The Führer found himself reborn in the 21st century in a 2012 comic novel by Timur Vermes, which sold 1.4m copies in Germany. Its success suggests Germans now look at their former leader in the same way as the rest of the world does
An English translation of Timur Vermes's Hitler satire Look Who's Back is to be published in April. Photograph: Horst Ossinger/ Horst Ossinger/dpa/Corbis
If Hitler were alive today, would he become a standup comic? Incredible though that may sound to anyone who lived through the second world war, that is the scenario sketched out in Look Who's Back, a satirical novel by Timur Vermes, which topped the bestseller lists in Germany after its publication in 2012 and is now about to be published in English.
In the opening pages, Hitler wakes up on a building site in Berlin in 2011. His memory of how he got there is hazy: "I think Eva and I chatted for a while, and I showed her my old pistol, but when I awoke I was unable to recall any further detail."
The owner of a nearby kiosk recognises him – after all, 66 years after his death the man's face is still ubiquitous – and, assuming that Hitler is an extra from a new second world war film who is remaining resolutely in character ("Bruno Ganz was superb, but he's not a patch on you"), the kiosk owner hooks him up with a local comedy promoter.
Hitler's first gig, the warm-up slot for a Turkish-German comic, goes down like a sinking U-boat. His dark rant about Muslims, abortion and plastic surgery has his audience gasping in shock. But gradually the performance gathers clicks on YouTube.
Bestselling tabloid Bild demands an interview with the "loony YouTube Hitler" in which it tries to call his bluff. "Is it true that you admire Adolf Hitler?" asks the journalist. "Only in the mirror in the morning," Adolf replies. Because Hitler does not adapt to the 21st century and instead just continues to be the Hitler who died in 1945, no one can get a grip on him.
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In the opening pages, Hitler wakes up on a building site in Berlin in 2011. His memory of how he got there is hazy: "I think Eva and I chatted for a while, and I showed her my old pistol, but when I awoke I was unable to recall any further detail."
The owner of a nearby kiosk recognises him – after all, 66 years after his death the man's face is still ubiquitous – and, assuming that Hitler is an extra from a new second world war film who is remaining resolutely in character ("Bruno Ganz was superb, but he's not a patch on you"), the kiosk owner hooks him up with a local comedy promoter.
Hitler's first gig, the warm-up slot for a Turkish-German comic, goes down like a sinking U-boat. His dark rant about Muslims, abortion and plastic surgery has his audience gasping in shock. But gradually the performance gathers clicks on YouTube.
Bestselling tabloid Bild demands an interview with the "loony YouTube Hitler" in which it tries to call his bluff. "Is it true that you admire Adolf Hitler?" asks the journalist. "Only in the mirror in the morning," Adolf replies. Because Hitler does not adapt to the 21st century and instead just continues to be the Hitler who died in 1945, no one can get a grip on him.
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