Vermes, Timur. Look Who’s Back

In this humorous novel, published originally as Er ist wieder da in German in 2012 (the English translation was published in 2014), Hitler awakens in Berlin in 2011. The novel is written entirely from Hitler’s perspective. Through (social) media he gains popularity, although people believe he is a method-actor, and not the real Hitler. In the end, he founds his own political party. The novel satirizes both Hitler and Nazism, and contemporary Germany (the media landscape, the cult of celebrity, the Neo-Nazi scene, etc.). It caused controversy amongst critics in Germany, but not so much in other countries. It was generally very well received by the public, has been on Der Spiegel‘s bestseller list for 20 weeks, and was made into an eponymous German-language film, directed by David Wnendt in 2015, that was also a great success.

Vermes, Timur. Look Who’s Back, translated by Jamie Bulloch, Maclehose Press, 2014.