Father Unknown

‘Father Unknown is the second part in the series about a young danish woman, Maia Niemann, who was falling in love with a German soldier during War II, in Denmark. The story takes place in Copenhagen, 1944:

The Danish government has been deposed and the police interned. The resistance movement has developed into a powerful force which, in the highly tense climate, is committing terrorist acts against vital German interests. As the fortunes of war turn, public reprisals against all collaborators and Danish women with German boyfriends are increasing.

With Mille, Maia's aunt and confidant, incarcerated at Gestapo headquarters and her roommate, Inger, exiled in Sweden, Maia finds herself completely alone with all bridges burned behind her. Lieutenant Hermann Ahlenfelt, father of her unborn child, is now missing on the Russian front, and Maia risks being branded a ‘German tart’.

Falling in love with the wrong man at the wrong time has had ruinous consequences on Maia’s life. Pregnant and alone she is forced into hiding and faces a harrowing, unpredictable future.

About the Maia Niemann Series:

The action-packed story unfolds during the German occupation in the years 1943-45 in Denmark and in the post-war period until 1969 partly in the USA, the GDR and in Denmark.

The main character of the story is the 17-year-old Maja Niemann, whom we meet for the first time, just before the August uprising breaks out in Odense in 1943. In this highly tense time of conflict between the government's policy of collaboration and the breakthrough of the resistance movement, Maja falls in love with a German soldier, while at the same time associating with Danish friends who are active in the resistance movement. That combination is not only dangerous, but it also raises several ethical issues. Because 'German prostitutes' are punished in public caning, and their possible children, the 'German kids ', the mothers often must give them up and adopt.

Maja is forced to navigate between an unwanted pregnancy, a missing German father, a crumbling safety net and a career dream that lies in ruins. The choices she makes will be decisive for both her own and her unborn child's future.

The series focuses sharply on women's lives and everyday life during and after the war. With their feet planted firmly in the concrete everyday life of war, the readers are invited to deal with the underlying questions of: The nature of love, the motives of action, justice and revenge, betrayal, condemnation, and punishment. Who are heroes and who are villains? Everything is in play and up for discussion.