Fritz Adam, a German Jewish entrepreneur, owner of one of the most prestigious department stores in central Berlin, finds himself at odds with the political developments at the time of the Weimar republic.
Fritz is an enthusiastic supporter of the Olympic ideal and sees the promotion of sports as the way forward to increase cooperation between nations in the form of healthy competition so as to prevent future military confrontations. Also an adventurer at heart, and sponsor of many of the first exploratory voyages around the globe, he sees his beliefs and ideals threatened and finally shattered as the Nazis return to values of order, discipline, and military expansionism.
As a Prussian officer who fought in the great war, he regards himself as a German, a Berliner and a Jew, in that order. Despite being forced into bankruptcy and witnessing the increased repression of the Jewish people, he holds on to his belief that it is only a temporary phase and that the army will restore order in time.
As the political situation deteriorates, the tension between Fritz and his eldest son, an ardent pacifist, increases and threatens the family unity. Fritz has to decide whether to stay or leave the Germany that he loves.
Genre: HISTORY / Jewish
Kindle 2,943,332
Potsdamer Platz was bustling. Carriage horses clip-clopped over the cobblestones. Rhenish Coldbloods pulled large wagons stacked high with furniture or beer barrels; horse-drawn buses rumbled by with people crammed into the interior and sitting on the upper decks; men were pushing carts laden with potatoes and vegetables; others were scooping horse manure into wagons and washing the urine down the gutters; bicyclists rode past; and occasionally an electric tram trundled by. People were rushing to and fro, all with earnest looks, trying to get from here to there as quickly as possible, unaware of the others around them. Some stood idly by, chatting and smoking cigarettes. Elderly men with large top hats and canes strolled past; their wives wore huge bonnets and carried matching parasols. There was an air of haughtiness about them as they held their chins up high. They were original Berliners or thought themselves so. Younger men wore straw boaters with blazers; one could detect the eagerness and exuberance in their fast and steady steps. Tourists walked past carrying their Baedekers, on their way to Brandenburg Gate or Museum Island. There were the others, the immigrants, who were swarming into the city relentlessly and unceasingly, wearing monotone wool jackets and trousers with cloth caps. These were the workers who slaved in the new factories and cleaned the streets, a whole new class of people. And then there were the Jews. One could always spot them from afar with their yarmulkes and wide hats. They had come from the east. The whole square was a monument to cosmopolitanism. This was the centre of a new city that in forty years had arisen from a swampy backwater to become the most vibrant in Europe, surpassing London and Paris in style and energy and leaving sleepy Vienna in its wake. The city inhabitants had increased to more than one and a half million, and to Fritz Adam that morning in March, it seemed as though half of them were there in the square.
| Language | Status |
|---|---|
|
Portuguese
|
Translation in progress.
Translated by Marquielly Lopes Gonçalves de Oliveira
|
