Der Untertan is the most famous novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by German author Heinrich Mann

Heinrich Mann

Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...

. It has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject" (translation by Helmut Peitsch). The title poses a problem for the non-German reader since there is no effective translation of the word 'Untertan' in the sense it was employed by Mann. The 'Subject' of the title conveys a sense of unthinking servility to the state.

Although the novel was completed in July 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, it was not published until 1918 (by Kurt Wolff Verlag of Leipzig). After the war, the novel enjoyed considerable popularity, given its critiques of the ultra-nationalism

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

 of Wilhelmine Germany

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

.

"Der Untertan" portrays the life of Diederich Hessling, a slavish and fanatical admirer of Kaiser Wilhelm II

William II, German Emperor

Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...

, as an archetype of nationalist Wilhelmine Germany. Hessling is unthinkingly obedient to authority and maintains a rigid dedication to the nationalist goals of the German state.

Throughout the novel, Hessling's inflexible ideals are often contradicted by his actions: he preaches bravery but is a coward; he is the strongest proponent of the military but seeks to be excused from his obligatory military service; his greatest political opponents are the revolutionary Social Democrats, yet he uses his influence to help send his hometown's SPD candidate to the Reichstag

Reichstag (German Empire)

The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....

 to defeat his Liberal competitors in business; he starts vicious rumors against the latter and then dissociates himself from them; he preaches and enforces Christian virtues upon others but lies, cheats, and regularly commits infidelity.

Diederich's ideals: blood and iron, and the might of opulent power, are exposed as hollowness and weakness. Diederich Hessling--the child (and later adult) who acts as an informer, the member of the Neo-Teuton student fraternity

Studentenverbindung

A Studentenverbindung is a student corporation in a German-speaking country somewhat comparable to fraternities in the US or Canada, but mostly older and going back to other kinds of...

, the doctor of chemistry, the paper manufacturer, and eventually the most influential man in town--is a critical allegory depicting German society's increasing susceptibility to chauvinism

Chauvinism

Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...

, jingoism

Jingoism

Jingoism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. In practice, it is a country's advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests...

, ultra-nationalism, anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

, and proto-fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

. His character is often juxtaposed, in both words and appearance to another man of straw: Kaiser Wilhelm II. In one instance, Hessling's behavior and outward appearance move an observer to stammer, 'It almost seems to me...You look so very much like His ...' , meaning the Kaiser.

Mann uses the moral bankruptcy

Moral bankruptcy

Moral bankruptcy is a synonym for immorality that has gained popular usage in the fields of business and politics, in which it specifically implies some instance of political corruption or corporate crime...

 and shallow ridiculousness of Hessling's life to critique Wilhelmine German society generally. Like other novels of the period, such as Theodor Fontane

Theodor Fontane

Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an...

's Effi Briest

Effi Briest

Effi Briest is widely considered to be Theodor Fontane’s masterpiece and one of the most famous German realist novels of all time. Thomas Mann once said that if one had to reduce one’s library to six novels, Effi Briest would have to be one of them...

, or even his brother Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...

's Buddenbrooks

Buddenbrooks

Buddenbrooks was Thomas Mann's first novel, published in 1901 when he was twenty-six years old. The publication of the 2nd edition in 1903 confirmed that Buddenbrooks was a major literary success in Germany....

, the principal target is the hypocrisy

Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....

 of bourgeois society

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 and the risk of social collapse in a nation of loyal 'Untertan' citizens.

In East Germany, the book was made into a movie

Der Untertan (film)

Der Untertan is an East German film directed by Wolfgang Staudte based on the novel of the same name. It was released in 1951.-Cast:* Werner Peters as Diederich Heßling* Paul Esser as von Wulckow* Renate Fischer as Guste Daimchen...

 in 1951, directed by Wolfgang Staudte

Wolfgang Staudte

Wolfgang Staudte , born Georg Friedrich Staudte, was a German film director, script writer and actor. He was born in Saarbrücken....

 and starring Werner Peters

Werner Peters

Werner Peters was a German film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1947 and 1971.Peters was born in Werlitzsch, Kreis Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony, and died of a heart attack on a promotion tour for his latest film in Wiesbaden, Germany.His film career started with the lead in Wolfgang...

as Diederich Hessling.

External links

• The Patrioteer. Full 1921 English translation at Google Books
• Man of Straw. Penguin Books, London, 1984, c1918. (ISBN 0-14-006584-9)
• Deutsches Historisches Museum zum Untertan — Google English translation
• English Version with subtitles "The Kaiser's Lackey"