Anyway

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In any case , a novel by the Israeli - Austrian author Doron Rabinovici was published in 2004 .

The novel is set in Vienna in 1995, in particular around the Vienna Naschmarkt and in a total of ten chapters deals with, among other things, dealing with memory, the Nazi past, foreignness, migration , right-wing extremism in Austria and Jewish life in Vienna . The protagonist is the neurologist Stefan Sandtner.

action

First chapter

On a weekend in August 1995, the hospital and neurologist Stefan Sandtner, who was struggling with his failed liaison with his colleague Sonja Kramar and was unable to progress with his scientific study, received a call from his friend, a Jewish businessman , in his Garçonnière in Vienna's 4th district and art collector Paul Guttmann. A mutual old acquaintance, the retired doctor Dr. Herbert Kerber, has lost short-term memory . Stefan goes to Kerber's apartment in Lehárgasse. On the way he meets his friends Sophie Wiesen, Lew Feininger, Tom Wandruschka and Patrique Mutabo at the Naschmarkt. At this meeting, Stefan gets to know Flora Dema, who arouses great interest in him. During his visit, Stefan met Herbert Kerber, a former SS member, in great confusion. Kerber thinks he is in 1945, shortly before the end of the war . He wants to hide from the Russians in his apartment so that he can later find his way to his wife Franziska in Salzburg . Stefan recognizes Kerber as a war criminal of the Nazi regime .

second chapter

Stefan Sandtner and Paul Guttmann discuss the question of how best to deal with Kerber. Stefan diagnosed Kerber with Korsakov's syndrome . His idea of ​​extraditing Kerber to justice for possible crimes was rejected by Guttmann, who was confronted with anti-Jewish resentment in the post-war period. Later on, Stefan meets the video artist Flora from Belgrade again in his circle of friends on the Naschmarkt . The first hug comes.

third chapter

After a dispute with his ex-girlfriend Sonja in the clinic, his superior, Professor Kahlbauer, advises him to take a longer vacation break. Stefan agrees and goes back to Herbert Kerber's apartment in the evening, where he meets his adult children, Bärbel and Hans. Bärbel sees her father's illness as a punishment for his life's lie, but agrees to look after him and give him the medication prescribed by Stefan. Then Stefan visits Sonja. He discovers that Sonja has a relationship with Prof. Kahlbauer.

Chapter Four

Tom Wandruschka and Flora Dema present their film work at the Film Academy in Metternichgasse. Flora lets her cameraman Goran Bošković film her pretending to be a migrant in need. The film documents the mostly rejecting attitude of the passers-by she addressed. In the Café Prückel , the circle of friends then speaks about Flora's film work. Goran, Flora's cameraman, a traumatized Serb deserter from the Yugoslav Wars , accuses Flora of neglecting her artistic principles in her real life. After a drink together, Flora stays with Stefan's house. Two days later, Stefan accompanies Lew to Bärnberg near Grundl in Upper Austria . Lew is supposed to give an inauguration speech for a newly erected memorial in memory of Jews murdered here. In his speech, Lew addresses the fact that there is a memorial in the neighboring community on which the Waffen SS is glorified. The local authorities react with a cold, the local press later speaks of Lew's "hate speech".

Fifth chapter

Stefan enjoys his love for Flora and resolves to continue working on his scientific study while on vacation. During a visit to Herbert Kerber, who sleeps a lot under the influence of the medication, he gets into an argument with Bärbel: He accuses her of simply wanting him to make her father “available for hearing” so that she can tell the truth can experience its misdeeds. In return, she accuses him of using her father as a guinea pig for his scientific research. Bärbel then accompanies Stefan to the Café Museum , where they meet Lew Feininger. Since Lew is Jewish, Bärbel sees this encounter as a special occasion: As children of perpetrators and victims of Nazi crimes, they both have a special commonality. Lew brusquely rejects this view. Back at home, Bärbel prepares an "interrogation room" for her father, in which nothing should remind of the present. In the next few days, Stefan takes out Flora. However, she resolves to make her lover aware of her difficult situation as a migrant from the former Yugoslavia . Soon she would be expelled from the country.

Sixth chapter

Bärbel tries to track down the father's crimes. Herbert Kerber cannot recognize his daughter, which is why she pretends to be close relatives for interviews in the adapted room in her father's apartment. When asked about his crimes, she arouses his anger so much that he attacks her and puts her in serious danger. Thereupon she changes her strategy, gets old props and pretends to be a Nazi party member in the underground, on one occasion as an employee of the Allied military authorities. But her attempts to elicit an admission of guilt from her father fail. Finally she is caught during an "interrogation" by her brother Hans and Stefan. Both reject their approach, Stefan for medical reasons, Hans because he wants to let the matter of the father's past rest. Flora and Goran are later stopped by the police while they are filming on Mariahilfer Strasse . Goran loses his job. Flora still hopes Stefan would ask her about her situation.

Seventh chapter

At a meeting with Stefan in Café Bräunerhof, Hans expresses the suspicion that the father could possibly simulate his illness in order to protect himself from prosecution. When buying a painting at auction at Dorotheum, Paul Guttmann experienced the callousness of an art expert who had to fear that a Jewish Holocaust survivor could still be the rightful owner of the painting. The action is dedicated to the family history of Patrique Mutabo and the two Naschmarkt merchant families Ertekin and Alexandrus. A love affair is developing between Stefan's friend, Theo Alexandrus, of Greek descent, and Şirin Ertekin, of Turkish descent. At this time, Franz Fuchs' series of letter bombs rocked the country, and the National Council election was imminent. Lew Feininger, who has a relationship with Sophie and interviews Holocaust survivors for his film work, experiences a statement from a right-wing politician during a panel discussion: “Gas chambers? [...] I believe everything that is dogmatically prescribed. "

Eighth chapter

Stefan immerses himself in the atmosphere of the Naschmarkt, to which Georgius Alexandrus, the father of Theos, introduces him. Şirin is pregnant by Theo, her father and brother reproach her during a discussion with the family and speak of shame. When Theo suddenly appears, the situation almost escalates. But Şirin's mother Yelda ends the discussion with her threat to her husband to leave him. So the father finally agrees to Şirin's relationship with Theo. Stefan is planning a romantic evening with Flora in his apartment. But the evening together is interrupted by a phone call from the Kerber children and Stefan rushes to Herbert Kerber's apartment with Flora. The old man is talking weird things, his condition has worsened. Kerber thinks he recognizes his former lover Lilly in Flora, who has apparently been a victim of Nazi persecution. His apologetic: “I couldn't help it” and the subsequent attempts to appease Barbel and Stefan's bring Flora into a rage. She leaves the apartment and accuses Bärbel and Stefan of not understanding anything. It turns out that the children gave their father an overdose of the prescribed drug.

Chapter ninth

Tom Wandruschka meets with the police officer Wolf Haumer, whom he has included in his film project, in a pub . Tom says his intervention recently prevented Flora's arrest on Mariahilfer Strasse. Stefan goes to the Ministry of the Interior to obtain a residence permit for Flora. There he meets Section Head Hermann Kratochvil, an old friend of the Sandtner family. Stefan promises to stand up for Flora and Goran. On the same day, the two of them were arrested by the Aliens Police in front of the film academy in the presence of Wolf Haumer. Lew's relationship with Sophie is over, Stefan wants to rent a larger apartment for himself and Flora. She has not contacted him since the joint visit to the Kerber apartment. At a party held by students from the Film Academy in a suburban palace, Stefan meets Sophie. She accuses him of "forgetting" about Flora and of never finding out about her real living conditions. After a night of partying, Stefan has an embarrassing encounter with Prof. Kahlbauer in a grocery store the next morning. Suddenly, Kahlbauer doesn't want to know anything about giving Stefan a longer vacation, but he hasn't appeared on duty for a long time. Stefan could no longer take up his position, and his research project would be continued by another employee. Kahlbauer cancels a later meeting. Flora calls Stefan, the two meet at the Amacord café. It turns out that Flora, contrary to Stefan's assumption, is not an “illegal”. She has a regular residence permit that expires at the end of the year. Flora accuses Stefan of not being interested in her and her situation and ends the relationship with a reference to the arrested Goran. Flora accepts an offer to work as an artist in Paris .

Chapter ten

It is winter. Stefan Sandtner mostly stays in his apartment and tries to get his scientific work going again. After an intrigue by a work colleague, Sonja's relationship with Prof. Kahlbauer is over. Since Flora left the country, her work has been praised everywhere. Kratochvil is concerned that Flora might cause him trouble. Herbert Kerber's condition improved enormously, and Guttmann decided to visit his family in Israel . Suddenly Herbert Kerber is feeling very bad again. Stefan convicts Hans of giving his father an overdose. Hans worries that his father's story might come to light, which would worsen his prospects for a position in a ministry. Ultimately, Stefan orders that the Kerber children have to have their father sent to a neurological institution. Hans tries to persuade Stefan to keep his father in the apartment. He had a friend in the ministry who could get Stefan back into his hospital position. Stefan refuses and goes home.

literature

  • Doron Rabinovici: Anyway . 1st edition, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2004. ISBN 3-518-41604-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The place name is fictional
  2. ↑ A quote from the statement made by FPÖ politician John Gudenus in 1995, cf. the collection of quotes on the website of the documentation archive. ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / doewweb01.doew.at

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