To Laugh after the Holocaust: Humor and Reconciliation in Michel Berg-manns "Teilacher-Trilogy"

Abstract

In his trilogy Michel Bergmann shows an intergenerational retrospective look at German postwar era and how Jews established in Germany faced their day by day. These novels reveal how important humor was, not only when dealing with a traumatic past, but also when undertaking the daily difficulties found in an environment they perceived as alien. Humor becomes, as shown in this trilogy, an indispensable resource to face trauma, and in such manner, facilitates the (re)integration of the protagonists in Germany, further helped by the obvious economic improvements beginning in the nineteen fifties. Settling in the Federal Republic of Germany will also bring about an incipient reconciliation with a society that had previously been their enemy. Such reconciliation will be mainly fostered by two key elements: the forging of affective relationships with non-Jewish Germans, and the deep gratitude some of the books’ characters feel towards those who helped them survive in secrecy during the Holocaust.