Posted 25/2/2014 

Weimar Out, Nazis In

Robert Liebman

Liza Minnelli, Cabaret

For British novelist Christopher Isherwood (1904-86), Berlin during the Weimar era held more appeal than London. Until Hitler arrived.

In 1929, Isherwood moved to Berlin, lived in rented rooms, taught English to support himself, and kept a diary which served as the basis for his short-story collection Goodbye to Berlin (1939). The publication date is deceptive. He wrote most of the stories in the early 1930s before Hitler became Chancellor but while the Nazis were rising in power—and Hitler’s followers, the feral Brownshirts, roamed the streets. Isherwood captures the ethos of a German capital undergoing massive change. By the time (January 1933) Hitler became Chancellor, Isherwood’s Berlin sojourn was effectively over. Continue reading →