Review: Look Who’s Back

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]itler has rarely been considered a comedic subject. While there are volumes cataloguing the atrocities he has committed and warning against the rise of a similar figure, almost no one in the literary world has taken the Mel Brooks approach and turned him into a farcical character. But Timur Vermes, author of Look Who’s Back (or Er ist wieder da in the original German), has placed him in a story that retains the Hitler of history books while simultaneously making him a figure of mockery.

Reading this book has helped me appreciate that all political decisions should be based on understanding.

The story opens with Hitler awakening in modern Berlin. Without the levers of power he had at the height of his rule, he’s mistaken for an incredible impersonator and quickly becomes a viral star when people mistake the vitriol he pours forth for a perfect parody. A great deal of the comedy in the novel comes from the misunderstandings of a man who doesn’t understand celebrity or media and an establishment that refuses to believe he’s real. Whenever his burgeoning media career moves up a rung, Hitler misconstrues it as his old party mechanisms slowly falling back into place.

By doing this, Vermes has ingeniously reduced one of the most notorious figures of the Twentieth Century to nothing more than an oblivious parody, a mere shadow of himself. It should go without saying that the natural audience for this book is more left-wing. After all, most neo-fascists would baulk at seeing a pillar of the movement reduced to a caricature of all they stand for. But by presenting the book from Hitler’s point of view and trying to portray him as a human figure, Vermes also begins to explain Germany’s acceptance of National Socialism. In this sense, the book can help to enlighten those who lean towards the left simply because they feel they should, drawn in by figures who are all show and no substance.

Vermes begins to explain Germany’s acceptance of National Socialism. 

Reading this book has helped me appreciate that all political decisions should be based on understanding. It’s all too easy for people to say that Hitler was a monster simply because they feel they should – he was a horrific person who did unforgivable things, but people rarely fully understand the complexity of his regime. One of the major messages that resonated with me is that we cannot simply condemn swathes of the world’s population for falling sway to a charismatic leader. As the cast surrounding the resurrected Hitler show, it’s far easier than we might assume.

Image Credits: Header (litreactor.com), Image 1 (mollder_2000/Flickr)