Nazi porn film book shelved

2004-02-02 20:26

Hamburg - A major publishing house has made headlines and raised eyebrows in Germany by agreeing to publish a steamy novel about high-ranking Nazis who made hard-core pornographic stag films for the war effort.

And now the same publisher has made headlines and raised eyebrows for withdrawing the hotly-awaited book from circulation at the last minute.

The nation's literary pundits are speculating at length about Rowohlt publishing house's embarrassing brush with Nazi porn, coming as it does on the heels of other recent embarrassments for the respected publisher.

The book is entitled "Endstufe" (Final Stage), an obvious pun on the code word used by the Nazis for the Holocaust: "Endloesung" (Final Solution).

The author is Thor Kunkel, a tousle-haired and telegenic writer whose previous novel, "Schwarzlicht Terrarium" (Black Light Terrarium) took Germany by storm, winning literary awards.

Kunkel's new book is fiction, but it is based on a documentary film by renowned New German Cinema auteur director Alexander Kluge which delves into the seamy and steamy realm of Nazi porn for profit.

Kunkel spent some three years researching the book, meeting a film collector who claims to have the only two extant "official Nazi-sanctioned stag films" and also interviewing a woman who once appeared in one of those sex films.

While the dialogue and narrative drive of his book are fictional, Kunkel asserts that the historical background is backed up by fact.

"Endstufe" was one of the most hotly-awaited books of the season, but Rowohlt publishing house took the extraordinary step of withdrawing it even as the press run was nearly complete and copies of the book were being readied for a March 1 delivery date.

Rowohlt issued a tersely worded statement citing "differences over content and style" between Kunkel and his book editor.

"That's not true," an outraged Kunkel said on German television. "I said we ought to bring the book out and issue a press release saying we had our differences." He never agreed to keep the book off the shelves. "I'm so disappointed I'm sick," he said.

Ironically, Rowohlt did not withdraw all the advance publicity for the new book. Booksellers have been swamped with brochures from Rowohlt lauding "Endstufe" as the publishing sensation of the year.

Those who have read the book suspect the publisher realized at the last moment that it might be just too compelling for German readers.

- SAPA