Start of the season

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The short story “ Start of the Season ” by Elisabeth Langgässer , which was published in “ Der Torso ” in 1947 , is about the anti-Semitism of the residents of a health resort, which is expressed by putting up a sign at the entrance to the village. The story can be assigned to the literary epoch of rubble literature . The story is mostly about finding a place that best shows off the sign. At the beginning of the story the spa town is described, which is located in the mountains. The whole village, which is making important preparations shortly before the start of the season, is preparing for the tourists who will soon arrive. Since the sign should serve as an eye-catcher for all vacationers in the spa, the workers ultimately decide to place the sign next to the wooden cross with Christ . While the workers put up the sign, school children who pass by help them. When the sign is up, nuns, women and men come by. Most of them don't care what it says on the sign, or they just enjoy it. At the end of the story there is the sign. All three workers look back with satisfaction at the sign that reads: "Jews are not wanted in this health resort".

Interpretative approach

The story mainly describes only the setting up of the sign, but the focus is on the reactions of the residents of the spa; it is these who do not object to the workers putting up the sign.

Elisabeth Langgässer describes the health resort in an exaggeratedly beautiful way, so that this emphasizes the contrast to the “ugliness” of the sign and its implications. An internal contradiction also arises from the fact that on the one hand the health resort should be open to "everyone", on the other hand Jews are now undesirable.

The message of the shield is problematized even more deeply, since the workers want to set it up right next to a Christ cross. Jesus is pinned to this crucifix, above it the inscription JNRJ , which means "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" in German. Paradoxically, for reasons of space, the workers have to set up the sign in such a way that the cross comes to stand outside the health resort, where Jews are not welcome: at the same time, it is pointedly clear that Christianity with its doctrine of charity and humanity has no place has more in places where certain groups of people are considered undesirable.

In addition, the author makes many biblical references in her story, for example with the following passage: "... reloaded the post on their shoulders", Jesus also carried the cross (= post) on his shoulders. Another obvious reference is the fact that none of the parties involved do anything against the erection of the cross. So they don't really know what kind of paradox they are allowing: A sign that forbids Jews to enter the village, right next to the "King of the Jews". A reference is made to Luke 23:34, in which it says: "Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing"

The motive of hostility towards Jews

The focus of this story is on people's reactions to the shield and on their hostility to Jews . After all, the sign right at the beginning of the place should be a symbol for the people. However, there is a sentence hostile to Jews on this sign, but instead of saying something against it, the residents ignore it, go on unsettled or laugh at it. In the short story, parallels can be drawn with the life of Elisabeth Langgässer, as she was “ half-Jewish ” and her daughter was Jewish. Langgässer criticized the hypocritical double standards of the residents of the village, who want to present themselves to the outside world as good Christian people, but at the same time discriminate against Jews.

literature

  • P. Dormagen: Modern storytellers 2 . Paderborn 1958.
  • Axel Vieregg, in: Classic German short stories. Interpretations . Edited by Werner Bellmann . Reclam, Stuttgart 2004. pp. 28-38.