BudeMunkWieland | Marlene Dietrich for Federal President

Would Marlene Dietrich have made a good Federal President? And what would that have meant for the young Federal Republic in the 1960s and for the coming to terms with National Socialism? The Berlin author collective BudeMunkWieland explores this thought experiment in their new novel "Transit 64." Or rather, they encourage us to consider such a fictional historical constellation.

Heinz Bude, Bettina Munk and Karin Wieland last dealt with recent contemporary history five years ago in the autobiographical novel "Aufprall" and explored the West Berlin squatter movement of the early 1980s.

In "Impact," the actors were primarily representatives of the boomer generation, which is currently the subject of so much discussion. While the majority of them portrayed themselves as golf-loving, apolitical, and medical-student world champions of conformity, there were also a few radical left-wing, achievement-shy people who let off steam in the walled city.

While in "Aufprall" the focus is on revolting kids from below, in "Transit 64" it is exclusively well-known historical figures from the Bonn Republic and the GDR who play the role in this prismatically diversified historical novel.

The focus, of course, is on Marlene Dietrich, who briefly stops in East Germany in 1964 and, during the eponymous transit, comes into contact with Willy Brandt, then Governing Mayor of West Berlin. Brandt tries to persuade her to run as a candidate for the German presidential election. This idea, concocted with Brandt's closest confidant, Egon Bahr, is discussed in the back room of a Charlottenburg restaurant with Social Democratic credibility.

Forced, artificial, great illustrations.

In fact, Heinrich Lübke was re-elected as Federal President in 1964, although the question of his role in National Socialism was repeatedly raised—especially due to interventions from the GDR. Although he had spent several months in prison at the beginning of Nazi rule, by the end of the war he had become part of the German armaments machine. The Nazi accusations against Lübke were generally dismissed by the Federal President's Office and the CDU as fabrications of GDR propaganda. However, by no means could all allegations be dispelled.

How would Marlene Dietrich, who fought for the US Army against German Nazis with the rank of captain, have fared as a rival candidate?

Willy Brandt, who later became Chancellor of Germany, also fought against the Germans. Born in Lübeck as Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm and stripped of his citizenship by the Nazis, he adopted his socialist nom de plume, Willy Brandt, as his official name after the war (in 1949 with the approval of the Berlin Police Chief).

"We're both traitors, have you forgotten that? The other Germans are united against us," Marlene Dietrich tells Willy Brandt in the back room. She finds the idea of ​​becoming Federal President absurd and gloriously ridicules it. "Couldn't I move into this villa with my old love, Erich Maria Remarque, with Boni? The one with 'All Quiet on the Western Front'."

She continues: "My first official act if I'm elected: ordering the parade of German resistance fighters down the Ku'damm. There won't be too many, but a few will come together."

As contrived and artificial as some sections of this barely 200-page book, with its numerous wonderful illustrations, may seem, this historical literary charade makes absolute sense. Because the search for an anti-fascist history of this country is more important than ever today, given the current shift to the right.

Was there ever an anti-fascist DNA in this country? If so, where has it gone? Who fought against whom, and who adapted? In 1961, CSU chairman Franz-Josef Strauss ranted: "One thing is for sure: What did you do outside for twelve years? We know what we did inside."

Unfortunately, we all know what most Germans did during those years. Unfortunately, many don't know enough about Brandt, Dietrich, and others. BudeMunkWieland addresses this with this little book. They explore the stories of Marlene Dietrich, but also those of Willy Brandt, Herbert Wehner, Walter Ulbricht, and many other figures in the years before, during, and after National Socialism.

It takes us to social democratic Lübeck in the 1920s, to Paris during the Popular Front government in 1936, to Nazi Germany, to theater stages and film sets, to Norwegian and Russian exile, to Schöneberg City Hall and the Federal Assembly. It deals with the Spanish Civil War, Stalinist terror, social democratic efforts, including the associated helplessness and parliamentary maneuvering. It may not be convincing in every respect, but it is worth reading.

BudeMunkWieland: "Transit 64." Hanser, 208 pp., hardcover, €25.