secondhand Die Schule der Diktatoren by Erich Kästner, German book

Used • Language: German

#literature • #germanbooks • #politicalsatire • #foreignbooks • #erichkastner

Book in German

The "Die Schule der Diktatoren" ("The School of Dictators") is a work by Erich Kästner, written in 1950. It is a political satire that mocks the mechanisms by which dictatorships are created and maintained.
📖 Summary
The story takes place in a fictional country where a dictator has died and power must continue. The problem is that the people must not realize that the previous leader has disappeared.
Thus, the people around the power organize a huge political theater: they use a double of the dictator and stage events to create the impression that the leader is still in power.
Gradually, it is revealed that the dictatorship is not based solely on a specific person. There is a whole mechanism of propaganda, manipulation, fear, and political staging that can replace the dictator and continue to function.