Books by Hans Fallada
“This is a novel that deals with the harsh realities of ordinary people’s lives after 1929. At the same time, the novel also has some positive things to say about the Weimar Republic, in the sense that Pinneberg is surprisingly complimentary about the institutional social safety nets that exist in the Republic. At least for a while, he gets unemployment benefits, his wife’s medical bills are paid during the pregnancy and she gets paid maternity leave. So, there are lots of important themes that highlight both the plight of working class families during the Great Depression, but also some of the mitigating factors.” Read more...
The best books on The Weimar Republic
Robert Gerwarth, Historian
Alone in Berlin
by Hans Fallada
The novel shows what it was like to have totalitarianism in the contemporary period, and what the suppression of speech results in
Interviews where books by Hans Fallada were recommended
The best books on Freedom of Speech, recommended by Claire Fox
Modern society has interpreted John Stuart Mill’s concept of tolerance to mean that we should avoid giving offence. The director of the Institute of Ideas tells us about books that show how far we’ve departed from what was meant
Alastair Campbell on Leadership
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief, takes a look at leadership in politics and in sport, recognising that ordinary citizens can show courageous moral leadership
The best books on The Weimar Republic, recommended by Robert Gerwarth
The Weimar Republic was not doomed to fail, says the historian Robert Gerwarth; it was, in many ways, popularly rooted and successful, and its artistic achievements remain influential to this day. Here he selects five books that illustrate the rich cultural life of the Weimar Republic, its pioneering modernism and the febrile political atmosphere that gripped it in the wake of the Great Depression.
