January 2016  The First Inspiration. La Razza Di Trenta Nove. 

With just over 60 days away from the release of my new historical fiction thriller La Razza Di Trenta Nove, I am unveiling two inspirations for this novel.   La Razza Di Trenta Nove was born from my passion of early 20^th century European history and the underpinnings of two world wars.  A great part of my fascination was the rise of power of Nazi Germany prior to World War II.  The Nazi SS, Storm Troopers, Kommandants and Gestapo ascended to cult status icons in the decades following the fall of Germany.  They were malevolent, depraved, evil and directly responsible for the murder of millions of people, most notably Jews and I wanted to include this in La Razza Di Trente Nove.  Writing “Krystallnaught” was important to me and difficult, until Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3.  The soul stirring and spirit wrenching soprano pulls every note through me in a lento that keeps me in that moment of peril that seems to last forever, and this was before I understood the lyrics.  The text screams an urgent and impaling cry from a mother that stretches from the concentration camps of 1939 to now:

“Oh, you bad people….In the name of God, the most Holy…..Tell me, why?…..Why  did you kill my son!”

I am incredibly moved by the piece and from there I was able to complete ‘Kristallnacht’ inspired by Symphony No. 3 from Henryk Górecki.