Inflation (novel)

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Inflation is a novel by Ludwig Renn from 1963.

Subject of the plot

Ludwig Renn refers to the novels “ War ” and “ Post War ” as well as the autobiographical report “ Adel im Untergang ” in a sober and almost barren language with “inflation” and the problem of “social and economic chaos”. In this sense, inflation is actually not a novel, but rather a list of personal experiences in narrative form that are embedded in a significant phase of the life of the former Captain Wolf von Burg. So here we encounter a moral and economic picture of the inflation years 1922/23 . In the midst of this chaos, the former captain Wolf seeks to find the right way for orientation in the confusion of time.

content

“On a gloomy day in the autumn of 1922, the former captain Wolf von Burg, who studied law, economics and art history in Munich , arrived in Berlin on the Munich express train.” Starting with this work, the reader is introduced to the life of the Author. Because in old age Renn undertook again to trace his path, which led him from the aristocratic class through the horrific experience of the war and an uncertain post-war torn by disorientation and doubts to the realization of who was able to tame this economic chaos . But Wolf has to go through a series of detours before he comes to a certain basic position that will determine his future path in life. His mother lives in Berlin and has separated from his father because of his father's political dishonesty. “As soon as we met at a ball, your father, as I can see today, was mentally frozen. What he had raved about in his youth he had renounced, liberalism and freedom. I might have endured these ideas, which were completely alien to my father's house, but not his dishonesty. In theory he was progressive, but in practice he still clung to Bismarck , his blood and iron ... I found it unbearable to live with him ”, she confesses to her son when he visited Berlin. But even Wolf von Burg's mother cannot find the right path to survive in life, at least that's how he feels. His mother gives herself completely to the eccentric world of thought of a religious sect (Christian Science). Here the author meets an essential core of society in a state of chaos, how people try to find support and thus get caught in the deceptive tentacles of dubious associations and above all a dubious religion. And the media of his time did everything to smooth this wrong path for unstable citizens. "Another newspaper published a message from Timbuktu : A new sect has emerged in Africa that looks very similar to Christianity , only worships it ..." Such news distracts from the main events, and it should be. “... and Burg's father rushed in, a newspaper in hand. 'That's horrible! But you've read it yourself? The French shot thirteen workers at the Krupp factory ! ”Shaking his head, the young Wolf von Burg witnessed how his mother reacts to such news in view of her eccentric religious attitude. “'One should try to cultivate cheerful thoughts in oneself on a festival day. Hate creates hate, love creates love. '”The young von Wolf finds no support with his parents. His friend, the former captain von Selow, offers him the opportunity to join his business as a partner. Wolf agrees and takes a stake of ten thousand marks in the "Cura", a commission business that was originally founded to help impoverished aristocrats with tangible assets over the crisis-ridden years. Because the rapid fall of the mark threatens wealth. But “Cura” is not a serious company, Wolf von Burg soon realizes that. One trades in schnapps that have been illegally distilled by Russian emigrants . Selow also knows how to hide the real profits of society through an impenetrable network of financial manipulations and thus to manage significant sums in his own pocket. The questionability of one's own existence, the acquaintance with aristocratic sliders, including a Prince von Bernburg, Wolf von Burg comes to the conclusion: “We are adventurers.” This realization is accompanied by the increasing insight into the untenability of the political situation which in their confusion and uncertainty compete with the decline of economic life. In the end, he sees the causes of the whole misery. “The English were only dissatisfied because the French did not take part in the robbery. The only big country that doesn't ask anything of us is Bolshevik Russia , thought Burg. But the government of the major shipowner Cuno wants nothing to do with an alliance with Russia, in contrast to the policies of Bismarck and the Rathenau , which the nationalists murdered for it. Fear has been replaced, and he longs for a force that could restore an order in which a person can no longer enrich himself through the exploitation of man, and which would be able to counteract the apparent decline of morality. He does meet men in von Gloss, the owner of a shop for painting supplies, and in the blacksmith Kolga who sympathize with the Communist Party ; but he cannot join them. Despite his insight, he remains in the company of types who get rich while the masses of the people fall into need. He also accepts the brutal fight against those who rebel against this impoverishment of the people without resistance. On November 21, 1923, the Rentenmark was introduced, which meant that the "Cura" could no longer keep up with its fraudulent machinations. It is now easy for Wolf to separate himself from Selow and from the social relationships of this glamorous world of appearance. But there is still a long way to go before he will find a path of honesty and real freedom.

Bibliography

  • Ludwig Renn Inflation, Aufbau-Verlag Berlin 1963, license no. 301.120 / 237/63
  • Lexicon of German-speaking authors from the beginning to the present, VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig 1974, Volume II, order no. 5740715
  • Novel guides from A – Z, People and Knowledge - Volkseigener Verlag, Berlin 1974, Volume II / 2, pp. 236–237, license no. 203.1000 / 73 (E)