Berlin in the 20s/30s Book Suggestions

[weimar27]

I'm writing a story about 1920s/30s Berlin, (Its set in 1934), and I realized that while I know a lot about the politics of the era I know nothing of the city itself during this period

Comments

[nightdog_barks]

The British writer Christopher Isherwood lived in Berlin in the '30s. His I Am a Camera and Goodbye to Berlin might provide some good background.

[weimar27]

I've heard of him, but I wasn't quite sure of how good of a source he was. I will look into it. Thanks.

[fenoxielo524]

I don't know how much in the way of specific answers to your questions you're going to find from reading Isherwood. There's not much in terms of geography in his books, but he's worth checking out anyway if you're interested.

[sollersuk]

Very autobiographical indeed.

[koboldmaki]

Erich Kastner: "Fabian - The Story of a Moralist"
Irmgard Keun: "The Artificial Silk Girl", and also her other novels
and for a more recent novel
Julia Franck: "The Blind Side of the Heart" (though this goes on to the 1940s and beyond)

These are of course works of fiction, but nevertheless a good place to start.

[akiko]

You probably won't find much on the gay & lesbian community, because iirc the concept didn't exist as such at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Alexanderplatz is a novel set in working class Berlin, published in 1929.

[felis_ultharus]

Actually, the concept did exist at the time. You just have to read the works of Magnus Hirschfeld, Christopher Isherwood, or Elsa Gidlow detailing Berlin at the time to get a picture of that.

(Gidlow details it as far back as the 1910s in Montreal.)

For Britain, you can get a good picture from the works of Quentin Crisp.

There's also Heinz Heger's moving first-person account of the community and its destruction in The Men With The Pink TriangleThese communities go back a long time. John Boswell argues that such communities existed in Europe in 11th century. There are exposés of the "molly" community dating back to the 1690s, which the historian Rictor Norton has written up in great detail in his books

thanks

[weimar27]

thanks, this looks promising.

Re: thanks

[felis_ultharus]

Your welcome! Isherwood and Heger are probably your two best sources for the period.

[orange_fell]

Look for old Baedeker guides!

[weimar27]

thanks. I'd forgotten about those.

[amethyst_drop]

When we put on Cabaret in college - the musical that's based on Isherwood's books, of course - we had to read "Before the Deluge." It's nonfiction, but absolutely amazing. You get a good overview of everything in Berlin from art to politics.

http://www.amazon.com/Before-Deluge-Portrait-Berlin-1920s/dp/0060926791

[weimar27]

Thanks, someone also recommended this book.