Crime Stories: Criminalistic Fantasy and the Culture of Crisis in Weimar Germany

Todd Herzog

Published by Berghahn Books 2009

Crime Stories

Criminalistic Fantasy and the Culture of Crisis in Weimar Germany

Todd Herzog

Volume 22 in the series Monographs in German History

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781845459055

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Weimar Republic (1918–1933) was a crucial moment not only in German history but also in the history of both crime fiction and criminal science. This study approaches the period from a unique perspective - investigating the most notorious criminals of the time and the public’s reaction to their crimes. The author argues that the development of a new type of crime fiction during this period - which turned literary tradition on its head by focusing on the criminal and abandoning faith in the powers of the rational detective - is intricately related to new ways of understanding criminality among professionals in the fields of law, criminology, and police science. Considering Weimar Germany not only as a culture in crisis (the standard view in both popular and scholarly studies), but also as a culture of crisis, the author explores the ways in which crime and crisis became the foundation of the Republic’s self-definition. An interdisciplinary cultural studies project, this book insightfully combines history, sociology, literary studies, and film studies to investigate a topic that cuts across all of these disciplines.

Author / Editor information

Todd Herzog is an Associate Professor of German Studies at the University of Cincinnati. He is editor of A New Germany in a New Europe (Routledge 2001, with Sander Gilman) and Rebirth of a Culture: Jewish Identity and Jewish Writing in Germany and Austria Today (Berghahn Books, 2008, with Hillary Hope Herzog and Benjamin Lapp). He is currently working on A Critical Filmography of German Cinema to 1945.

Reviews

“Herzog’s book uses a wonderful array of texts, from films to crime fiction, and his arguments are provocative. While English, French, and US crime novelists placed detectives at the center of their tales, he reveals, their Weimar counterparts focused on the criminal.” · The Journal of Modern History

“Herzog’s arguments are insightful and persuasive. This seminal book is a valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary field of German Studies and should be incortporated in courses on the Weimar Republic.” · Focus on German Studies

“Convincingly argued, the book combines socio-historical, literary and media analyses for an astonishing and fascinating depiction of Weimar culture.” · European History Quarterly

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
FIGURES Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 CRIME, DETECTION, AND GERMAN MODERNISM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Chapter 2 WRITING CRIMINALS Outsiders of Society and the Modernist Case History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Chapter 3 UNDERSTANDING CRIMINALS Th e Cases of Ella Klein and Franz Biberkopf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Chapter 4 SEEING CRIMINALS Mass Murder, Mass Culture, Mass Public Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Chapter 5 TRACKING CRIMINALS Th e Cases of Peter Kürten, Franz Beckert, and Emil Tischbein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
CONCLUSION Criminalistic Fantasy after Weimar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 182
Keywords: History: 20th Century to Present; Literary Studies; Film and Television Studies; Sociology

eBook

Published: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 9781845459055