Hans Habes Roman Christoph und sein Vater - Zwischen persönlicher Verarbeitung und den westdeutschen Schuld- und Aufarbeitsdiskursen der Nachkriegszeit

Ahlrep, Christian

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Description

Title

Hans Habes Roman Christoph und sein Vater - Zwischen persönlicher Verarbeitung und den westdeutschen Schuld- und Aufarbeitsdiskursen der Nachkriegszeit

Author(s)

Ahlrep, Christian

Issue Date

2011-08-25T22:21:18Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Pinkert, Anke

Department of Study

Germanic Languages & Lit

Discipline

German

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Hans Habe
• Veit Harlan
• Thomas Harlan
• Jud Suess
• Arnold Zweig
• Ritualmord in Ungarn
• Germany after World War II

Abstract

This Master thesis is an investigation of the Book “Christoph und sein Vater” by Hans Habe. The author was one of the most important publicists in West Germany after World War II. During his life he wrote more than twenty books, some of them translated into English, and around ten thousand newspaper articles, but today he is unknown and unnoticed by literary scholars. The beginning of this thesis (chapter 2) summarizes the investigated book and highlights biographical information about Hans Habe. The main topic of the book is the relationship between Veit Harlan, the director of the anti-Semitic film “Jud Suess” during the Nazi period, and his son Thomas Harlan. The literary interpretation reveals not only a relationship between the main characters and the German postwar period (chapter 3), but also a strong connection to the book “Ritualmord in Ungarn” by Arnold Zweig and explores the question of Jewishness in a Christian society (chapter 4), Habe’s depiction of the Harlan family (chapter 5) and how the author discusses several problems of the 1960s German society (chapter 6). The interpretation concludes with a short summary (chapter 7). In this thesis I argue that Hans Habe uses the conflict between Veit and Thomas Harlan to, on the one hand, cast his own criticism on the German postwar society, and on the other hand, to come to terms with the suicide of his father.

Graduation Semester

2011-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/26261

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Copyright 2011 Christian Ahlrep

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