Berlin: City of Stones, by Jason Lutes
Berlin: City of Stones
by Jason Lutes
Drawn & Quarterly, 1999. 212 pages.
Jason Lutes’ Berlin: City of Stones is a timely read in light of the troubled world economy. The graphic novel imagines Germany between the world wars before Adolf Hitler stormed to power.
Germany had lost World War I just a decade before and the severe economic sanctions imposed by the victors had crippled the country. The weak Weimar Republic suffered from rampant unemployment, causing angry German citizens to join political parties with vastly different ideological bents. War veterans with amputated limbs hobbled through the streets as the nation attempted to rebuild. People were hungry, confused, and angry. And they needed someone to blame.
Berlin is a timely read because today’s economic climate gives a tiny, frightening taste of the frustrations that could give rise to the Nazi regime. The book suggests that the Germans were not all passive citizens waiting for an authority figure, but also active dissidents who were violently silenced.
The National Socialists were committed to order and authority; the Communists to a worker run state; the rich, to sustaining their wealth. The country was ripe with tension, with riots and protests liable to explode at any moment.
