Walter Kempowski (1929-2007) grew up in a middle-class, well-off shipping family in Rostock, Germany’s largest coastal port, situated on the Baltic. His father was in the SA and later died fighting the Russians in East Prussia during the endgame of the second World War, young “Walterli” having been automatically enrolled in the Hitler Youth. In the postwar carve-up, Rostock became part of the GDR and the adult Kempowski spent eight years in prison on being convicted of espionage by the Soviet authorities. His acclaimed chronicles of 20th- century German history include Swansong 1945, and his final novel, about the last...