The voices of the night

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The Voices of the Night is an alternative historical novel by the writer Thomas Ziegler published by Ullstein-Verlag in 1984 .

Awards

In 1984 the book received the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis in the category of best story . In 1993 a revised and expanded version of the book was published under the title Voices of the Night . This version received the Kurd-Laßwitz Prize in 1994 in the Best Novel category .

content

action

The American ex-television star Jakob Gulf has been widowed for four years. Nevertheless, his wife is constantly in his ears and annoys him immensely. While she was still alive, she made sure that Gulf was harassed by so-called burdock: tiny, invisible machines that swirl around him like flies and text his wife's tirades. Gulf is troubled by the fact that the memories of the small devices are sometimes empty - that is, they have no text at all. Nevertheless, the verbal attacks continue unabated, so that Gulf begins to believe that his wife is speaking to him directly from the afterlife.

Because of these strange circumstances, the US secret service considers Gulf to be an expert in burdock matters and sends him to Germany: There, the voices of the dead can also be heard, in Cologne Cathedral. It's the voices of Hitler and other Nazi greats. Gulf is kidnapped by the werewolf organization, which wants to protect the words of the Führer, and freed again by the allies. From them he learns that burrs are now whispering in the voice of John F. Kennedy in Dallas . When he fled from the attack by the Nazis, the voices from the cathedral followed him. Now he has become interesting for the remaining Nazi greats living in Latin America - Bormann , Mengele and others - and they kidnap him to the Andes before, listening to the voices of the burdock, they start a nuclear war against the USA.

background

The historical course in "Voices of the Night" corresponds, as far as it is discussed in the book, to the historical facts until the end of 1944. The important difference is that the USA developed the atomic bomb completely before Germany's surrender and thus enforced it by dropping it on Berlin in February 1945. Hitler dies in the Führerbunker. Martin Bormann and other Nazi giants survive and are only partially arrested by the Allies.

After the end of the war, the Morgenthau Plan came into force. Germany's industrial plants are being dismantled and brought to Poland, the USSR and the newly founded Israel, among other places. Germany does not receive any reconstruction aid; most big cities remain ruins. So that the population, which Germany, now again an agricultural state, cannot feed, does not starve to death, a total of 20 million Germans, including numerous well-trained engineers, scientists and industrialists, decide to emigrate to South America. The Allies provide help by making the so-called "Great Exodus" possible with ships . Among the migrants are, for example, Krupp , Thyssen and Wernher von Braun . The ODESSA , whose historical existence is controversial, is actually founded in the novel and enables Klaus Barbie , among others, to escape to South America.

Japan, also defeated, was divided into a democratic south and a socialist north controlled by the USSR. This produces cheap toys and exports them all over the world.

The arrival of German emigrants in South America triggers an economic miracle there. As a result, the Germans took control of all South American states and founded "German America". They are building a cosmodrome, developing modern weapon systems, including the atom bomb, and designing their state based on the model of Nazi Germany. The Nazis also produce large quantities of cocaine. Bormann becomes head of state as "Reichsleiter" and lives in a bunker in the Andes. The capital Germania is founded in Brazil . German America eventually rises to become a great power.

In Europe, the loss of Germany as an economic powerhouse is causing the economic decline of France and the Benelux countries. German partisans regularly attack Western European inland vessels and have founded the “New Waffen SS” as an armed arm in the fight against the Western powers.

Science fiction elements

In addition to the alternative historical components, there are tiny robots (developed by the fictional "IG Robot") that the Nazis sent as spies across the US-Mexican border as elements that can be assigned to science fiction. There is also a ceramic surfboard with which you can surf on the atmosphere. When using this surfboard, the protagonist's wife dies before the narrative begins.

expenditure

  • Thomas Ziegler: The Voices of the Night , Ullstein 1984, ISBN 3-548-31078-8 (original edition)
  • Thomas Ziegler: Voices of the Night , Heyne 1993, ISBN 3-453-06628-6 (revised and expanded version)
  • Thomas Ziegler: Voices of the Night , Golkonda Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3-94472-043-2 (revised new edition)

Web links

  • Review at scifiction.de, accessed on April 15, 2012