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The Oppermanns

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About this listen

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.

©2023 Lion Feuchtwanger (P)2023 Podium Audio 20th Century Historical Fiction Jewish World Literature
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The book was written in 1932/33 .. and gives an horrific insight into the way Germany under Nazi tyranny was already progressing toward the Holocaust.
We have so little literature from that time as so much was destroyed by the Nazis including the authors own writing.
Along with Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross this should be on school reading lists .

Should be on school reading lists

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All Zionist Jews who are currently participating in genocide and perpetuating hate towards Palestinians should read this because you’re repeating the same behaviour as the Nazi thugs who sort to exterminate your race.

Necessary reading

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Fascinatingly detailed view of how a seemingly enlightened and rules based German culture pivoted into openly violent racism, dictatorship and pride in violation/denial of former laws/rules. Sadly a story we're witnessing all over again - amazing how many boxes I found myself ticking. The prose is a bit lumpy, and here & there is v long winded, but definitely worth fighting through. The book ends in 1933 on a note of optimism - there may be a resistance building among Jews and Socialists to fight off fascism. Eight years on, the Final Solution was announced......

Reliving the 1930s

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