Bavarian, baker, beerdrinker… and bolshevist. Oskar Maria Graf’s novels, though rooted in his native country, deal with universal themes. Living in exile in New York for most of his adult life, Graf said his fatherland was the German language.
In his novel Anton Sittinger Graf describes events from the end of the First World War to the start of the Hitler dictatorship, all through the eyes of a retired civil servant in a sleepy corner of rural Bavaria. Sittinger wants nothing to do with the politics lurking around every corner, just so long as he ‘stays on top’.
There are thousands upon thousands of Anton Sittingers in every country… also today.
