Reichskanzlerplatz

In her new novel, Nora Bossong paints a double portrait of the woman who became Magda Goebbels, the »first lady« of Nazi Germany, and the young gay man who, for a brief moment, was her lover. Two individuals caught up in the storm of historical events, each implicated in different ways and bearing different kinds of guilt and complicity.

When Hans meets the young and beautiful stepmother of his classmate Hellmut Quandt, he has no inkling of the role Magda will play in his life, both through his own relationship with her and through her position as the archetypal mother of the Third Reich. Back then, the Weimar Republic was still enjoying its brief time in the sun, and Hans was hopelessly in love with Hellmut.

Years later, after Hellmut’s tragic death, Hans and Magda begin an affair. The relationship is not so much dishonest as transactional, with each of them taking what they need. While Magda wants to escape her marriage, Hans is desperate to hide his homosexuality. At heart though, both are seeking an ersatz for their mutually beloved Hellmut. It is only when Magda meets Joseph Goebbels and joins the Nazi Party that she and Hans definitively end their liaison. As she descends deeper into the belly of the regime, he goes along to get along, becoming a diplomat and discreetly meeting with lovers in hushed hotel rooms. And while Magda is soon appearing in the newsreels, Hans finds himself increasingly under threat. A story about the paths of two people and a country across a span of twenty years. And about how fate is always a matter of choices.
 

»Is it possible to tell stories about the Third Reich? It’s a question that is posed often, and with good reason. Nora Bossong provides an answer with this brilliant book by going ahead and doing it – complex, sober, and merciless.« Daniel Kehlmann

»Nora Bossong’s command over literary techniques is matched by few other authors of her generation, which she has proven once again with this incredibly intelligent work about people and the abysses within them.« Inger-Maria Mahlke, winner of the 2018 German Book Prize

»With Reichskanzlerplatz, Nora Bossong has written a prizeworthy novel…« Carsten Otte, taz. die tageszeitung 
 

»She places sentences like flares.« Judith von Sternburg, Frankfurter Rundschau

»Nora Bossong has attempted something audacious.« Tilman Krause, Die Welt

»This work takes its place among the language of great world literature, next to the language of Musil or Kafka.« Tomasz Kurianowicz, Die Welt, on Rules of Engagement

»Nora Bossong is one of the most intellectually stimulating and curious voices of her generation.« Denis Scheck