Author Daniel Kehlmann Explores Controversial WWII Director Georg Wilhelm Pabst in New Novel
Daniel Kehlmann, the Austrian-German author, has released a historical novel titled "The Director," centered on the complex life of Georg Wilhelm Pabst, a prominent filmmaker of the Weimar Republic era. Pabst gained fame for his silent film "Joyless Street" (1921), which depicted the harsh realities of postwar Vienna. After initially fleeing Nazi Germany for America, Pabst mysteriously returned to live under the Nazi regime and even made films financed by it, including the lost wartime thriller "The Molander Case," whose footage disappeared without explanation.
Kehlmann’s novel delves into this moral and historical enigma, portraying Pabst’s conflicted character as he navigates artistic creation amid oppressive political circumstances. The story opens with a fictionalized interview of Pabst’s forgetful assistant, symbolizing the fragility of memory and the limits of cinema to capture truth. Pabst’s return to Nazi Germany is depicted as fraught with tension, exposing the regime’s propaganda machinery and its exploitation of artists. Despite his doubts and inner turmoil, Pabst chooses to stay, rationalizing that making art under these conditions is still worthwhile.
The narrative explores Pabst’s relationships, including with his wife and actresses, highlighting his contradictory nature, both sensitive and indifferent, confident yet vulnerable. The novel raises profound questions about the ethical dilemmas faced by artists working under totalitarian regimes and the legacy of their work when compromised by such contexts.
"The Director" has been internationally acclaimed, earning Kehlmann the Kleist Prize and a Booker Prize shortlist nomination. The book is published by Penn and Yedioth Books, translated by Nitza Ben-Ari, and is set for release in July 2026. It offers a nuanced reflection on history, memory, and the role of art during dark times, using cinema as a metaphor for what cannot be preserved or fully understood.
