Union der festen Hand

In 1918, as World War I nears its end, significant upheavals are on the horizon for the Ruhr area and its people. They work in the coal and steel industries, fighting against low wages and exploitation. When the Kaiser arrives to encourage them in their war efforts, attempts are made to keep the troublemakers away from him. However, the high-profile visit goes disastrously wrong, and soon a murder occurs. For the union activist Adam Griguszies, a tumultuous decade begins: the conflicts between workers, employees, and a secret society of entrepreneurs known as the "Union of the Firm Hand" pave the way for National Socialism. The industrial novel "Union of the Firm Hand" is a significant work of New Objectivity and one of the few literary portraits of the Ruhr area. At the same time, it serves as a major key novel about one of Germany's most famous industrial dynasties, written with critical wit by an intimate connoisseur of the cynical power structure surrounding coal and steel, which is alarmingly relevant today.