by Timur Vermes
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), we dare assume, is sufficiently well known for no introduction to be necessary. A few biographical notes up to his takeover of power in 1933, however, may serve to clarify some of the observations made in the book. Having left school at sixteen, Hitler moved to Vienna where he supported himself by working as a casual labourer and selling his watercolours. Twice rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts, Hitler fell into poverty, living in a shelter for the homeless, then a men’s workhouse. He volunteered immediately to fight in 1914 and was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. After the end of World War I, Hitler moved to Munich where he joined the embryonic National Socialist party and soon gained a reputation as an orator. After the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Hitler was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, but served only one, during which time he wrote Mein Kampf. Following his early release he rebuilt the party, became its undisputed leader, and the meteoric rise of the Nazis began. Eva Braun (1912–45) was his long-term partner who only became the Führer’s wife for the last couple of days of their life. Having already undertaken a couple of unsuccessful suicide attempts in the 1930s, she finally managed it together with Adolf in the bunker.
One of the great ironies of the Third Reich was that neither its Führer nor his three leading henchmen were the embodiment of the Aryan ideal as propagated by National Socialism. Hermann Göring (1893–1946), the portly, arrogant head of the Luftwaffe – one of his many roles – was addicted to morphine as well as fine clothes. Sentenced to death at Nuremberg, he cheated the hangman by swallowing cyanide on the eve of his execution. Heinrich Himmler (1900–45), weaselly head of the S.S. and one of the key figures of the Holocaust, also committed suicide after capture by British forces, having failed in his attempt to negotiate a peace treaty with the Allies behind Hitler’s back. The physically frail Joseph Goebbels (1897–45), Hitler’s greatest fan and Nazi Germany’s propaganda chief, killed his children before he and his wife took their own lives in Hitler’s bunker.
Martin Bormann (1900–45), who gets frequent mention in the novel, became very close to Hitler in later years; as the Führer’s trust in him grew, so did his power within the regime, while his relationship with Himmler, amongst others, became increasingly antagonistic. For many years after the war, uncertainty prevailed over Bormann’s fate, and the West German government did not officially abandon the hunt for him until 1971. It was later accepted that he was killed while trying to escape from Berlin at the end of the war. Heinrich Müller (1900–45), chief of the Gestapo, was another leading Nazi whose death has remained a matter of mystery. It is assumed that he died in May 1945, but no physical remains have ever been found.
Of the other Nazi figures referred to here, perhaps the best known is Rudolf Hess (1894–1987), Hitler’s deputy from 1933 to 1941, at which point he took the madcap decision to pilot a plane to Britain in a solo attempt to negotiate with the government. Hess’s Messerschmitt crashed in Scotland and his peace efforts came to naught. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nuremberg, and he lived out the rest of his life at Spandau prison in Berlin, where for more than twenty years he was the only inmate, guarded by soldiers and warders from the four victorious Allied Powers. Albert Speer (1905–81) is best known for his role as chief architect of the Third Reich, although he also became minister for armaments during the war. Speer was responsible for the New Reich Chancellery, which Hitler refers to in the novel, as well as the Nuremberg parade grounds. After the war Speer was imprisoned for twenty years for his complicity in the crimes of the Third Reich. Ernst Röhm (1887–1934) was on the radical wing of the Nazi Party that was pressing for social revolution. Head of the S.A., Röhm was executed as part of the Night of the Long Knives in summer 1934. Reinhard Heydrich (1904–42), referred to in the novel by first name only, was the brutal and ruthless deputy protector of occupied Bohemia and Moravia, as well as one of the main instigators of the Holocaust. Heydrich was assassinated in Prague by a group of Czech and Slovak officers following orders from their government-in-exile. Julius Streicher (1885–1946), “the Jew Baiter of Nuremberg”, founded the newspaper, Der Stürmer, which Hitler recalls in the kiosk. A virulent anti-Semite, his behaviour was condemned as excessive by other leading Nazis, and his star waned after 1938, in spite of his close relationship with the Führer. Streicher was hanged for his incitement of the Holocaust, even though he had not been directly involved. Another leading Nazi executed at Nuremberg was Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946), wine salesman turned foreign minister, via a spell as ambassador to London. An incorrigibly vain man, Ribbentrop added the “von” to his name through his aunt’s aristocratic connections. Robert Ley (1890–1945) was head of the German labour front, which established the “Strength through Joy” leisure organisation for the masses. He committed suicide while on trial at Nuremberg. Walther Funk (1890–1960) served as a propaganda minister in the Third Reich, later becoming economics minister. He was imprisoned after the war, but released in 1957 due to poor health. Ernst Hanfstaengl (1887–1975) was an early supporter of Hitler who introduced him into Munich society and later worked as chief of the foreign press bureau for the Nazis. He fell from favour in the mid-1930s and later fled Germany. Franz Schädle (1906–45) was the commander of the Führer’s S.S. bodyguard; he shot himself the day after Hitler committed suicide. Ulrich Graf (1887–1950) and Max Ernst von Scheubner-Richter (1894–1923) were both shot during Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. The former survived, despite having taken eleven bullets to the body.
A number of leading military figures are cited throughout the book. Chief amongst these is Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891–1980), commander-in-chief of the German navy from 1943. Hitler nominated Dönitz head of state after his death; there was little left for him to do but authorise Germany’s unconditional surrender on 7 May, 1945. Sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment at Nuremberg, Dönitz lived almost another twenty-five years following his release in 1956. Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946), supreme commander of the armed forces, and his deputy Alfred Jodl (1890–1946), likewise played leading roles in the surrender. Both were tried and hanged as war criminals at Nuremberg. Heinz Guderian (1888–1954) and Walther Wenck (1900–1982) were both army generals during the war, as was Felix Steiner (1896–1966), whose failure to launch an offensive from Berlin in April 1945 was the trigger for Hitler’s fit in the famous scene from Downfall, endlessly parodied on YouTube. Friedrich Paulus (1890–1957) commanded the German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad, after which he spent ten years in Soviet captivity. Walter von Brauchitsch (1881–1948) was commander-in-chief of the German army at the beginning of the war and one of the key players in the Blitzkrieg against France. When the army failed to take Moscow, however, Brauchitsch fell from favour.
Of the other historical figures referred to in the novel, the best known may be Wernher von Braun (1912–77), the “father of rocket science”, who took the decision to surrender to the Americans rather than Russians in 1945, and whose work was partially responsible for the moon landings in 1969. Konrad Zuse (1910–95) was another German engineer, who is often credited with being the inventor of the computer. The wily Franz von Papen (1879–1969) was surprised to find himself on trial with Göring et al. at Nuremberg, as he was a representative of Germany’s old conservative elite rather than a Nazi, one of the faction which believed it could manipulate Hitler and use the mass appeal of National Socialism to further its own ends. A key player in smoothing the way for Anschluss in 1938, von Papen then spent most of the war as ambassador to Turkey. Acquitted at Nuremberg, von Papen did a short spell in prison after being convicted by a German court. Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970) was likewise acquitted at Nuremberg, having been ousted as minister of economics in 1937. A decade earlier, Schacht’s efforts had helped put an end to the hyperinflation in Germany. Erich Kempka (1910–75) was the Führer’s chauffeur from 1934 to 1945, and one of those tasked with burning Hitler’s and Eva Braun’s bodies after they committed suicide. Adam Müller (1884–1945) was a publisher
and also ran a printing firm, which was responsible for both Mein Kampf and the official Nazi paper, the Völkischer Beobachter. He hanged himself in his cell after being arrested by the Americans. Josef Stolzing-Cerny (1869–1942) was a journalist who wrote for the Völkischer Beobachter and who read a draft of Mein Kampf. Fritz Todt (1891–1942), who died in a plane crash during the war, was an engineer involved in the building of the German Autobahnen (motorways) after 1933. Later, his Todt Organisation, whose staff included Friedrich Tamms (1904–80), built the defensive line in the West, as well as Hitler’s military H.Q. on the Eastern Front, the Wolf’s Lair. The Jewish Tietz family introduced the department store to Germany and established the Kaufhof chain, which is still going strong. Theodor Morrell (1886–1948) was Hitler’s personal physician, known for his unconventional treatments. Morbidly obese, he died from a stroke. Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003) has been called the greatest female filmmaker of the twentieth century. She became mesmerised with Hitler in the early 1930s and produced a number of impressive propaganda films for the Nazis, most famously Triumph of the Will. Also a photographer, dancer and actress, she went on to have a long and successful career after the war, although to many her legacy is tainted by her association with the Nazi regime. Heinrich Hoffmann (1885–1957) met Hitler in 1919 and soon became the Nazi Party’s official photographer. Eva Braun worked in his studio, which is how she came to know Adolf. Geli Raubal (1908–31) was Hitler’s half-niece with whom he lived from 1929 until her suicide two years later. Hitler adored Geli and was a domineering presence in her life, keeping a close watch on her every move. Traudl Junge (1920–2002) was the Führer’s secretary from December 1942 until his death. The film Downfall was based on her recollections of the last days of the Reich.
The conversation between the teenage boys in the dry cleaner’s will probably leave the non-German reader as much at a loss as it does Hitler, and some clarification here may be helpful. “Stromberg” is a popular German comedy which has so far run to five series. Inspired by the B.B.C. hit “The Office”, it stars Christoph Maria Herbst, who for his performance as Bernd Stromberg won the same Adolf Grimme Prize that Hitler is awarded in the novel. Coincidentally, Herbst also narrated the German audiobook of Look Who’s Back. The “other Stromberg” refers to a send-up that was a regular feature on “Switch reloaded”, a parody show on German television. In it, the Stromberg character becomes a rather ineffectual Hitler figure, trying to solve the problems of the Third Reich from his “office” on the Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps. Stefan Raab, Harald Schmidt and Hape Kerkeling are mentioned in the same breath early in the novel. All three are well-known figures of television comedy and recipients of the Adolf Grimme Prize. Amongst other things, Raab has hosted a German talent show; he also composed and performed the forgettable “Wadde hadde dude da” at the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, somehow finishing fifth. Schmidt hosted a late-night chat show on German television where he would occasionally do Hitler impersonations. Kerkeling has appeared in many comedy shows and once almost succeeded in gaining entrance to the official residence of the German president when he dressed up as Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Mario Barth and Ingo Appelt are both veterans of the German comedy scene, while Atze Schröder is a fictitious character whose performer refuses to reveal his true identity and has successfully defended his right to remain anonymous in court.
Finally, a guide to the acronyms dotted liberally throughout the book. The full name of the Nazi Party was the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) or N.S.D.A.P. Readers may well be familiar with the Nazi organisations of the S.A. (Sturmabteilung) and particularly the S.S. (Schutzstaffel). The former, under Ernst Röhm, was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, its thuggish stormtroopers in their trademark brown shirts regularly beating up political opponents on the left. After the 1934 purge, however, the organisation was eclipsed by Himmler’s S.S., which became one of the most powerful entities in Nazi Germany and was in great measure responsible for the worst humanitarian crimes committed in the Third Reich. The D.N.V.P. (Deutschnationale Volkspartei) was another nationalist party in inter-war Germany with a more conservative and thus smaller following than the Nazis. Believing it could piggy-back on the mass appeal of National Socialism, the D.N.V.P. was one of the factions responsible for helping Hitler to power in 1933. I.G. Farben was a vast pharmaceutical conglomerate, which notoriously produced the Zyklon B used to gas millions in the Holocaust.
Modern German political parties love acronyms too. The C.D.U. (Christian Democratic Union) is the centre-right party of Angela Merkel; in Bavaria, the same movement is represented by its more conservative sister party, the C.S.U. (Christian Social Union). On the left is the S.P.D. (Social Democratic Party of Germany), while the F.D.P. (Free Democratic Party) is the German liberal party which has frequently been a coalition partner in government. The N.P.D. (National Democratic Party) is the home of the far right in Germany, while B.I.G. (Alliance for Innovation and Justice) is a minority party representing Muslims and their integration in Germany.
JAMIE BULLOCH
TIMUR VERMES was born in Nuremberg in 1967, the son of a German mother and a Hungarian father who fled the country in 1956. He studied history and politics and went on to become a journalist. He has written for the Abendzeitung and the Cologne Express and worked for various magazines. He has ghostwritten several books since 2007. This is his first novel.
JAMIE BULLOCH is the translator of novels by Daniel Glattauer, Katharina Hagena, Paulus Hochgatterer, Birgit Vanderbeke, Daniela Krien and Alissa Walser.
