The wet fish. Gereon Rath's first case

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The wet fish is a historical novel by the German author Volker Kutscher , which was published in 2008 by Kiepenheuer & Witsch . It is the first detective novel in the series about the detective commissioner Gereon Rath and is set in Berlin in 1929 at the time of the so-called Blutmais . The novel was filmed as a German television series under the title Babylon Berlin in 2016 and published as a radio play series in eight episodes in 2018.

In addition to the ostensible criminal act, which is in the tradition of American hardboiled detectives, the book is characterized by its vivid portrait of the customs of the Roaring Twenties in Berlin. The political developments in the late Weimar Republic, including the emergence of National Socialism, are clearly recognizable for the reader, but their consequences cannot yet be grasped by the people involved. In addition to fictional ones, people from contemporary history and historical events appear who are portrayed from the point of view of the main character.

action

The Cologne commissioner Gereon Rath is transferred to Berlin through his father's connections after he shot the son of an influential newspaper publisher while on duty. There he works in the police headquarters at Alexanderplatz , also known as the "Red Castle", initially for the moral police under Commissioner Bruno Wolter as a superior. His goal, however, is to switch to the homicide squad, which is headed by the well-known Kriminalrat Ernst Gennat , who works according to the most modern scientific forensic methods and has one of the highest clear-up rates. Rath sees his chance when an unidentified corpse is recovered from the Landwehr Canal and, without being asked, joins the stagnating investigation of the homicide squad.

In his research, Rath comes across a connection to a group of militant Russian exiles who want to buy weapons with smuggled gold in order to prepare for a coup. Organized crime and paramilitaries like the SA are also after gold and weapons. Rath falls in love with Charlotte Ritter, who works as a stenographer for the homicide squad, and uses her inside knowledge for his investigations. As part of his research, he comes across the semi-silk mastermind of the ring club Berolina Johann Marlow, known as Dr. M., and makes himself liable to blackmail, not least because he uses cocaine in one of their illegal nightclubs . He gets more and more entangled in the case and comes under suspicion himself after he accidentally shot a man and let his body disappear, although it was found again a little later.

Due to a lack of personnel, Rath is transferred to the homicide squad to deal with the death he caused himself. He takes the opportunity to cover up his involvement. When he finds out that Bruno Wolter is involved in the illegal arms trade and murdered a young colleague who was on his behalf on behalf of the political police, but Gereon Rath wants to accuse the murder, Rath reveals himself to the Berlin police chief and can talk to him Help Wolter successfully set a trap by a fictitious handover of weapons, whereby Wolter is fatally injured. Officially, however, his death is portrayed as fulfilling his duty to serve.

Historical background

Berlin Blood May

Street barricade in the Rollbergviertel (Neukölln)

The Blutmai (also May riots at the time ) are the riots in Berlin from May 1 to 3, 1929, in which the police cracked down on unauthorized demonstrations organized by the KPD , killing 32 civilians and injuring numerous demonstrators and bystanders. The name Blutmai goes back to the KPD's call to strike on May 2, 1929, which said: “Zörgiebel's Blutmai - that is part of the preparation for the imperialist war! The slaughter among the Berlin workers - that is the prelude to the imperialist mass slaughter! ”As a result, the then Berlin police chief Karl Friedrich Zörgiebel was put into temporary retirement in November 1930 .

Ernst Gennat and Inspection A

How the murder commissions worked in Inspection A from 1926

As a result of Ernst Gennat's efforts, the murder standby service became an organizationally firmly established “Central Murder Inspection” in Inspection A, which officially began its work on January 1, 1926 and was in charge of it. The murder inspection consisted of an "active" and two "reserve murder commissions". The active homicide commission included an older and a younger commissioner, four to ten detectives, a typist and, if necessary (at the crime scene), a dog handler and the identification service. She dealt with all murder and manslaughter matters in Berlin. The employees were made up of officials from various inspections, who rotated every four weeks, as everyone should gather this valuable professional experience once. He owed Gennat's striking body (he weighed an estimated 135 kg) to his enormous appetite, especially his passion for (gooseberry) cakes. In order to enable thorough and quick investigative work, Gennat had Daimler-Benz AG build a ready-to-kill vehicle, colloquially known as the “murder car”, according to his own plans, a passenger car equipped with office and forensic technology (based on the Benz sedan 16/50 hp ). If necessary, the murder car could be converted into a makeshift office. The “Central File for Murder Matters” or “Death Investigation File” created by Gennat, in which all violent deaths that have come to light, not only from Berlin, were systematically documented, also achieved world fame. Due to his popularity, Gennat was the godfather of film commissioners and appears as a character in historical crime novels.

The red castle

The Alexander space 1900 (v. L. N. R .: Lehrerverein house, police headquarters, Aschinger). As a result of the redesign of the square, apart from the train station and the Berolinahaus (completed in 1932), no landmarks have been preserved.

The police headquarters at Alexanderplatz was the seat of the Berlin police chief and part of the central administration of the Berlin police at Alexanderplatz and was also known as the "Red Castle". As early as 1885, the capital of the Reich planned this facility as a "German Scotland Yard ". The original building was erected in 1886–1890 under the direction of the Berlin City Planning Officer Hermann Blankenstein . At the time, this building was the largest building in Berlin alongside the Berlin City Palace . In 1900 an expansion followed under the direction of Paul Thoemer . In 1933 the complex also became the headquarters of the Berlin Gestapo . As early as 1896, the Presidium had a detection service, a Bertillon record file, a register of missing persons and offenses, and from 1899 had its own photo studio. The Police President of Berlin was charged with the practical management of all police and associated administrative structures in Prussia. In the building on Alexanderplatz there were not only municipal police structures, but also special departments such as the Prussian censorship authority. The distribution of tasks for the Berlin police was thus the standard for Prussia and the later German Reich . During the Second World War , the building suffered severe damage during the Allied air raids and the Battle of Berlin in 1944 and 1945 and was never rebuilt. In 1957 the last remains were removed, so that a parking lot was created. The Alexa shopping center has been located on the site since 2007 .

Aschinger

Aschinger , where Gereon Rath also likes to stop off, was a catering business foundedin Berlin in1892, which became known in particular for its large standing beer halls. The brothers August and Carl Aschinger founded "Bierquellen" in Berlin from 1892, which were standing beer halls and later also restaurants where you could eat quickly, well and inexpensively. The different types of beer were initiallyofferedat a unitpriceof 10  pfennigs . The first “Bierquelle” opened on September 1, 1892 at Neue Roßstraße  4 on Köllnischer Markt by the Märkisches Museum underground station . Others followed in busy places such as Leipziger Strasse (numbers 60/61, 79, 85), Potsdamer Strasse ( Weinhaus Rheingold ) in no.3 as well as numbers 57/58 and 101/102 as well as Friedrichstrasse (numbers 79a, 97 and 191), at Rosenthaler Platz ( Rosenthaler Straße 72a), Alexanderplatz and Hackeschen and Werderschen Markt . At Aschinger, there were inexpensive meals and, ifdesired, rolls with the dishes, which made the name Aschinger popular relatively quickly, especially among poorer sections of the population. Aschinger's beer sausages and pea soup were particularly well-known and popular. "Best quality at the cheapest price" was the motto of the rapidly expanding company, which produced all dishes in its own central operation, thus having complete quality control . Further pastry shops and bakery outlets were added at the beginning of the 20th century. The establishment of the restaurants should by no means look poor, but rather elegant, which is why the beer springs were lavishly equipped with chandeliers , mirrors and inviting shop windows. Despite the lavish interior , they were not cozy, neither in terms of furnishings nor cleanliness. In the first half of the 20th century, the standing beer halls were considered “typical of Berlin”.

main characters

Gereon Rath

Detective superintendent from Cologne, who was a successful homicide investigator in his home country, until a fatal shot from his service weapon and a resulting press campaign ruined his career. On the mediation of his influential father, Gereon Rath moved to the Reich capital in March 1929 to the local criminal police, where he was assigned to Inspection E.

Charlotte Ritter

Shorthand typist at Berlin Inspection A, which she uses to finance her law studies. After that, she would like to work as a detective. In the murder inspection, she gets to know Gereon Rath, to whom she initially feels drawn until he betrays her.

Wilhelm Boehm

Chief Inspector at Inspection A, called the "Bulldog" and one of Ernst Gennat's most important employees. He has a very gruff tone, not only when dealing with suspects and witnesses, but also with colleagues and subordinates. Böhm doesn't like Gereon Rath.

Reinhold Graef

Detective assistant at Inspection A. He befriends Gereon Rath.

Stephan Jänicke

Detective assistant at Inspection E with secret tasks. He is murdered.

Ernst Gennat

Kriminalrat and head of Inspection A, called "Buddha" or "serious seriousness" because of his corpulence ( historical figure ). He set up the murder inspection and introduced modern investigative methods, which made him a legend during his lifetime.

Bruno Wolter

Chief Inspector at Inspection E and Gereon Rath's first boss in the Berlin police, nickname: "Uncle". He doesn't take the service rules and the truth very seriously.

Johann Marlow

Businessman and organized crime boss, also “Dr. M. "called. Mastermind of the Berolina ring club , which conducts illegal business of all kinds such as drug trafficking or illegal nightclubs. Berlin police officers are also on his payroll.

Karl Friedrich Zörgiebel

Berlin police chief ( historical figure ), nickname: “Dried onion”, and friend of Gereon Rath's father. He was responsible for the so-called Blood May, in which 32 people were killed by the police, through the demonstration ban he issued and the authorization of the police's rigorous action against the communist May demonstrators. Member of the SPD .

Engelbert Rath

Gereon Rath's father and criminal director of the Cologne police. His eldest son and darling Anno was killed in the World War, the second eldest, Severin, went to the USA shortly before the outbreak of the war and has since been regarded by Engelbert Rath as a deserter. His relationship with Gereon Rath is strained. Duzfriend of Karl Friedrich Zörgiebel.

Magnus Schwartz

Coroner. Doctor Schwartz takes his job seriously, but tends to make macabre jokes with freshmen, be they students or police officers. What he doesn't like at all are know-it-all detectives and cheeky students.

reception

The novel received mostly positive reviews. Hardy Reich wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung :

“There is currently great interest in contemporary crime thrillers, as the bestselling successes of Andrea Maria Schenkel show in particular . The wet fish forms a kind of antithesis to these narrow books, not only in terms of size. In Tannöd , contemporary history is only administered in homeopathic doses. Kutscher's project of depicting the fall of the Weimar Republic in the medium of the detective novel is much more ambitious and at the same time entirely conclusive. Hopefully it will get the attention it deserves. "

- Hardy Reich : The machinations of Dr. Schmincke

And Der Spiegel attested, "In his crime thriller Der nasse Fisch , Volker Kutscher succeeds in creating an opulent portrayal of a metropolis which, with its hectic pace and amusement, was considered the most American city in Europe and whose fate was already inevitable."

Awards

For the novel Der nasse Fisch and the two sequels Der stumme Tod and Goldstein , Volker Kutscher received the Berliner Krimifuchs , a literary prize for crime novels, for “outstanding achievements” at the Reinickendorfer Kriminacht in 2011 .

Graphic novel

2016 was published by Carlsen on the basis of the novel by Arne Jysch created and drawn graphic novel of the same title.

filming

The novel was filmed as a German TV series under the title Babylon Berlin , which was produced by X Films Creative Pool in coproduction with ARD Degeto , Sky and Beta Film. It was directed by Tom Tykwer , Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten , who also wrote the scripts. Significant changes to the content were also made. The main actors are Volker Bruch in the role of Commissioner Gereon Rath and Liv Lisa Fries as Charlotte Ritter.

Radio play series

The adaptation for the radio play series Der nasse Fisch is by Thomas Böhm and Benjamin Quabeck , who also directed. It was broadcast in 2018 parallel to the first broadcast of the TV series Babylon Berlin on public radio and published in the ARD media library . For the radio play series, Verena Guido composed music that was recorded by the WDR Funkhausorchester . Speakers are u. a. Ulrich Noethen , Peter Lohmeyer , Uwe Ochsenknecht , Reiner Schöne , Meret Becker , Udo Schenk , Ole Lagerpusch and Alice Dwyer . The eight-part radio play series was produced by Radio Bremen , WDR and rbb .

Sequels

In the series around Gereon Rath, six more novels and one novella have been published by October 2018 :

Web links

further reading

Regina Stürickow: Commissioner Gennat determined. The invention of the homicide squad. 2nd edition, Elsengold Verlag , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-944594-56-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The wet fish - radio play series. Retrieved October 2, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Jürgen Thorwald : The hour of the detectives. Becomes and worlds of criminology. Droemer Knaur, Zurich and Munich 1966, pp. 31–33.
  3. ↑ Jürgen Thorwald (1966), p. 33 f.
  4. ↑ Aschinger-Ausschänke at Potsdamer Platz
  5. ↑ Hardy Reich: The machinations of Dr. Schmincke. In: FAZ.NET . February 1, 2008, accessed November 7, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Volker Hage, Malte Herwig, Joachim Kronsbein, Romain Leick, Martin Wolf: The hour of the crime thriller . In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 2007, p. 154-157 ( Online - Aug. 20, 2007 ).
  7. ↑ Literature Prize Winner. Retrieved December 19, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Elmar Krekeler: 40 million for Tom Tykwer's television series. In: Welt Online. Die Welt, February 10, 2016, accessed on May 19, 2016 .
  9. ↑ The wet fish - the radio play about Babylon Berlin. In: ardmediathek.de. Retrieved November 7, 2018 .