''The Questionnaire'' () is a 1951 autobiographical novel by the German writer

Ernst von Salomon Ernst von Salomon (25 September 1902 – 9 August 1972) was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member. Family and education He was born in Kiel, in the Prussian prov ...

. It was published in the United Kingdom as ''The Answers''. It is based on the

denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

questionnaire which all Germans with some form of responsibility were forced to take by the military government after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Salomon's detailed answers about his political background, membership of various organisations and so on became a portrayal of Germany during the interwar period, World War II and the immediate post-war period. The book became a phenomenon in Germany and sold in large numbers. It was a reference point in the public discourse for years and has continued to be in print.

Plot

Salomon answers questions and recounts his time as a

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

in the Weimar Republic and in the

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...

. He writes about battles in the Baltic states and about his involvement in the assassination of foreign minister

Walther Rathenau Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician. During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...

. Salomon shares his experiences from France in the 1930s, from the German film industry during the NS era, the end of the war which he spent in Bavaria with his Jewish girlfriend, and how he after the surrender was tortured in an American prison camp.

Publication

The book was published by

Rowohlt Verlag Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company was created in 1908 in Leipzig by Ernst Rowohlt. Divisions * Kinder * ...

in 1951. It quickly became popular in Germany and reached six-digit sales numbers within a few years. It has continuously been reprinted in new editions. An English translation by Constantine Fitzgibbon, ''The Answers'', was published in 1954. The American edition is known as ''The Questionnaire'' and the British as ''The Answers''.

Reception

Frederic Morton Frederic Morton (October 5, 1924 – April 20, 2015) was an Austrian-born American writer. Life Born Fritz Mandelbaum in Vienna, Morton was the son of a blacksmith who specialized in forging (manufacturing) imperial medals. In the wake of the ...

of '' The Saturday Review'' wrote about the English-language publication: "The publishers' praise on the dust jacket consists mostly of apology; the 'quotes' used attack rather than support the book; the translation, though technically competent and idiomatically accomplished, somehow smothers the brutal elegance of the German original, making it seem like a war documentary done in rainbow technicolor and set to fairytale music." Morton continued: "Yet the book retains its pathogenic significance. ... What distinguishes these retorts is a candor not only unflinching but, one surmises occasionally, not unembellished. Herr von Salomon brandishes his honesty-about-the-past with a braggadoccio piousness." ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' wrote: "A big, sprawling book for the close follower of contemporary history, particularly German, rather than the average reader, this has many flashes of impudence, a sharp wit and a quick sleight of hand to enliven its serious accounting."

References

External links

''The Questionnaire''
at the publisher's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Questionnaire 1951 German novels German autobiographical novels German-language novels Novels about Nazi Germany Novels by Ernst von Salomon Novels set in France Novels set in the 1920s Novels set in the 1930s Novels set in the 1940s