Books: “Effingers” by Gabriele Effinger
If you took “Buddenbrooks,” combined it with “The Forsyth Saga” and added the wit and wisdom of “Leopoldstadt,” you’d have “Effingers,” a late 1940s novel recently resurrected from near-obscurity.
Gabriele Tergut’s story of a German Jewish family dynasty from 1878- to 1948 is witty, gossipy, and haunting.
The novel begins in small-town southern Germany where Matthias Effinger is a humble, pious watchmaker. But his three sons have grander aspirations. One son, James, moves to London and after several generations in finance, becomes a member of the House of Lords. Mattias’ other two sons, Karl and Paul, move to Berlin where they build a factory that over time evolves from the modest production of screws to the cutting-edge assembly of motor cars.
Both Karl and Paul marry into the Opner and Goldschmidt families, leaders of haute bourgeois Jewish society in Berlin. They raise children (and eventually grandchildren) whose charmed lives are filled with parties, drama and multiple love affairs.
The Effingers are swept up in the influx of 20th-century ideas like socialism and feminism. But as WWI approaches, their confidence is shaken—even more so when Germany loses the war and reparations deplete the country.
The Effingers’ fortunes deteriorate further during the Weimar years, when hyper-inflation runs rampant. The Germans, eager for a scapegoat, begin pointing fingers at the Jews. After Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the Nuremberg laws are passed, the land of Schiller, Bach and Goethe is no more. The Shoah follows.
The genius of Tergit’s novel, which no major publisher would touch until 1951, is that it treats each of these family members with affection. You rejoice in their successes and are devastated by their woes. It is a novel to cherish.
Like this review? Follow me at “What Does Aug Think?” at acsntn.substack.com. Thank you!