This is a fascinating novel, taking as its premise the posting of an SS officer to keep an eye on the ex- and exiled German Kaiser during the early years of WW2 (something which did happen) and a subsequent visit by Himmler (which didn't). The author admits changing certain facts, conflating actual happenings from 1940 and 1941 and inventing characters but the novel is far from being counterfactual. Not that I have a problem with counterfactual novels, far from it, but there is something about a solidly researched piece of fiction that is based more in an imaginative interpretation of the truth than in pure imagination.This is a novel about character and relationship, at the heart of which are SS officer Martin Krebbs, maid Akki and Kaiser Wilhelm himself. Akki is mischievous and teasing, forcing Krebbs to question his whole way of thinking, Wilhelm is contrary and contradictory but at the same time like a spider sat at the centre of his web and Martin is an everyman characters representing the 'ordinary German soldier' and it is Martin's character that creates both the conflict and the moral questioning that take place within the novel. The most important question that is posed here is: can you be both a Nazi and a good person? Martin is firmly a part of the modern (1940s) world, one of the new breed of German soldier who wants to move away from the old aristocratic army and society and place Germany firmly at the front of the new world that was emerging in the aftermath of WW1. The only way for him to achieve this at this time is to join the Nazis, however this does not mean that he has to join the SS but he chooses to do so out of feelings of pride, honour and loyalty to the Fatherland which is far more reminiscent of that shown by the old guard that he wants to replace. His pride in his black Totenkopf uniform is a direct parallel for the Kaiser's own pride in his collection of uniforms from long extinct regiments and is rooted firmly in the same place in their psyche.Drawing the character like this makes Martin a German first and a Nazi second then as the novel progresses it is very clear that Martin in not cut from the same cloth as Himmler or other SS officers such as his colonel who dismisses Wilhelm as a drain on state resources and berates Martin for thinking of the past when he should be thinking of the future. Martin is not about to actively betray the Fatherland but at the same time by the end of the novel one is left with the impression that neither is he going to go out of his way to promote their cause. True he is to be sent to the Eastern front to fight the Russians but that has been the lot of the German soldier throughout history and does not mean that he is any longer endorsing the full Nazi cause. Martin and Wilhelm are Germans, and proud to be so, Himmler on the other hand is a Nazi first and last.The Kaiser's Last Kiss is a slim novel and while every word is perfectly judged it is a shame that it does not take a further 150 pages or so to develop its themes and characters. There is nothing wrong with a novella but in this case it presents us with an all too brief snapshot rather than a fully realised epic which it sometimes feels like its subject matter deserves. That said I would rather have the 180 pages that we have here than not have this story at all.
