Last Stop Vienna
Page 27
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A NOTE ON SOURCES
Although this book is a work of fiction, I drew on many accounts of the period to describe the early years of the Nazi movement, Hitler’s actions and the still disputed circumstances surrounding the death of Geli. Karl Naumann is, of course, a product of my imagination, but he moves among real characters and real events. The boundary between fact and fantasy may be readily apparent in some cases and intentionally less so in others. But I want to both acknowledge the sources I used most extensively and, in a few cases, point out what is quoted directly from them.
I read and cherry-picked details from many of the standard Hitler biographies: Alan Bullock’s Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, John Toland’s first volume of Adolf Hitler and Ian Kershaw’s first volume Hitler: 1889–1936 Hubris, to name those I found particularly helpful. The quotes from the report about Hitler by Otto Leybold, the governor of Landsberg prison, are taken from Kershaw’s excellent study. Hitler’s Mein Kampf was a valuable source in and of itself. I also found biographical details about some of the lesser-known figures in the early Nazi movement in more specialized German books like Biographisches Lexikon zum Dritten Reich and Die Braune Elite II: 21 weitere biographische Skizzen. And Eugene Davidson’s The Making of Adolf Hitler yielded some information I didn’t see elsewhere.
But the single most valuable source for the internal feuding within the Nazi movement was Otto Strasser’s autobiography, Hitler and I, which was published in 1940 by Houghton Mifflin. In it, he described many of the scenes between him and Hitler that appear in the novel. While I rendered them as I saw fit, I tried to stay largely with his version of the events, particularly when it came to describing Hitler’s actions and words. In several cases, I used parts of conversations, as he conveyed them, intact or only slightly altered to fit my narrative. When they argued over nationalization, for instance, I wanted to adhere as closely as possible to their actual exchange—or at least to remain faithful to the main points of disagreement. I quoted verbatim Strasser’s final telegram to Hitler, announcing his plan to break with the party.
Another very useful source was Ronald Hayman’s Hitler + Geli, which painstakingly examines what is known about this tragic relationship. This is where I found, among other items, the Münchener Post report on Geli’s death, which I quote directly, and the wording of the inscription on Geli’s grave. Many of the details he provides about Geli’s personality and behavior also inspired scenes in my book.
Many other books contributed to my feel for the developments and atmosphere of the period I describe. Among them: Otto Friedrich’s Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, Anton Gill’s A Dance Between Flames: Berlin Between the Wars and Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories. The English translation of Goethe’s poem “The Diary” is taken from Roman Elegies and The Diary, a bilingual edition from Libris.
I was fortunate to be able to live in Germany when I was starting to write this book. Helped by Benedikt Weyerer’s München 1919–1933: Stadtrundgänge zur politischen Geschichte, which explains what happened building by building, street by street, during this period, I set out to see what I could of Hitler’s Munich. Thanks to the courtesy of the current tenant, on whose door I simply knocked, I was able to see the small room on Thierschstrasse 41 that Hitler lived in when he first came to Munich. When I went to see if I could take a look at the huge luxurious apartment on Prinzregentenplatz where Hitler lived after attracting generous financial support—and where Geli died—I was lucky again. The building was full of workers completely renovating the interior. Dressed in a jacket and tie and armed with a notebook, I was clearly taken as an inspector and didn’t disabuse anyone of that notion. I exchanged Guten Morgen s with the workers and proceeded to examine Hitler’s apartment—which has now been split into several offices—unimpeded.
My other important trip was to Vienna, where I took the tram to the Central Cemetery. Like Karl, I stopped in the administration building, where, after some initial reluctance, one of the bureaucrats confirmed the essential details about the history of Geli’s grave—and why it no longer exists. I retraced the steps that Karl would have taken to where it once was, and then imagined everything else.
ANDREW NAGORSKI is a senior editor at Newsweek International. He was Newsweek’s Berlin bureau chief from 1996 to 1999 and its Bonn bureau chief from 1985 to 1988. The winner of two Overseas Press Club awards, he has also reported for Newsweek from Moscow, Warsaw, Washington, Rome and Hong Kong. He is the author of Reluctant Farewell: An American Reporter’s Candid Look Inside the Soviet Union and The Birth of Freedom: Shaping Lives and Societies in the New Eastern Europe. Last Stop Vienna is his first novel.
Also by Andrew Nagorski
The Birth of Freedom:
Shaping Lives and Societies in the New Eastern Europe
Reluctant Farewell:
An American Reporter’s Candid Look Inside the Soviet Union
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2003 by Andrew Nagorski
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Andrew Nagorski.
Last stop Vienna : a novel / Andrew Nagorski.
p. cm.
1. Germany—History—1918–1933—Fiction. 2. Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945—Fiction. 3. Raubal, Geli, 1908–1931—Fiction. 4. Vienna (Austria)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3614.A48 L37 2003
813'.54—dc21
2002030214
ISBN 0-7432-3750-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-3833-5 (eBook)