"Written in real-time, as the Nazis consolidated their power over the winter of 1933, The Oppermanns captures the fall of Weimar Germany through the eyes of one bourgeois Jewish family, shocked and paralyzed by an ideology they cannot comprehend.
In the foment of Weimar-era Berlin, the Oppermann brothers represent tradition and stability. One brother oversees the furniture chain founded by their grandfather, one is an eminent surgeon, and one a respected critic. They are rich, cultured, liberal, and public-spirited, proud inheritors of the German Enlightenment. They don't see Hitler as a threat. Then, to their horror, the Nazis come to power, and the Oppermanns and their children are faced with the terrible decision of whether to adapt—if they can—flee or try to fight.
Written in 1933, nearly in real-time, The Oppermanns captures the day-to-day vertigo of watching a liberal democracy fall apart. As Joshua Cohen writes in his introduction to this new edition, it is 'one of the last masterpieces of German-Jewish culture.' Prescient and chilling, it has lost none of its power today.
Introduction read by Joshua Cohen."
"In diesem Roman schlägt Lion Feuchtwanger eine Brücke zwischen Jeanne d' Arc, der Retterin Frankreichs, und einer Fünfzehnjährigen in dem von Deutschen besetzten Land. Madame betrachtet Simone durch ihr Lorgnon. Ihr Gesicht verrät, was ihr Mund gleich sprechen wird: 'Hochmütig, aufsässig, vorwitzig.' - Simone hat sich wieder einmal eingemischt in die Geschäfte ihrer Verwandten. Es ist passiert, nachdem sie Schriften über das Leben Jeanne d'Arcs gelesen hat. Das tut sie oft, abends, vor dem Einschlafen. Diesmal aber ist Merkwürdiges geschehen. Im Traum hat ihr toter Vater ihr einen Auftrag erteilt. Den Auftrag, in die Geschicke ihres Heimatlandes einzugreifen."
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