The boat (novel)

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Das Boot is the title of a novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim , which deals with the author's personal experiences as a war correspondent on various submarines ; it is based on the notes made by Buchheim at the time. In particular, the book deals with events that essentially took place on the operations of the boats U 96 and U 309 . The book was published by Piper in 1973 and was printed in millions and translated into 18 languages. The novel attracted a lot of attention due to its ruthless, sometimes vulgar language and realistic, detailed description.

Narrator position and stylization

As a painter and author, Buchheim was a war correspondent for the Propagandakompanie (PK) of the Navy and in this function was in command as a “guest” on board various ships. The novel presents in a condensed form the experiences of several trips with different submarines. This results in the stylization of the novel, which, in contrast to the later books The Fortress and The Farewell , alienates all the names directly involved in the plot. The actual main character of the novel, the commanding officer, whose characterization is modeled on the actual commanding officer Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock at the time, is dubbed “the old man” or “Mr. Kaleu ”. Other officers who play a role in the novel, although described and characterized in detail, also remain “nameless”: Both officers on watch and the first and second engineer are always referred to only by their function. Buchheim does not exclude himself, the narrator himself is always addressed as "Herr Leutnant". His role on board is not specifically mentioned in the novel, but his camera reveals a propaganda man. Only the ensign ("Ullmann") as well as the NCOs (e.g. "Kriechbaum") and teams have names . The boat itself is also anonymized - it is only referred to as “UA”, other boats are called UF , UX or UY and are simply designated with letters, where the number or name of the commander could provide information about their identity. The characters described by Buchheim are essentially named with pseudonyms and stand for contemporary people or are based on such.

content

Due to the filming of the material and the subsequent novels of Buchheim, which are to be understood as a sequel, the characters of the plot and the identity of the boat seem to be accessible today. However, the text itself does not claim at any point - not even hinted at - that this is actually U 96 on his seventh company under the command of Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock . Buchheim largely refrains from naming real names - including places - and no year is given in the entire text. Only in the fourth chapter does the text give an orientation about the season in which the action takes place by naming the month. Buchheim himself described autumn 1941 as "the time when my boat was in use."

The “Majestic” hotel, where some of the celebrations took place

The book begins with the description of the celebrations of the submarine officers on land, who want to savor life again before sailing. The officers of the submarine weapon that requisitioned the bar meet in a bar on the Atlantic coast of northern France that has been expanded by Organization Todt (OT). From hearsay the narrator reproduces the descriptions of the officers who deal with reports, lectures and reports to their superiors and how they assess the situation of the submarine war. It becomes clear that the older and more experienced officers, in whose company the first-person narrator is, the chances of success of the submarine war less and assess the dangers on the part of the enemy more significant than their superiors, such as the flotilla chief, the Führer of the U-Boats (FdU) or the commander of the U-Boats (BdU), Karl Dönitz , himself. In particular, the older officers do not agree with the implicit order of the BdU to refrain from rescuing shipwrecked people. The reluctance of the commander to stop sending mentally stressed commanders out on ventures is explained using Engelbert Endrass as an example. He was no longer allowed to be sent on a patrol. In addition to the references to the death of the commander Prien and Schepke are at this point one of the few clear attributions an orientation about time and place of the action: The mention of the hotel Majestic , another hangout of the Submarine people near the vertex Saint-Nazaire are, another indication of the place of action. Although the officers do their duty without contradiction, there is opposition among them - less against the regime, although at least the use of the submarine weapon is criticized, but primarily against the propaganda transfiguration of their struggle. This is expressed in satirical speeches, grotesque quotations of typical propagandistic idioms and cynical comments about the "fine wallpaper pattern" with which the pictures of the fallen are meant. The present flotilla chief is approached by the drunken Knight's Cross bearer Trumann, whose intentional violations of the dress code are also discussed. An example of this is the habit of submarine commanders to forego the dark covering of their headgear and to wear white hats or the knight's cross “ aft ”. The described celebration increases in wildness in the course of the evening and increases to the scene, also famous from the film, of an award-winning Knight's Cross, who drunk on the floor of the washroom and declaims the encouraging propaganda slogans of the submarine leadership.

The St. Nazaire submarine bunker

The next morning the narrator, the commander, the chief engineer and the second officer on watch drive to the berth of the boat. The damage from the air raids, which increases with the proximity to the port, makes it impossible to continue, so they have to walk the last part of the route. The city and port are partially damaged by the consequences of a bombing that took place two days earlier. The German submarine bunker - also a shipyard - was hit, but not significantly damaged; "... seven meters of reinforced concrete", the chief engineer mentions in an explanation. Using the example of the boats lying there in the dry dock, the author gives overview-like explanations of the German submarine types, in particular Type VII . The first-person narrator memorizes length, repression and other data, and further characteristics emerge from the conversation between the officers. The explanations, in particular the internal features and various technical instruments, continue on board UA - the name-giving boat. When leaving to the sound of marching music and the throwing of bouquets of flowers, the first-person narrator condenses his impressions into the image that Buchheim also envisioned as the subject of the later film adaptation, "... a gloomy ferry on an oily-black Styx ...". On board UA , Buchheim describes the crowded narrowness of a VII C-boat that accommodates 50 men. He describes the different types of seafarers, their mostly profane conversations, gives technical details that he dresses up in conversations with the technical specialists, especially with the chief engineer, vividly paints the experience of weeks of storms and monotonous giddiness, as well as the “hunting fever “When attacking, conflicts of conscience at the sight of shipwrecked seafarers who cannot be rescued. Recently there naked fear in the face grueling hours of depth charge pursuit by nachsetzende destroyer . After a successful attack on a convoy and another pursuit, the boat is badly damaged and the crew is hoping to return to their home port. Instead, the mission is ordered in the Mediterranean , which forces the crew to break through the Strait of Gibraltar , which is heavily guarded by British ships . The operation fails, the boat is badly hit and sinks to the bottom, but withstands the high water pressure. The dramatic hours on the ocean floor at a depth of 280 m, during which the crew tried desperately to repair the damage, form the most haunting chapter of the book. Against all probability, the attempt to surface succeeds, the badly battered boat is dragged to the next German-occupied naval port , to La Rochelle , where it is sunk in an air raid; only part of the team can save itself.

References to actual people, boats and events

Buchheim describes his book as a "novel, but not a work of fiction". Parts of the narrative are thus taken from reality. In the following, references and facts of the corresponding contents of the book are compared.

people

The captain of the boat is introduced in the first chapter. He is thirty years old and has been awarded the Knight's Cross. This points to Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (1911–1986), who received the Knight's Cross in early 1941. Strictly speaking, Lehmann-Willenbrock - if he is “the old man” - would be only 29 years old at the time the first chapter takes place, and would have celebrated his birthday (December 11th) on the company described.

Allusions to other submarine commanders can already be found in the first chapter. Buchheim mentions the allegedly heroic, actually profane death of the "Kapitänleutnant Mönkeberg", who in reality is Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg from U 203 . The figure of the submarine commander “Trumann” alludes to Korvettenkapitän Thurmann, the commander of U 553 . However, Thurmann, who had been missing in the North Atlantic since 1943, received the knight's cross, which the figure Trumann wears as an "iron kiel collar" (= sailor's collar) aft, only in August 1942. The nickname of his boat, which is referred to in the book as the "drum fire boat", could however, it was drawn after the U 333 by Peter Ali Cremer , who was nicknamed Ali Wrack due to his legendary clashes with enemy forces . Are mentioned by name Otto Kretschmer , Günther Prien , Engelbert Endrass and Joachim Schepke , but do not occur.

When "Kapitänleutnant L." is mentioned, Buchheim makes an anonymization, unlike Kretschmer or Prien, but chooses a different form than Thurmann or Topp - he uses the abbreviation instead of alienation. What is meant is Wolfgang Lüth , who conveyed the experience of his four-month long-distance operation with the boat U 181 with regard to maneuvering on a submarine, in his position as flotilla chief of the 22nd U-Flotilla , a school flotilla, to the command corps of the Navy in 1944. In chapter Gammel 2 , the first-person narrator discovers a transcript made by the I WO of a lecture LS. Hubertus Bengsch also dictates from Lüth's text in the film adaptation, in his role as 1.WO, the actors of the ensigns, Martin May and Joachim Bernhard during the ensign lessons.

The incident in the first chapter, in which "Kommandant Kallmann" asks the comrades after a report about the fate of his friend "Bartel", is modeled on an event that occurred in January 1942 and of which Erich Topp in his memory Engelbert Endrass - whose nickname was "Bertel" - reports. The accident of a submarine at the Brunsbüttel lock , described in connection with Kallmann in the second chapter, “Leaving”, can also be traced back to Erich Topp. Its small Type II C boat U 57 sank there in September 1940 after a collision with the Norwegian freighter Rona .

There was also actually an incident in which the on-board doctor brought a submarine back into port. It was the U 441 , which had been converted into an anti- aircraft trap . Pfaffinger was taken over.

The figure of the chief machinist August Johann , who is not up to the stresses of the depth charge, goes back to Hans Johannsen , who already served on U 5 under Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. Johannsen made 16 patrols by the end of the war, received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on March 31, 1945 and in May as LI of U 802 he was taken prisoner of war.

Herbert Sohler (right)

Herbert Sohler recognized himself in the novel as a "frame" with a "high school student face" described, who is only briefly and reluctantly present in the "Bar Royal". The former submarine commander was in charge of the 7th submarine flotilla from 1940 to 1944 and actually had differences with commander Thurmann, whom he had transferred to another flotilla.

places

The Bar Royal , in which Buchheim introduces the reader to the various types of submarine weapon officers, did exist, but scenes like those in the first chapter of the book, named after her, happened according to Herber Sohler , boss in the winter of 1941/42 of the 7th U-Flotilla stationed in Saint-Nazaire, is not part of his area of ​​responsibility. Buchheim contacted him on the occasion of his private criticism of the novel's appearance. An exchange of letters ensued between the former PK man and the then lieutenant captain. Sohler described the description of the officers' behavior in the first chapter as incorrectly described, in no way exemplary, and stated that he would have closed the bar immediately if he had witnessed such incidents as described in the text.
The submarine bunkers on the French Atlantic coast, including the one in Saint-Nazaire , were only upgraded to a concrete ceiling of up to seven meters thick from mid-1942 - in response to the more efficient bomb models of the Allies. At the time of the action, the ceiling of the bunker in Saint-Nazaire was 3.8 m thick, contrary to the LI's statement in the “Leakage” chapter.

Boats

The patrol of UA , which occupies a large part of the novel, begins in late September. U 96 did not leave for its seventh patrol until October 27th, which ended on December 6th. The boat is on the move significantly longer, it will not be ordered to be supplied to Vigo until December 14th. The actual U 96 was supplied in Cadiz on December 1st . Accordingly, UA's journey ends later - but this is not shown in detail.

Done at Gibraltar

The "sinking" of the boat is the dramatic climax of the novel: UA sinks to a depth of 280 m after a bomb hit in the Strait of Gibraltar . The time of the event can only be estimated, probably a time around the turn of the year is meant. The real U 96 was - even twice - also aground after attacks off Gibraltar, but at less dramatic depths of 50 m and 70 m.

Reviews

"Plivier's" Stalingrad ", laid out differently, thought differently, must not disguise such a judgment: Lothar-Günther Buchheim has written the best German novel so far from the front of the Second World War, the first that is valid, and objections that the war, one way or the other, no longer an issue, have been wiped from the desk, from the beer table too. "

- Peter Dubrow : DIE ZEIT from October 12, 1973

“The focus is on one of those characters who hardly a war novel can do without, the taciturn specialist, outwardly an antihero, the great guy who pulls his own out of the mess. At Buchheim it is the submarine commander. There have certainly been such people, I always enjoy reading from them, because during all the years of the war, as a humble soldier, I never met such a man on foot. "

- Christian Ferber : DIE WELT from September 6, 1973

“At Buchheim, the marine is no longer the hero. The boat, on the other hand, almost becomes a hero, which, as the whale Melville has almost erotically and lovingly described, turns into an almost mythical object - a "gloomy ferry on an oily-black Styx" as it glides out of the submarine bunker for an enemy voyage. "

- German Werth : TAGESSPIEGEL of October 7, 1973

“Here you only meet the sea, the technology, the war and the people who have to deal with all three. The intensity with which this reality is invoked, however, contains more weight of the accusation than any direct polemic would be possible. "

- Süddeutscher Rundfunk

Buchheim controversy and aftermath

The focus of the criticism from former members of the submarine weapon related to the representation of the German soldiers, in particular the fixation of the characters depicted - essentially the mates with whom the first-person narrator shares the living space - on conversations with sexual content. The background to the controversy that developed later, a mixture of accusations, protective claims and personal defamation of the author, was the insistence of the German submariners and their representatives on a once internalized view of history. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, who was partly used by Buchheim as a model for the "old man", found the book in order and felt captivated by the reading. Lehmann-Willenbrock had himself denied to his former commander Karl Dönitz on the phone when he tried several times to talk to him about the novel. Fritz Grade, role model of the LI, admitted in a review in the military science journal Wehrforschung in 1974 that there was a feeling of excessive conversational tone and obscenities from Buchheim, but judged the descriptions on the whole to be correct, in particular the technical details as correct and certified that this was the case Book to be "more than a novel". One of those who reacted strongly was Eberhard Godt , Dönitz's first admiralty officer at the time, who saw himself defamed by Buchheim's description of his boss as a “crazy whip in Kernevel”. In protest, Godt sent back a copy of the 1943 illustrated book Jäger im Weltmeer , signed by the author, to Buchheim . Michael Salewski , naval officer and professor of history at the University of Bonn, worked on the Buchheim controversy from a scientific point of view in his 1976 work On the Reality of War . It was not until 1986 - under the impression of the film adaptation and the other books and documentations that have now appeared in Buchheim - that Karl-Friedrich Merten and Kurt Baberg , two submariners of the World War, publish under the title Wir U-Bootfahrer Say No! So it was not a book declared as an “anti-Buchheim script” in which they tried to prove that the author had factual errors in his descriptions. The aim of the two former commanders was, in particular, to counter Dönitz's "defamation" recognized by them in Buchheim's works. The student teacher Lars-Ole Bodenstein certified the novel in the scientific journal of the Ranke Society , Historische Mitteilungen , to have brought about a change in the Dönitz image.

Adaptations

In 1981 the book was filmed by Wolfgang Petersen under the title Das Boot . Das Boot became even better known as a three- or six-part television series and as a theatrical version ; its cinematic implementation was also very successful in the USA. In 1997 the cinema version was re-cut and restored; it was released as a director's cut .

In 2003 an abridged version of the novel was published as an audio book - read by Dietmar Bär .

A dramatic adaptation of the material by the Norwegian author, actor and director Kjetil Bang-Hansen premiered in the spring of 2012 at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo . The German premiere of the play took place in the following year in the old theater in Stuttgart . The play is also called " Das Boot " and contains only part of the story of the book.

In 2018 the eight-part series Das Boot was published.

Links

An impressive insight into the everyday reality of the submarines and their crews - and as a useful addition to the understanding of the plot - are provided by Buchheim's Jäger im Weltmeer , U-Boot-Krieg , U 96 - Scenes aus dem Seekrieg , Die Boats, the crews and their admiral , conquered to death. The sinking of the submarines. and The Submariners .

The novel The Fortress , published in 1995, can be seen as a continuation of the story. It starts before the Allied invasion in 1944. With the other novel Der Abschied from 2002, Buchheim loosely ties in with the content of its predecessor.

Other works by the author on the subject are:

literature

  • Michael Salewski : On the Reality of War: Analyzes and Controversies on Buchheim's “Boot”. 2nd Edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-01213-7 .
  • Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war. Volume 2: U-boat building in German shipyards. ES Mittler and Son, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0509-6 .
  • Linda Maria Koldau : The submarine myth. Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-515-09510-5 . (Contains a comprehensive chapter on the novel and the film adaptation)
  • Dieter Hartwig: Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz legend and reality. Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77027-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ where no identity with UA is assumed.
  2. ↑ L.-G. Buchheim: The film Das Boot Ein Journal. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1981, p. 42.
  3. ↑ a b Lothar-Günther Buchheim: The boat . 1977, p. 55 .
  4. ↑ L.-G. Buchheim: The film Das Boot Ein Journal. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1981, p. 197.
  5. ↑ The book was published in France under the title Le Styx
  6. ↑ see preface
  7. ↑ p. 12.
  8. ↑ B. Herzog, G. Schomaekers: Knights of the deep gray wolves , Verlag Welsermühl, Munich-Wels (1979), page 155
  9. ↑ pp. 19-29.
  10. ↑ Erich Topp: In memoriam Engelbert Endrass - Castor mourns Pollux. In: TP Savas: Lautlose Jäger - German submarine commanders in World War II. Ullstein, 1999.
  11. ↑ F. Brustat-Naval, Teddy Suhren : Nasses Eichenlaub. Koehler, 1983, ISBN 3-7822-0316-X , p. 62: Karl Dönitz to Engelbert Endrass : "Well, Bertel, what do you think about that?"
  12. ↑ Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The U-Boat War 1939-1945. Volume 5. The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon. Mittler & Sohn (Hamburg) 2003, page 514.
  13. ↑ Michael Salewski: From the Reality of War Analyzes and Controversies to Buchheim's “Boat”. 2nd Edition. dtv, Nördlingen 1985, ISBN 3-423-01213-7 , p. 138.
  14. ↑ Michael Salewski: From the Reality of War Analyzes and Controversies to Buchheim's “Boat”. 2nd Edition. dtv, Nördlingen 1985, ISBN 3-423-01213-7 , p. 139.
  15. ↑ Lars Hellwinkel: Hitler's Gate to the Atlantic . Ch.links Verlag, Berlin, 2012, pages 68 to 72.
  16. ↑ p. 192.
  17. ↑ R. Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war. Volume 2: U-boat building in German shipyards. 1997, p. 445.
  18. ↑ p. 428.
  19. ↑ Michael Salewski: From the Reality of War Analyzes and Controversies to Buchheim's “Boat”. 2nd Edition. dtv, Nördlingen 1985, ISBN 3-423-01213-7 , p. 96.
  20. ↑ Michael Salewski: From the Reality of War Analyzes and Controversies to Buchheim's “Boat”. 2nd Edition. dtv, Nördlingen 1985, ISBN 3-423-01213-7 , p. 66 u. P. 102.
  21. ↑ M. Salewski: From the Reality of War Analyzes and Controversies to Buchheim's "Boot". 2nd Edition. dtv, Nördlingen 1985, ISBN 3-423-01213-7 , p. 118
  22. ↑ Dieter Hartwig: Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz Legend and Reality. 2010, p. 267.
  23. ↑ a b Michael Salewski: On the Reality of War . Analyzes and controversies about Buchheim's “boat”. 2nd Edition. dtv, Nördlingen 1985, p. 132 .