Jonathan Littell. The Kindly Ones: A Novel

This historical novel by the 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 "Final Solution." The book's action unfolds on the Eastern Front (Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Stalingrad), Poland, Germany, Hungary, and France. In 2006, "The Kindly Ones" won the Prix Goncourt and the Grand Prix of the Académie française, becoming a European bestseller and has now been translated into 20 languages. Critics have praised the novel's "absolute historical accuracy," calling it "an extraordinary literary and historical phenomenon" (Pierre Nora). The Times described "The Kindly Ones" as "a great literary event that readers and scholars will continue to revisit for decades to come," placing it among the five most significant works of fiction about World War II.