop of his ancestors fleeing the country and their beloved house by the lake just before the outbreak of the war. It’s an impressive feat to use the house, its inhabitants and the lake area from the 1920s to the present time to help us understand how Germany has changed over time. I went with 4 stars rather than 5 as I felt some of the stuff in the post war era was a bit light on in detail and not as compelling or as interesting as the earlier material.
November 17, 2016
A great history book. Well trodden paths are rendered fresh as daisies by telling 100 years of Berlin history through the vantage point of lakeside home. You can read about the geopolitics of the Berlin Wall but is different when you see a bloody great wall built between someone's bungalow and the lake. Where a child is unable to invite any of his friends to a birthday party because they don't have the security clearance.
Brilliant book.
Brilliant book.
May 6, 2019
A story of GERMANY in the 20th Century
4.5*
The House by the Lake was serialised on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week.
The eponymous house of the title is a weekend cottage built on the shores of the lake at Groß Glienecke, a village West of metropolitan Berlin. Here the Wollank family, a land owning family, was looking to maximise their assets, renting out parcels of land to Berliners looking for some Summer respite. The Alexander family chose to build their house there in order to have a place of carefree refuge to unwind during the Summer months. It is their house that is central to the narrative.
The house is beautifully situated with direct access to the glittering lake for swimming, boating and nature observation. It feels like this is a sanctuary where the locals haven’t a care in the world. But, as a reader, we know that the village and the various inhabitants will have to go through two world wars and a divided country, hovering on the division line of East and West Germany. The House on the Lake is as much a story about family life as it is about politics and world history.
The guardianship of this cosy and basic house is passed across the families – from the Wollanks who were the land owners to a Jewish family, then a renowned Nazi composer, a widow and her children, and then to a Stasi informant. The author’s interest in the house was kindled when he first visited in 1993 with his grandmother who was forced to leave the sanctuary of the property when the Nazis consolidated their power. She called it her “soul place“.
The author’s aim was to save the building and with it the intimate history of lives that stood witness to more than a century of troubled times, interspersed with life and laughter and of course sadness and trauma. The last decade saw it fall into the hands of squatters and the building was scheduled to be pulled down, as it had gone to wrack and ruin, but Harding determinedly sought protection to ensure a future for the house. There is still a great deal of renovation to be done and the house’s website offers more insight into the projects underway and where donations can be made.
The author has an incredibly readable style of writing that drew me in right from the beginning, and the history is easy to absorb through the human portraits he so diligently paints. If you want to delve into German history and understand more about the lives of ordinary people caught up in the vortex of world events, then I urge you to pick up this book – it is both a microcosm of the country and a potted history of the last hundred plus years. Recommended.
4.5*
The House by the Lake was serialised on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week.
The eponymous house of the title is a weekend cottage built on the shores of the lake at Groß Glienecke, a village West of metropolitan Berlin. Here the Wollank family, a land owning family, was looking to maximise their assets, renting out parcels of land to Berliners looking for some Summer respite. The Alexander family chose to build their house there in order to have a place of carefree refuge to unwind during the Summer months. It is their house that is central to the narrative.
The house is beautifully situated with direct access to the glittering lake for swimming, boating and nature observation. It feels like this is a sanctuary where the locals haven’t a care in the world. But, as a reader, we know that the village and the various inhabitants will have to go through two world wars and a divided country, hovering on the division line of East and West Germany. The House on the Lake is as much a story about family life as it is about politics and world history.
The guardianship of this cosy and basic house is passed across the families – from the Wollanks who were the land owners to a Jewish family, then a renowned Nazi composer, a widow and her children, and then to a Stasi informant. The author’s interest in the house was kindled when he first visited in 1993 with his grandmother who was forced to leave the sanctuary of the property when the Nazis consolidated their power. She called it her “soul place“.
The author’s aim was to save the building and with it the intimate history of lives that stood witness to more than a century of troubled times, interspersed with life and laughter and of course sadness and trauma. The last decade saw it fall into the hands of squatters and the building was scheduled to be pulled down, as it had gone to wrack and ruin, but Harding determinedly sought protection to ensure a future for the house. There is still a great deal of renovation to be done and the house’s website offers more insight into the projects underway and where donations can be made.
The author has an incredibly readable style of writing that drew me in right from the beginning, and the history is easy to absorb through the human portraits he so diligently paints. If you want to delve into German history and understand more about the lives of ordinary people caught up in the vortex of world events, then I urge you to pick up this book – it is both a microcosm of the country and a potted history of the last hundred plus years. Recommended.
July 25, 2017
This book was a book for me and my wife to read together and we both loved it. We enjoyed the historical content but the humanistic way it was portrayed telling a story that we think we know about. The house was a physical place but in so many way was a metaphor as it was portrayed in the book of the life and times of Germany. I was intrigue to the end, not a edge of your seat intrigue but a human, social, historical intrigue that kept me reading. This book was informative and strangely touching solid 3.75 Stars!!
October 6, 2017
4,5 stars
June 27, 2024
Groß-Glienicke, een dorp en een meer vlakbij Berlijn. Daar staat het zomerhuis dat gebouwd is door de overgrootvader van de auteur. Nu vervallen en op de nominatie om gesloopt te worden.
In dit boek beschrijft Harding de geschiedenis van het huis en de levensverhalen van de diverse bewoners. De eersten: een joods gezin (de Alexanders) zij vluchten naar Londen, dan een muziekuitgever werkend vd nazi's, vluchtelingen, een Stasi-informant. Het is ook het verhaal over Duitsland gedurende een roerige eeuw waarin het huis in de frontlinie vd geschiedenis komt te liggen. De auteur heeft zich uitgebreid gedocumenteerd, archiefmateriaal, dagboeken, foto's en kaarten geraadpleegd en met velen gesproken.
Het is een interessant verhaal geworden vooral vanwege de oneindig boeiende periode die het beschrijft. De Berlijnse Muur die door de achtertuin van het huis loopt! Persoonlijk vond ik het hier en daar wat al té gedetailleerd waardoor het wat wijdlopig werd..
Mooi is te vermelden dat het Harding gelukt is het huis van de sloop te redden. https://alexanderhaus.org/
In dit boek beschrijft Harding de geschiedenis van het huis en de levensverhalen van de diverse bewoners. De eersten: een joods gezin (de Alexanders) zij vluchten naar Londen, dan een muziekuitgever werkend vd nazi's, vluchtelingen, een Stasi-informant. Het is ook het verhaal over Duitsland gedurende een roerige eeuw waarin het huis in de frontlinie vd geschiedenis komt te liggen. De auteur heeft zich uitgebreid gedocumenteerd, archiefmateriaal, dagboeken, foto's en kaarten geraadpleegd en met velen gesproken.
Het is een interessant verhaal geworden vooral vanwege de oneindig boeiende periode die het beschrijft. De Berlijnse Muur die door de achtertuin van het huis loopt! Persoonlijk vond ik het hier en daar wat al té gedetailleerd waardoor het wat wijdlopig werd..
Mooi is te vermelden dat het Harding gelukt is het huis van de sloop te redden. https://alexanderhaus.org/
June 5, 2021
Fascinating perspective, telling history through the 5 families that occupied the Lake House from the 20s through WWII and continuing through the Berlin Wall. Wonderful research. Unfortunately, the story faltered there. Not a lot was known or written about the people themselves. And without connecting to the people, the story fell flat.
November 1, 2018
zeer interessant boek, samenvatting van 2 eeuwen Duitse geschiedenis ! en het verhaal over verschillende families door de tijd heen, die een zomerhuis bewonen, gelegen in het grensgebied , in het voormalige DDR,
December 24, 2021
British author Thomas Harding has traced the history of a section of Berlin by tracing the history of the house his family had lived in before WW2. The book, "The House by the Lake: One House, Five Families", is a nuanced look as much at the politics of the times as of the families who had lived in the house. Harding's own family had built the house on a lake side area in the southwest section of Berlin, near Potsdam, in the 1920's. They lived in Berlin but used this lakeside house as their weekend and summer retreat. But as the 20's ran into the 1930's, the Jewish Alexander family was hit by the anti-Semitic laws of the time and regretfully abandoned the lakeside house - and Germany - to safety in England. The house was taken over by other families during WW2 and the post-war years. Since the house was literally on the border between West Berlin and East Germany, the occupants lived behind the Berlin Wall. After the Wall came down in 1989, the family living there was reunited with friends and family in the west. The house is now a property of the state but Harding's family is trying to fix it up.
Okay, we've all read books that trace a family by looking at the houses in which they've lived. This is just the opposite; examining the house by looking at who's lived there. (Another good book to read if you find this book interesting is "Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House", by British author Julie Myerson.) Thomas Harding's book turns the history of the house into a history of the times. Harding does provide pictures of the house as it went through physical changes as new owners and tenants came and went. It's a good book, for the right reader.
Thomas Harding is also the author of "Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Commandant of Auschwitz". The "Hanns" in the title is Harding's great-uncle, and the son of the family who had owned the house by the lake. I'd say that "Hanns" introduces the Alexander family and if you haven't read either book, I'd start with "Hanns and Rudolf".
Okay, we've all read books that trace a family by looking at the houses in which they've lived. This is just the opposite; examining the house by looking at who's lived there. (Another good book to read if you find this book interesting is "Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House", by British author Julie Myerson.) Thomas Harding's book turns the history of the house into a history of the times. Harding does provide pictures of the house as it went through physical changes as new owners and tenants came and went. It's a good book, for the right reader.
Thomas Harding is also the author of "Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Commandant of Auschwitz". The "Hanns" in the title is Harding's great-uncle, and the son of the family who had owned the house by the lake. I'd say that "Hanns" introduces the Alexander family and if you haven't read either book, I'd start with "Hanns and Rudolf".
January 2, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding travelled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been her 'soul place' as a child, she said, a holiday home for her and her family, but much more - a sanctuary, a refuge. In the 1930s, she had been forced to leave the house, fleeing to England as the Nazis swept to power. The trip, she said, was a chance to see it one last time, to remember it as it was.
But the house had changed.
Nearly twenty years later, Thomas returned to the house. It was government property now, derelict, and soon to be demolished. It was his legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over - a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it be saved?
He began to make tentative enquiries - speaking to neighbours and villagers, visiting archives, unearthing secrets that had lain hidden for decades. Slowly he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived there - a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widower and her children, a Stasi informant. All had made the house their home, and all - bar one - had been forced out.
The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. It had weathered storms, fires and abandonment, witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation.
As the story of the house began to take shape, Thomas realized that there was a chance to save it - but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family's feelings towards their former homeland, and a hatred handed down through the generations.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sg2m9
In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding travelled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been her 'soul place' as a child, she said, a holiday home for her and her family, but much more - a sanctuary, a refuge. In the 1930s, she had been forced to leave the house, fleeing to England as the Nazis swept to power. The trip, she said, was a chance to see it one last time, to remember it as it was.
But the house had changed.
Nearly twenty years later, Thomas returned to the house. It was government property now, derelict, and soon to be demolished. It was his legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over - a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it be saved?
He began to make tentative enquiries - speaking to neighbours and villagers, visiting archives, unearthing secrets that had lain hidden for decades. Slowly he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived there - a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widower and her children, a Stasi informant. All had made the house their home, and all - bar one - had been forced out.
The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. It had weathered storms, fires and abandonment, witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation.
As the story of the house began to take shape, Thomas realized that there was a chance to save it - but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family's feelings towards their former homeland, and a hatred handed down through the generations.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sg2m9
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