review
A fictionalised retelling of the life of Magda Goebbels, Reichskanzlerplatz is an accomplished literary novel by poet and author Nora Bossong. Offering a nuanced character study and confronting the dichotomy of good and evil, this is a compelling and thought-provoking novel that will appeal to readers interested in twentieth-century history.
Narrated in the first person by a fictional figure, Hans Kesselbach, Reichskanzlerplatz seamlessly interweaves both real and imagined characters. At school, Hans meets Hellmut Quandt, son of the industrialist Günther Quandt, and slowly becomes infatuated not just with Hellmut but also his young stepmother, Magda. He joins the army after school, while Hellmut and Magda begin an affair that tragically ends when Hellmut dies of a botched appendectomy. Each grieving in their own way, Hans and Magda are drawn into their own affair, at a time – the late 1920s – when the world seems poised on a knife-edge.
When Magda and Quandt eventually divorce, fascism is well on the rise. Magda falls for Joseph Goebbels, propagandist for the NSDAP, whom she marries in late 1931; the novel takes its title from Magda’s address, a flat on Reichskanzlerplatz in Berlin, where Hitler, Goebbels and other Nazi officials would often meet. In 1933, Hans bows to social pressure and joins the NSDAP, but vows to keep his head down. Antisemitism grows at a shocking pace, Ernst Röhm is murdered, Hindenburg dies and Hitler ascends to power.
Hans takes up a position with the Reich’s Foreign Office, securing war loans while deceiving himself into believing he doesn’t have a choice. He fails to help a Jewish friend who asks for assistance to flee, while Magda moves ever deeper into the vortex of evil. Her and Goebbels’ eventual suicide – following the murder of their six children by cyanide – is told of in an appendix to the novel.
While many of these events may be familiar to readers, Bossong’s drawing of Magda’s character is more unusual. Beyond this, we also see Hans’ slow transformation from a peace-loving young man into an active Mitläufer (follower), encompassing knotty themes of complicity and guilt. With believable characters, a well-developed chronology and assured narrative style rooted in historical detail, Reichskanzlerplatz is a sometimes challenging but fascinating read.
Rights sold: France, Les Ecales; Hungary, Open Books
Find out more: https://www.suhrkamp.de/rights/book/nora-bossong-reichskanzlerplatz-fr-9783518431900
All recommendations from Autumn 2024