Moabit (story)
Moabit is a story by Volker Kutscher with illustrations by Kat Menschik . The 2017 Galiani Verlag book published is a prequel below on the detective novels by the investigators Gereon Rath, the basis for the crime - series Babylon Berlin serve. On 88 pages, Moabit tells an episode from the life of Charlotte Ritter, who later became a stenographer for the murder inspection under Ernst Gennat and, after completing her law degree, was a commissioner candidate for the Berlin Female Criminal Police on Alexanderplatz. The events described are in the tapeMarlow. The seventh Rath novel was taken up.
content
action
Berlin 1927. Adolf Winkler, known as “ der Schränker ”, head of the Berlin ring club Berolina , is waiting in prison for his release in two weeks. He gets a visit from his deputy Lenz, called Roter Hugo , of whom he doesn't think much. On the way back to his cell, he is suddenly attacked and almost killed by Bruck, a fellow inmate. At the last moment, supervisor Christian Ritter can intervene and thus save Winkler's life.
Ritter, on the other hand, is only there by chance, he's already finished work and has only come back to fetch a typewriter, which he gives his daughter Charlotte, known as Lotte , for exercises in the evening. Charlotte wants to study law and needs a job as a typist to earn money. Her family is not wealthy, she lives with her parents in an official apartment on Lehrter Strasse right next to the prison. Together with her rich friend Greta, by whom she is called Charly and not Lotte , she enjoys the Berlin nightlife to the fullest, but has a guilty conscience towards her parents.
A guilty conscience also plagues Charlotte's father, because since the incident in prison, in which he could only separate Bruck from Winkler with a hard hit on the head, Bruck has been in a coma. Winkler, on the other hand, wonders who could have put the inmate on him. When Bruck dies, Winkler is suspected to be the culprit for a short time, but this suspicion is not confirmed. Ritter is informed of Bruck's death by Commissioner Wilhelm Böhm. There is also Charlotte, who listens with interest and tells Böhm that she wants to study law and is looking for a job as a typist.
Back in freedom, Winkler is given a solemn reception by his ring brothers. Also present is a certain Johann Marlow, accompanied by his Chinese bodyguard. Marlow suggests Winkler enter the drug business, but Winkler vehemently rejects this.
Some time later, Winkler received a letter, apparently from Oberaufseher Ritter, in which he proposed a meeting because he had information about Bruck's men behind it. At the same time, Ritter also receives a letter, the sender seems to be Winkler, who also suggests a meeting at which he would like to thank Ritter for saving his life. However, it turns out to be a trap apparently set by Marlow and Lenz. The restaurant in Wedding is blown up by a gas explosion, in which Winkler and Ritter are killed.
In the meantime, Charlotte has been to Inspector Böhm to tell him an observation in connection with Bruck's death. However, he died of natural causes. Böhm offers her a job as a shorthand typist , which she accepts. The death of her father finally reassures Charlotte to go to the homicide squad.
people
Adolf Winkler
Adolf Winkler is the boss of the Berlin ring club Berolina . He is sitting in the Moabite prison waiting to be released.
Christian Knight
He is the father of Charlotte Ritter and a supervisor in the Moabit prison.
Charlotte Ritter
She is the 19-year-old daughter of Christian Ritter who wants to study and is looking for a job as a typist.
shape
The story is divided into three sections and depicts an event from three different perspectives. The first section is an inner monologue by Adolf Winkler, which addresses itself from the you perspective. The second section is a first- person narration from the perspective of Christian Ritter, the third section is personal from the perspective of Charlotte Ritter.
The time told is a period of several weeks, with time jumps and flashbacks being used. The plot of the three sections does not coincide, but rather begins anachronically at different times.
radio play
A radio play based on the story was created in 2018 as a co-production by Radio Bremen , Südwestrundfunk and Westdeutschem Rundfunk . Directed by Thomas Leutzbach , the leading roles can be heard from Marleen Lohse as Charlotte Ritter, Arved Birnbaum as Adolf Winkler and Robert Gallinowski as Christian Ritter. The first broadcast date was October 20, 2018 on WDR 3 .
reception
The reviews of Moabit were mostly positive. Axel Knönagel from Berliner Morgenpost thinks that the story adds "a successful facet to the Gereon-Rath series, especially through the feeling for the living conditions of the people at that time." Some reviewers refer to the illustrations rather than the plot, according to Jens Bisky in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , because “next to the gorgeous illustrations and the compositional effort ... the events and characters fade. They seem depressingly mysterious, calculated down to the last detail, more types than characters. "
expenditure
- Hardcover: Moabit . With illustrations by Kat Menschik. Illustrated book series, Galiani , Berlin / Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-86971-155-3 .
- Audiobook: Moabit . Read by Karoline Herfurth , Marc Hosemann , David Nathan . Argon , Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-83981-596-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of the radio play on the WDR website , accessed on January 3, 2019
- ↑ Axel Knönagel: “Moabit” tells what happened before Kutscher's Berlin series , Berliner Morgenpost , October 20, 2017, accessed on January 3, 2019
- ↑ Jens Bisky : Alles tanzt , sueddeutsche.de , November 15, 2017, accessed on January 3, 2019