The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany

by Katherine Koch

Overview

Throughout the Third Reich, millions of Germans pledged allegiance to Adolf Hitler. In the Bavarian village of Schwarzenfeld, they followed an American citizen.

As he struggles to rekindle the faith of a guilt-ridden Wehrmacht veteran, a morose widow, and her grieving teenage son, Fr. Viktor Koch, C.P. is haunted by self-doubt. What is driving him to stay in the Third Reich? Is he following a higher plan, or the mystic compulsion of his German heritage? Exposed to American ideals, his parishioners grow restless under Nazi rule. Relying upon his ingenuity to keep them out of prison, Fr. Viktor solicits aid from an unlikely intercessor-the Nazi charity worker who confiscated his monastery for state purposes.

In April 1945, American liberators make a gruesome discovery: the SS have left a mass grave of concentration camp victims on Schwarzenfeld's borders. Enraged by the sight, the infantry commander orders the townspeople to disinter 140 corpses, construct coffins despite material shortages, dig a grave trench, and hold a funeral ceremony-all in 24 hours. If they fail to fulfill this ultimatum, he vows to execute all German men in town.

Fr. Viktor has to pull off a miracle: he must convince his countrymen that his followers are not the enemy. Their humanity is intact. And most of all, they are innocent.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781961532533
Publisher:	MindStir Media
Publication date:	04/15/2024
Pages:	358
Sales rank:	453,268
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Katherine Koch is a renaissance woman from San Antonio, Texas. By day she is a professional web administrator, digital marketing specialist, and graphic designer. By night she is an independent scholar, historian, and writer. She is captivated by stories of the Passionist missionaries in her family, all of whom have a peculiar knack for tumbling into harm's way during history's most fascinating time periods. The Sower of Black Field is her debut historical fiction novel.

Editorial Reviews

2024-03-25

Koch’s historical novel, based on actual events, navigates the moral complexities of life in a small German village during World War II.

Viktor Koch, a 67-year-old Catholic missionary from the United States, lives in a monastery with his fellow monks of the Passionist order in Schwarzenfeld, “a backwater village nestled in the rambling, pine-covered hills of southeast Germany.” He is a beloved member of the community, having previously employed all the unemployed workers of the village in the construction of the monastery eight years prior. But in the spring of 1941, as the Third Reich bans Catholic worship and prepares to seize the monastery to transform it into a boarding school, Father Viktor and his order are commanded to leave. Choosing to stay behind to run a church, the priest likens his predicament to Christ’s parable of the sower, observing Schwarzenfeld as being filled with “good patches of lush soil…but the thorns are proliferating in Germany, and the fowl are ravenous.” Following Father Viktor’s story from 1941 to 1945, Koch, the great grand-niece of the real-life priest, expands the narrative to include several other morally conflicted characters, such as a local Nazi office director who’s sympathetic to Father Viktor’s plight, a local baker named Norbert who’s critical of Nazi policies, and his fellow bakery worker, Helene, who has two sons. The oldest son, Klaus, finds himself torn between loyalty to his family and the allure of his Hitler Youth training. Father Viktor regularly sermonizes and reflects on the importance of working within God’s framework to determine which path to choose in a world that’s ultimately outside of our control. As the shadow of war spreads, Koch deftly intertwines the tales of Schwarzenfeld’s inhabitants, all wrestling with their consciences and limited choices. Though the momentum of the story occasionally lags due to repetitive themes and strict adherence to historical events, the depth of the character development and the vivid descriptions of their internal struggles will keep readers engaged even through the slower passages.

A compelling exploration of faith and resistance in the face of oppression.

Kirkus Reviews