Kriegsfibel 2023

"The war is back." With this first of six stations, Alexander Kluge begins his latest book, prompted by an aggressive war that is initially fought on a European stage but has global repercussions. The author does not aim for partisanship or a call to action. Rather, he focuses on the "mole war," its tenacious and often subterranean survival, what it makes of people, and the life of its own it is capable of.

What the author has in mind, following an iconic model, is a primer. For this, he formulates simple stories and complements them with image montages and film sequences. He was ten years old when he followed German tanks on their way to Stalingrad from his school desk, tracing them with his finger on the map. Throughout the years leading up to his 91st birthday in February 2023, this "chronicler of feelings" has repeatedly studied the costumes of war: war is mortal, but it does not die quickly. How can we respond to its demands?

"The impossibility of not crying," that is one of our strengths, it is said in the sixth and final station of the book. The petrified and the character armor within us are an illusion. Tears in our eyes make us blind, but also clairvoyant. We humans are unsuitable creatures for war. Yet our weakness contains a hope.