Note 45

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In the 1961 published literary journal Notabene 45 describes Erich Kastner his experiences in the collapsing Third Reich at the end of World War II .

The report, based on diary notes, begins on February 7, 1945 shortly before the devastating bomb attack on Dresden , Kästner's birthplace. In Berlin , some film people tried to break away from the burning capital. Under the pretext of wanting to produce the film The Lost Face , a group of over 100 actors, cameramen, sound technicians, etc. traveled to Mayrhofen in Tyrol . There was also Erich Kästner, the alleged screenwriter, whom friends had subsequently smuggled onto the list of participants. The Propaganda Ministry , which initially rejected this project, was elegantly outmaneuvered with a hint that this film was intended for the imminent final victory . The fact that there was no longer any film material was generously overlooked. The report ends on August 2, 1945, shortly before the founding of the cabaret Die Schaubude , for which Kästner provided texts.

Although Erich Kaestner from the Nazi regime with a ban on writing shows its been burned previously published books in 1933 and he several times by the Gestapo had been interrogated, Notabene 45 is not to be understood solely as a settlement with the hated regime. With biting irony, he comments on the everyday madness, for example the bureaucracy , which worked tirelessly to the end , which in the midst of general signs of disintegration demanded correctly completed forms in eight copies. He also names misdeeds of the Allied troops in the final phase of the war (see Sexual violence in World War II , Soviet war crimes in World War II ) and as occupiers, for example rape. In spite of a sarcasm flowing in again and again, most of the events are portrayed in a neutral and neutral manner; Note 45 can certainly be considered a testimony to the times.

Contents of the book were reissued under the title The Blue Book as a war diary with novel notes in 2006.

In 1986 Heinrich Breloer implemented Kästner's notes as a television documentary under the title The Lost Face . On the other hand, one can only speculate about a connection to the film drama The Lost Face by Kurt Hoffmann from 1948.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tilman Spreckelsen: News from barbarism. In: FAZ.net . July 7, 2006, accessed September 9, 2016 .
  2. ^ Notes by an asphalt writer. In: deutschlandradiokultur.de. October 16, 2012, accessed September 9, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Notabene Mayrhofen. In: literaturportal-bayern.de. April 6, 2016, accessed September 9, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Review - Erich Kästner: "Notabene 45 - Ein Tagebuch". In: Kulturbuchtipps.de. August 2, 2016, accessed September 9, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Erich Kästner: "Notabene 45". In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 , 1961 ( online ).
  6. ^ Ingo Tornow: Erich Kästner and the film . dtv, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-423-12611-6 , p. 11.