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Alfred Andersch

The Father of a Murderer

Published by Diogenes as Der Vater eines Mörders

Original Title: Der Vater eines Mörders

›The Father of a Murderer‹ takes place in a classroom of the Wittelsbach Gymnasium in 1920s Munich over the course of a single Greek lesson. Headmaster Himmler (the father of Heinrich Himmler) enters the classroom, apparently to observe the students' progress. However, he soon takes over the lesson himself. Himmler mercilessly tests the boys, but his real purpose is to teach a political lesson to the German youths, and through them to settle accounts with their fathers. In the venerable tradition of German school novels (Musil's ›Young Törless‹ and Heinrich Mann's ›Professor Garbage‹), this tale can be read as an account of routine academic sadism, but the essence of the story lies in the fine nuances of speech, thought, and behaviour that illustrate, in the most sophisticated way, how the rise of Hitler was possible. This chilling novel was Andersch's final work. It is considered by many to be his masterpiece.

An eighth grade Greek lesson at a Gymnasium in the late 1920s: What begins as an ordinary class for student Franz Kien takes a sudden turn when headmaster Himmler enters the classroom, turning the lesson into a humiliating ordeal for Franz. In this chillingly topical text, Andersch shows how the darkest chapter of German history began to unfold in classrooms.

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Contemporary Literature, Compulsory Reading
144 pages
1980

978-3-257-01597-3

Alfred

Andersch

Alfred Andersch (1914 – 1980) was sent to Dachau concentration camp in 1933. After deserting from the Wehrmacht in 1944, he became an American prisoner of war. After his return to Germany, he worked as a journalist and publicist, and was one of the founders of German radio. Andersch is one of Germany’s most important post-war authors, and his books are on school reading lists. Alfred Andersch died in Berzona / Ticino in 1980.

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Rhys W. Williams
new books in german

»The text reveals one of Andersch's undeniable strengths, the interweaving of the public and the private, the personal and the political.«

Hanjo Kesting
Der Spiegel, Hamburg

»An extremely intense, artful, absorbing prose masterpiece.«

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