Wow! Alan Gratz is really on a roll! His books, usually focusing around WWII but some expanding into other famous world conflicts, are a gripping and totally immersive experience. His 2015 novel Code of Honor was the winner of the SC Junior Book Award for 2017-2018, so this 2016 book had to be taken off this year’s list (you cannot win the award two years in a row, so I’ve been told).
Projekt 1065 revolves around Michael O’Shaunessey, the son of the Irish ambassador to Germany during WWII. Ireland is welcome in Germany because of it’s neutrality, but that doesn’t mean Michael’s parents are idle while in the Fatherland. They are secretly spies sending back coded messages to London. Michael also has a facade to maintain. Like all German boys, he’s active in the Hitler Youth, which means book burnings, beating up dissidents, and manning the anti-aircraft guns during air raids. But when his friend Fritz shows him plans for a new German plane design, Projekt 1065, he knows he needs to get the information to London. Through the power of his nearly photographic memory and Simon, a downed English airman who his family is hiding in the embassy, he decides that he must be brave and take a chance to do the right thing.
This story is powerful to me because it shows the influence of nationalism during the Nazi regime. It shows how you can get pulled into a movement that is so strong it can sweep you into it’s undertow. Even through Michael does not believe in the Nazi party, he still has to maintain that he does to stay in his position to get information. This means making tough decisions and finding out moral lines can get blurred easily. Also, it highlights what happens when you are inactive against a strong force. There were people in Germany who opposed the Nazis, but they were afraid to speak up or act out of line. These people were targeted and beaten down, but one has to think what would have happened if more people had stood up to Hitler earlier.
A quote I found moving from the story was, “They were afraid that if they said something, did something, they might get shot. Or worse. So instead of anybody doing anything to help anybody else, they kept their eyes on their feet and pretended the sky wasn’t falling down on their heads. How could none of them do anything? How could I not?”
The one thing about the novel I would change is the ending. It’s rather abrupt (in my opinion), and I felt like it needed a little more historical context to end it, like an epilogue or something. For this day and age with the controversies going on around us, this book is a timely reminder to speak up against injustices so we don’t repeat the past.
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