The Oppermann siblings

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Die Geschwister Oppermann is a time novel by Lion Feuchtwanger from 1933, which, together with the novels Success and Exile, is part of Feuchtwanger's “Waiting Room Trilogy”.

The first two editions of the novel appeared in 1933 and 1935 under the title Die Geschwister Oppenheim . A German National Socialist by the name of Oppermann had forced a name change while it was going to press through threats against his brother Feuchtwanger, who was still living in Germany. Later editions then bore the originally intended title.

The novel tells the story of the Jewish siblings Oppermann, Gustav, Martin, Edgar and Klara, and their families in 1932 and 1933 against the backdrop of the Nazis' seizure of power in Germany. The attitude of the characters in the novel also reflects Feuchtwanger's deception about the Nazis' chances of seizing power in Germany; Feuchtwanger himself had long assumed that the National Socialist movement would fail and in December 1932 announced the political end of Hitler in an interview ( Hitler is over ).

Table of contents

First book: yesterday

The events from November 16 to December 31, 1932 affect the members of the Jewish Oppermann family in a broad sense; they are forced to cope with the growing anti-Semitism and the strengthening of the Nazi movement .

Dr. Gustav Oppermann celebrates his 50th birthday on November 16; he has withdrawn from the business of the furniture company Oppermann. His brother Martin gives him a portrait of his grandfather and company founder Immanuel Oppermann; in contrast to his life the present bad situation of the Jews becomes clear. Professor Mühlheim had difficulty getting Gustav to invest 200,000 marks abroad safely; Gustav is more concerned with his Lessing biography and also his girlfriend Sybil (30) and is happy with his life and his beautiful house in Grunewald .

His brother Martin Oppermann (48) runs the business; he plans to run two branches under the harmless name of "Deutsche Möbelwerke" as an AG in order to lose the odium of the Jewish; He is therefore also considering a merger with a German competitor. His son Berthold (UI) has problems at school with the new nationalist class teacher Dr. Vogelsang; he pushes the subject "Hermann the German ..." on him and interrupts his lecture because he allegedly insulted the importance of the German hero Hermann. This conflict preoccupies both the headmaster François and several members of the family: Should Berthold apologize or not? Vogelsang recruited two boys for the Nazi organization "Junge Adler" at the UI. The famous doctor Prof. Edgar Oppermann (46) has the problem that he does not get his Jewish assistant Jacoby promoted to his deputy; he himself is publicly molested in the press (meaning “Jew sheds Christian blood”) and does not know whether he should take legal action against it.

The brother-in-law Jacques Lavendel and his children play a role primarily as Berthold's interlocutors. Only in the Lavendel family can one recognize a serious danger under National Socialism, the Oppermanns estimate the situation to be more favorable. "People smiled at the fact that the domesticated domestic animal, the petty bourgeois, threatened to return to their wolfish nature." (P. 41)

The Jewish salesman Wolfsohn works successfully at Oppermann; Anti-Semitism penetrates into his life partly through some customers who do not want to be served by Jews, but more strongly through his National Socialist neighbor Zarnke, who would like to have Wolfsohn's apartment for relatives. During a visit to his brother-in-law Ehrenreich for the Hanukkah festival, anti-Semitic incidents and the need to emigrate are discussed.

In an interview with Vogelsang, François criticizes the bad German in “ Mein Kampf ” and does not want this book to be quoted in his school; even when he visits his friend Gustav Oppermann, the subject is this miserable book and the lies of the " Protocols of the Elders of Zion ", numerous editions of which are in his library.

The events mainly take place in mid-November and then between Christmas and New Year's Eve 1932. On December 31, Gustav learns of an attack on his servant's brother-in-law who, according to his testimony, had been beaten up by the Nazis in a Nazi trial and is now dying; Despite his testimony and that of other witnesses, the Nazis were acquitted as usual “for self-defense ”. Gustav and François are nevertheless confident that the majority of Germans are good and decent.

In contrast, the narrator reports as the last sentence that Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933 .

Second book: Today

The events told in this part take place from the beginning of February to March 1, 1933, i.e. between the seizure of power on January 30 and the Reichstag election on March 5. The distress of the furniture company Oppermann and the student Berthold are striking; but also the other members of the family and the salesman Wolfsohn experience increasing isolation.

At the beginning of February Gustav still opposed the partnership with Wels, even if only the parent company was not affiliated with the “Deutsche Möbelwerke” company. When Gustav signed an appeal against the increasing barbarization of public life, he was attacked in the press and reprimanded by the lawyer Mühlheim; even François no longer dares to buy publicly from Oppermann.

Berthold's classmate Rittersteg deliberately stabs the editor Kasper to death for an essay critical of the leadership, portrays the act as self-defense and is celebrated as a hero by the Nazi press; he agitates against Berthold, but cannot win Heinrich Lavender's friendship. Berthold's problem with Vogelsang continues to ferment unresolved - François consoles him with a reference to Lessing's letter of December 31, 1777.

Edgar Oppermann initially defends himself against complaining about inflammatory articles about “Jewish ritual murders”; when a patient riot in the clinic and Edgar then wants to sue, Mühlheim advises against it. His assistant Jacoby can no longer be promoted, Edgar waives a lawsuit.

When the company was increasingly defamed in public, Martin had to negotiate personally with Wels about a merger of the companies; He is humiliated by Wels, but reaches good financial conditions. The Oppermann brothers lose their confidence more and more.

Berthold is expelled from the football club; when a newspaper article publicly attacks François and his grammar school because of Berthold's lecture, François becomes meek; Vogelsang demands Berthold's apology or dismissal by March 1st. His uncle Ranzow, who himself has difficulties keeping his Jewish officials, advises Berthold to withdraw; his cousin tries to persuade him to emigrate to Palestine . On the advice of his cousin Heinrich Lavendel and his parents, he wrote a letter to François on February 26, saying that he would atone on March 1st.

On the night of February 28, Mühlheim informed Gustav that the Reichstag was on fire and urged him to leave immediately for his own safety; Sybil refuses to ride out of consideration for her work. Gustav transfers Dr. Frischlin, who now only works for him, takes care of the house and gets on the train that evening.

On the same evening Berthold reads at the “ Michael Kohlhaas ”. Despite his promise to withdraw the next morning, he confirms the manuscript of his lecture again and quotes Heinrich von Kleist : “Better to be a dog than a person if I am to be kicked off my feet.” On the night of March 1st he poisons himself with sleeping pills.

Third book: tomorrow

The last book tells the fate of the people who are already known from the end of March 1933 to the summer of 1933; Finally, the focus is on Gustav Oppermann and his death.

Gustav stayed in Bern after leaving the country and settled accounts with himself. He reads about the devastation in Germany in the newspapers. Frischlin comes and reports how the terror is organized in a military and bureaucratic way.

On April 1, 1933, despite the boycott of the Jews , Edgar went to the clinic to operate on a sick person himself; the Jewish doctors are chased away, Oppermann is temporarily exempted.

Liselotte remembers Berthold's death; Martin drives to the company despite the boycott. He has to pay a fee to the Nazis for putting up anti-Jewish posters. The next night Martin is picked up and harassed with others in the basement; in the early morning he is released for a fee of 2 marks (for room and board).

Gustav is expecting his childhood friend Johannes Cohen, a philosophy professor, to visit him in Lugano ; But he's not coming, he's been taken to the concentration camp . A friend of Frischlin's, Dr. Bilfinger, informs Gustav about cases of persecution in Swabian; he hands him a detailed report. Gustav allows his friend, the writer Gutwetter, to use his library; When Gustav refuses Sybil's offer to visit him, she completely agrees with Gutwetter. This is courted by the new masters and is happy about it.

Vogelsang enforces that Rittersteg is transferred to the OI despite twice 6; he offers François a hangover in case he backs down in his assessment of “ Mein Kampf ”. He refuses and is prepared for his dismissal - Vogelsang goes to the personnel department of the Ministry of Culture in Berlin. Jacques Lavendel is liquidating his business to leave Germany; Heinrich ambushes Rittersteg in the forest after a boat trip, but is unable to kill him.

Frau Wolfsohn urges her husband, who has been released, to emigrate ; he hesitates and is then picked up at night. He is accused of having set fire to the Reichstag; but he has an alibi for the night of February 28th. He is released and continues his journey to Palestine; the annoying and rowdy Nazi neighbor Zarnke, who was after his apartment, was sent to the concentration camp.

On April 11, Nisan 14 , Passover is celebrated over lavender on Lake Lugano ; for the last time the Oppermanns are together, the story of the Oppermanns is over.

Indefinitely later Gustav meets Anna, an alternative to Sybil, in Bandol / Provence ; they set up a house, Anna has not noticed Gustav's distress and harassment in Germany. She defends the national revolution. When a newspaper reported Cohen's “Suicide in a concentration camp”, Anna saw the reality in Germany. She goes back in summer.

Gustav meets Georg Treibschitz; they do a lot together and become more like each other. He gives Treibschitz money for a house and gets his passport in return. In Zurich he meets Heinrich and his friend Tuverlin; he explains in vain that it is not worth dying for an idea. Gustav sends his things to Lavender and returns to Germany in the early summer of 1933; he wants to open people's eyes.

He realizes that the common people's problem is not Nazi rule but their own misery. He runs into Dr. Frischlin; he absolutely wants to send him abroad again, Gustav is practicing reading book heroism. Frischlin belongs to the underground KP, which Treibschitz was also a member. In a pub, Gustav railed against the Nazis with a few others, and they were about to be arrested.

He comes to the Moosach concentration camp: work, gymnastics and harassment, scarce food. Because of the saying "meanness comes before selfishness" of a confused comrade, he comes into the bunker with others; he regrets his return to Germany. He is "interrogated" and breaks.

Frischlin informs Mühlheim about Gustav's situation. He switched on Sybil and Lavender to free Mr. “Triebschitz”. Sybil arrives at Moosach and sees how the prisoners have to pull a steam roller; Gustav does not initially recognize them among them because he is so marked by the concentration camp.

When Gustav is released, Lavender takes him to a sanatorium . After six weeks he dies of a weak heart. Two weeks later, Lavender receives the estate, with a report by Frischlin of his last conversation with Gustav about the question of whether his life had any meaning. Gustav also wrote a report on the Moosach concentration camp. Also enclosed is Gustav's old card, addressed to Lavendel, on which a Talmudic saying is written: "We are instructed to work on the work, but we are not given to complete it."

This saying can be used as the motto of the whole novel; it is not only the motto of the third book, but can also be found at the beginning and at the end (pp. 36, 357, edition as Fischer-Taschenbuch 1981) and two more times (pp. 268, 301) and is also used with the Passover - Hope associated with the ultimate liberation of the oppressed Jews (p. 301).

reception

  • The most effective, most widely read narrative representation of the German calamity. Klaus Mann
  • A passionate and exciting book, designed to shake up everyone who is still indifferent to the events in Germany. The Spectator (magazine) 1933

expenditure

  • The Oppenheim siblings. Novel. Querido, Amsterdam 1933.
  • English edition: The Oppermanns. Secker, London 1933.
  • Spanish edition: Los hermanos Oppermann . Alianza Editorial, Madrid 2002. Translated by Carlos Fortea.
  • Collected works in individual editions Vol. 7: Aufbau, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-351-02207-7
  • Paperback: 8th edition. Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-7466-5630-4
  • Audiobook: The Oppermann siblings. 6 CDs. Directed by Marlene Breuer. With Michael Degen . Processing Mechtild Schnell (HR2 culture). DAV, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89813-804-8

Film adaptations

literature

  • Heike Krösche: “Yes. The whole thing again “Lion Feuchtwanger: German-Jewish self-image in the Weimar Republic. Oldenburg contributions to Jewish studies 13. Oldenburg 2004, ISBN 3-8142-0827-7 , online: [1]
  • Peter Thalheim: Lion Feuchtwanger, the Oppermann siblings. Interpretation. Oldenbourg, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-486-88667-3

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Post-commentary by Gisela Lüttig in the paperback edition by Aufbau-Verlag ( ISBN 978-3-7466-5630-4 )