''Look Who's Back'' (german: Er ist wieder da, ; ) is a bestselling German satirical novel about

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

Timur Vermes Timur Vermes (born 1967) is a German writer. Previously a ghostwriter, his first novel ''Er ist wieder da'', which has sold over a million copies in Germany, is a satire about Adolf Hitler and 21st-century Germany. The English version, '' Look W ...

, published in 2012 by . The novel was adapted into a German movie of the same name, which was released in 2015.

Plot

In 2011, Adolf Hitler wakes up in a vacant lot in Berlin which appears to be the location of the garden outside the

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

where he was burned, with no knowledge of anything that happened following his death in 1945. Homeless and destitute, he interprets everything he sees and experiences in 2011 from a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

perspective—for instance, he assumes that

Turks in Germany Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans (german: Türken in Deutschland/Deutschtürken; tr, Almanya'da yaşayan Türkler/Almanya Türkleri), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used t ...

are an indicator of Karl Dönitz having persuaded Turkey to join the Axis, and thinks that

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

is named for ''Wikinger'' ("

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

"). Although everyone recognizes him, nobody believes that he is Hitler; instead, they think he is either a comedian or a

method actor Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...

. He appears on a variety television show called ''Whoa, dude!'', going off-script to broadcast his views. Videos of his angry rants become hugely successful on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, and he achieves modern celebrity status as a performer. The newspaper '' Bild'' tries to take him down, but is sued into praising him. He is beaten up by

Neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

who think he is mocking the memory of Hitler, unaware that he is the genuine article. In the end, he uses his popularity to re-enter politics.

Publication

The book was priced at €19.33, a deliberate reference to Hitler's ascent to power in 1933. By March 2014 it had sold 1.4 million copies in Germany. The book has been translated into 41 languages. An English-language translation, ''Look Who's Back'', translated by

Jamie Bulloch Jamie Bulloch (born 6 September 1969) is a British historian and translator of German literature. Life and work Jamie was born at East Dulwich Hospital in 1969. He grew up in Tooting, south-west London, attending first Rosemead School, then Wh ...

, was published in April 2014 by

MacLehose Press Quercus is a formerly independent publishing house, based in London, that was acquired by Hodder & Stoughton in 2014. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Smith and Wayne Davies. Quercus is known for its lists in crime (publishing such authors as El ...

. The original

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

version is read by comedian

Christoph Maria Herbst Christoph Maria Herbst (born 9 February 1966) is a German actor and comedian. Early life Herbst was born in Wuppertal. After passing the Abitur, he became a trainee banker and was active at the free theatre scene in Wuppertal at the same time ...

and by May 2014 had sold over 520,000 copies. Herbst had already played the Hitler-based character of Alfons Hatler in two comedy films, '' Der Wixxer'' (2004) and ''Neues vom Wixxer'' (2007), which landed him the part of reading the audio version of the book written from the first-person point of view of Hitler. Film rights were sold, as were foreign license rights. A

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

premiered in Germany on October 8, 2015, starring

Oliver Masucci Oliver Masucci (born 6 December 1968) is a German actor. He is best known internationally for the role of Adolf Hitler in the 2015 film adaptation of the satirical novel ''Look Who's Back'', Ulrich Nielsen in the Netflix series ''Dark,'' Anton ...

as Hitler and directed by . As a part of the movie's promotion campaign, Masucci was made to appear as Hitler in several German cities, including the filming locations of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

and Berlin, testing the public's reactions, including at least one appearance close to an

National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Part ...

rally.

Critical reception

In ''

The Jewish Daily Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, '' ...

'', Gavriel Rosenfeld described the novel as "slapstick" but with a "moral message". However, while acknowledging that Vermes's portrayal of Hitler as human rather than monster is intended to better explain Germany's embrace of Nazism, Rosenfeld also states that the novel risks "glamorizing what it means to condemn": readers can "laugh not merely ''at'' Hitler, but also ''with'' him." In ', Cornelia Fiedler posited that the book's success may be due less to its literary merits and more to the fact that its protagonist is Hitler. She stated that focusing on Hitler, "either as a comic figure or as the incarnation of evil", risks obscuring the historical facts. Fiedler described Vermes's assumption that readers would agree that Hitler deserved mockery as "surprisingly naive". In ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', reviewer Jason Steger interviewed the book's author, who believes that the way Hitler is seen today "is one that hasn't too much to do with the real one". "Most people wouldn't think it possible that if they would have lived back then they would have thought he was in some way attractive too", he said.

References

External links

Interview in German with Timur Vermes, author of ''Er ist wieder da''
on YouTube {{Authority control 2012 German novels 2012 science fiction novels Novels about Adolf Hitler German science fiction novels German alternate history novels German political novels Satirical novels Novels set in Berlin German-language novels Novels set in the 2010s German novels adapted into films Science fiction novels adapted into films MacLehose Press books