Identity Politics and the Jewish Body in Edgar Hilsenrath's "The Nazi and the Barber"

Abstract

This paper examines the role of physical transgressions in Edgar Hilsenrath’s postwar Holocaust satire The Nazi and the Barber. The story of the former SS-mass murderer Max Schulz, who impersonates his childhood friend Itzig Finkelstein in order to emigrate to Israel and become a Zionist freedom fighter, is generally read as a satire of German postwar philosemitism. My reading focuses on bodily processes in the novel, from Max’s physical metamorphosis to Itzig Finkelstein and his future identity confusions. I argue that Max’s physical changes and transgressions underscore the religious-ethical transgressions that scholars, such as Erin McGlothlin, have established. I also submit that Edgar Hilsenrath’s description of bodily changes underscores the genre of satire and questions it at the same timeca satire requires an ideal world as a foil against which it is criticized, and ideally inspires hope, yet in Hilsenrath’s dark postHolocaust world neither exists.While most memoirs of Holocaust survivors celebrate survival and aim to stand as a warning to future generations (of ‘never again’), Hilsenrath’s novel cynically portrays a world in which lies, hatred, and violence are blissfully perpetuated. He presents a unique voice within the representation of the Holocaust.