Der Untertan

A piece of life history of a German is unraveled: Diederich Hessling, the son of a small paper manufacturer, grows up, studies, and joins the corps students, serves and becomes a slacker, earns his doctorate, takes over the family factory, marries into wealth, and has children. Diederich Hessling climbs the career ladder and intervenes for the Kaiser and the authorities: He marries the affluent Guste Daimchen, who had been engaged to a son of the old Buck, who fought as a democrat in 1848, and he severely damages the liberal factory owner Lauer in a lawsuit. When he founds the Kaiser’s party and approaches the government president von Wulckow, he ultimately gains influence: In addition to his own factory, Diederich can take over the Gausenfeld paper mill. In the city, he ensures that instead of a nursery home, a Kaiser Wilhelm monument is built. Heinrich Mann's great novel analyzes the era after the founding period. The subject first appeared at the end of 1918.