Die Entdeckung des Himmels

The troubled European history of the 20th century is the big topic fro the Dutch writer with the German name. His own life and that of a friend is somehow mirrored in the two protagonists. Max has a German father and a Jewish mother. The father wants to make a career during the nazi occupation and arrantly sent his wife to the concentration camps. In that way his marriage cannot be used against him. After the war he is executed for war crimes. The sun grows up in a Catholic household as an orphan. Mulisch’s father collaborated also with the nazis and his mother was Jewish.
The other main character, Onno, is a bohemia and sun of a pre-war prime minister. This family is in contrast Calvinist. The two guys meet at the beginning of the novel, which is the initiation of a life-ling friendship. A friendship overshadowed by a doubt: who is the father the child Onno’s wife. Onno’s wife fell into coma and gave birth to Quinten – the kid with two fathers. We learn by the framework plot, that the Gods wanted exactly this kid for a mission.
I loved foremost all the first part when everything seemed so easy going despite of the dark past. Their discussions are so disrespectful to anything what is expected from a good member of the society. They even end up by accident at a revolutionary congress in Cuba. This is all very funny but as well illustrates perfectly the zeitgeist of that era. At the end both become established, Max as a famous astronomer and a family until heavenly forces kill him with a meteorite. Onno takes the footsteps of his father and makes a career in politics.