Jacob the Liar

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The novel Jakob the Liar , published in 1969, is the best-known work by the writer Jurek Becker .

content

Narrative situation

The anonymous first-person narrator , born in 1921, is one of the few survivors of a nameless ghetto . (Becker grew up in the ghetto of Lodz - in World War II, also called Litzmannstadt -.. On The described Ghetto generally represents the example of a ghetto) He tells in 1967, to cope with his own past, after many failed attempts the first time the full story of his friend Jakob Heym, with whom he was in the ghetto at the same time. He describes the events from his own memory or on the basis of research, he fills information gaps with thoughts and "possible" events.

People, situations or places are presented alternately from a remembering first-person perspective and as a retelling of the various reports - often with a change to a personal narrative style and fictitious additions. So the narrator describes z. For example, what he thought himself when Herschel Schtamm risked his life by conveying the news of the rapid advance of the Russians to the deportees sitting on the train: “… I don't know why, but at this moment I am thinking of Chana [his dead women]". He also talks about the research he did after the war on the story of Jakob Heym. He also gives the reader two different endings because he doesn't like the truth (the ultimate deportation of the Jews from the ghetto), especially in the context of his story.

action

From an authorial narrative perspective, the novel "Jakob the Liar" mainly depicts the life of Jews in a ghetto during the last few weeks before its evacuation. First, however, the narrator explains his own situation and remembers “trees” that are important objects for him personally - trees are forbidden in the ghetto, his wife Chana died under a tree, etc.

The actual “story” begins with an incident in which the main character Jakob Heym is ordered by a guard to report to the Germans' station because he disregarded the curfew . There he learned from a radio that the Red Army had already advanced as far as the town of Bezanika and was released by the guard on duty, to whom he had to report. A ghetto inhabitant never came back after being in the precinct. Jacob was the first to be released.

Jakob works with a few other ghetto residents at a freight yard . When his work colleague Mischa wants to steal potatoes because of hunger, which are stored in a container at the train station, Jakob tries to stop him because he knows that Mischa could be discovered. At first Jakob tries to tell Mischa the truth, but Jakob doesn't pay any attention and remains determined to steal the potatoes. At the last moment Jakob stops him with the lie that he owns a radio. However, he only tells this lie because he thinks no one would believe him that he came out of the station safe. Mischa believes this lie and refrains from stealing the potatoes.

Although Jakob probably saved his friend's life with this white lie, he is at the same time taking an incalculable risk, because the possession of a radio is forbidden to Jews in the ghetto under penalty of death. Misha can't keep the news to herself. The news spreads among the workers in the morning, so that Jakob is approached by Kowalski, an old friend, over lunch.

In the evening Jakob visits Lina, an orphan whose parents were picked up by the Gestapo when, as the narrator suspects, she was playing in the backyard. Jakob, who takes care of her, decides to adopt her after the time in the ghetto. Lina suffers from whooping cough and is being treated by Prof. Kirschbaum, a cardiologist .

In his euphoria, Mischa also visits his girlfriend Rosa Frankfurter to share the good news with her and her family. In order to convince her skeptical parents, who have fallen into lethargy due to the hopeless situation in the ghetto , he proposes to Rosa and tells them that Jakob owns a radio and that the Russians have advanced to Bezanika. The news spreads like wildfire. Rosa's father Felix Frankfurter was an actor in a theater before the war. When he found out about the danger posed by Jakob's radio, he destroyed his own one that was kept in the basement for fear that the Germans might find it in a search.

The lie about the radio has advantages and disadvantages for Jakob himself. It is true that he is popular in the ghetto and he always has a strong companion to assist with the hard physical work; on the other hand, other residents, such as the pious Herschel Schtamm, consider the radio dangerous, as they suspect that the SS could find out about the radio and search the whole ghetto. Jakob always had to invent new information about the advance of the Russians, which he found very exhausting. He does this because he notices the effects of his lie; it becomes the central content and the life-determining hope of the ghetto residents. You begin to forget the present and to believe in a change of circumstances soon. They also think of a future outside the ghetto: "Old debts are beginning to matter", "Daughters are turning into brides" and "The suicide rate is falling to zero".

A power failure gives Jakob a short break, but after the power has been restored, he feels the pressure from the ghetto residents again to use his radio again. In order to get more, "real" information, Jakob steals a newspaper torn into toilet paper from a toilet that is reserved for German guards. Getting caught means certain death, and Jakob escapes only through a diversionary maneuver by his friend Kowalski. But the information content of the newspaper clippings is very poor. He decides to let his radio "die" and claims that his radio suddenly broke down. On the evening of the same day he is visited by Kowalski, who has been injured as a result of the diversionary maneuver. Jakob tries to avoid Kowalski's thirst for information, but Kowalski speaks directly to the radio. Lina overhears this conversation and learns about the radio; she urges to watch the radio.

While working at the loading station the next day, Herschel Schtamm hears voices from a wagon in which there are people who are apparently to be transported to an extermination camp . The otherwise fearful Schtamm goes to the car and gives the death row inmates hope of an allegedly imminent liberation. He is shot dead by a guard. "He wanted to carry hope and died from it." Jakob feels responsible for Schtamm's death because he led him to heroism with his "radio lie". When Jakob comes home, he catches Lina searching his room for the radio. The situation comes to a head when Kowalski persuades a radio mechanic to repair the radio. In this emergency, Jakob unceremoniously claims that the radio is back to normal and from now on begins to lie more generously in order to maintain the hopes of the ghetto residents.

But the lie about the radio begins to weigh more and more on Jakob. Jakob leads the curious Lina into the cellar to “show” her the radio - although she doesn't see it, she just hears it. Jakob stages an interview with Winston Churchill and tells the story of a sick princess. He later overhears Lina carelessly telling this story.

Prof. Kirschbaum visits Jakob and confronts him with the dangers of the radio. Jakob defends himself by pointing out the fact that since the radio has been on, no one in the ghetto has killed themselves. Kirschbaum is picked up a short time later so that he can treat Sturmbannführer Hardtloff, who lives idyllically outside the ghetto. Kirschbaum poisoned himself while driving so as not to have to help Hardtloff.

When Jakob, after the deportation of Rosa's parents, the defense against Rosa through Lina's lies and the deportation of Elisa Kirschbaum, Prof. Kirschbaum's sister, is mentally badly damaged and Kowalski confesses the radio lie, Kowalski hangs himself. Jacob becomes acutely aware of how much depends on its existence or failure. His conscience and the guilt for Kowalski's death motivate him to invent more lies and give hope.

When the residents of some streets in the ghetto are already being deported to extermination camps, the end of the camp is looming. The narrator offers two different endings:

In the “real” ending, which takes historical facts into account, Kowalski hangs himself and Jakob is deported together with the other residents of the ghetto. On the train, the narrator explains to Lina what clouds are made of, and in this way also approaches Jakob. The narrator, who is one of the few who will survive the war on this transport, suspects that this is one of the reasons Jacob told him his story. After the war, the narrator does some research into the story of Jacob and continues to tell it.

In contrast, in the "fictional" ending, Jakob is shot while trying to escape. At the same moment you can hear the guns of the Red Army roar. The ghetto will be liberated in time.

characters

Jakob Heym
is the protagonist . He is the inconspicuous, caring, at first conscientious and hopeful main character in the novel. He becomes a liar because he initially saves his friend Mischa by lying to him about owning a radio. Eventually, he must continue lying in order to preserve the hope his lie generated through fabricated radio news. Towards the end he admits the lie to Kowalski.
Kowalski
is a "former friend" of Jacob. He reappears in his life when he learns that Jakob has a radio. Before the war, when the National Socialists had not yet occupied Poland, they had made an agreement: Kowalski could eat for free in Jakobs hall and Jakob could come to Kowalski's barber shop for free. The "friendship" between the two is rather superficial, as mainly material interests are in the foreground. He is talkative and insidious, but saves Jacob's life as the plot progresses. He later hangs himself when he learns that the radio does not exist.
Lina
is an orphan whose parents were picked up by the Gestapo; she lives in the attic in Jacob's house. She is described as an intelligent, smart, curious, skeptical and mature eight year old girl.
Prof. Kirschbaum
is a professor and heart specialist. As a respected person, he also takes care of Lina by e.g. B. sacrifices his food stamps for them. He accuses Jakob of spreading false news in the ghetto, but also sees that the news brings hope to the people. One day he was asked to give medical treatment to the seriously ill German commander in chief of the ghetto, Hardtloff. While driving, he commits suicide by taking two pills that are said to be supposed to relieve heartburn.
Misha
is a young man and a former amateur boxer. He is Jacob's work colleague loading boxes at the train station. He betrays Jakob by saying that he has a radio. So he is the trigger for the white lie.
Rosa Frankfurter
is Misha’s girlfriend. She is a sensitive, simple, selfless girl.
Herschel Schtamm
is the twin brother of Roman. He is an Orthodox Jew who hides his long locks from the Germans every day with the help of a cap. Herschel Schtamm thinks the radio will bring bad luck to the ghetto. During the course of the novel, he is shot because he tries to pass the message on the "radio" to deportees in a carriage.
Roman Schtamm
is the older brother of Herschel. After Herschel was murdered, he made Jacob feel that he was to blame for his brother's death.

Place of the event

The story of Jacob takes place in a fictional ghetto in Poland, which is modeled on the numerous ghettos of Poland occupied by German troops . The name of the Polish city is not mentioned in the book, but the fact that many other place names mentioned in the book such as Bezanika, Mielworno, Pry or Kostawaka speak for a fictional ghetto are fictitious. Despite everything, the narrator also refers to historical facts such as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising . Since the Lodz ghetto plays an important role in Jurek Becker's biography, it seems reasonable to assume that the ghetto in the book was modeled on him, but clear references such as descriptions or names of places do not match those in Lodz.

Motifs

The tree motif

Trees can be found throughout the novel as a leitmotif . The narrator associates numerous memories with trees, e.g. B. that his career aspiration to become a violinist was prevented by falling from a tree, that he “became a man” under a tree and that his wife was shot under a tree. The motif of the tree, often with the meaning of life connotes is, is also in opposite way as symbol used for the death. As a design element, it links strands of time and action in a contrasting way, as there is a ban on trees in the ghetto, a place of death. At the end of the book, the narrator looks at the passing trees. Here trees stand for the hope that the terrible time will pass (winter → spring), but also for the naturalness that the ghetto lacks.

expenditure

A variety of editions exist. First edition was:

  • Jacob the Liar. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / GDR 1969.
  • Jacob the Liar. Novel. RM Buch und Medien, Rheda 2007. Series: Worth reading. With an insert by Anja Freckmann: Life and Work and Jakob the Liar, a true story.

Film adaptations

  • The novel was made into a film by Frank Beyer in 1974 ( DEFA in cooperation with the GDR television ) and - as the only GDR film - was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best foreign film (see Jakob the Liar (1974) ).
  • An American remake took place in 1999 with Robin Williams as Jakob and Armin Mueller-Stahl . The latter was already involved in the first film adaptation as Roman Schtamm. In the Hollywood film adaptation, the Nazis are portrayed as inherently evil, as is not the case in the book. The ending has also been changed. In the remake, Jakob Heym dies a martyr when he is shot by the Nazis. He does not withdraw his message from the Russians. (see Jacob the Liar (1999) )

Audio books

  • 2002: Publisher: Headroom Sound Production, radio play for children v. Georg Wieghaus
  • 2007: Publisher: der Hörverlag (abridged reading), read by Jurek Becker
  • 2016: Publisher: speak low , read by August Diehl

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jurek Becker: Jakob der Lügner , Suhrkamp: Frankfurt am Main (2004), p. 139
  2. ↑ Jacob the Liar , p. 163; 207-213
  3. ↑ This city has a fictional name.
  4. ↑ Jacob the Liar , p. 83
  5. ↑ Jacob the Liar , p. 140
  6. ↑ cf. Jacob the Liar , p. 246
  7. ↑ Jurek Becker: Jakob the Liar. Novel. Suhrkamp BasisBibliothek 15, Frankfurt a. M. 1999, first edition 2000: Commentary, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1999, p. 340.
  8. ↑ Jurek Becker: Jakob the Liar. Novel. Suhrkamp BasisBibliothek 15, Frankfurt a. M. 1999, first edition, 2000, p. 102.
  9. ↑ Jurek Becker: Jakob the Liar. Novel. Suhrkamp BasisBibliothek 15, Frankfurt a. M. 1999, first edition 2000: Commentary, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1999, p. 339.
  10. ↑ Supplement of 8 pages. Pp. 6-8 form an interpretation of the novel. Without ISBN, license Suhrkamp