Volker Kutscher's Books

Biography

Kutscher was born in 1962 in Lindar, a small town twenty miles from Cologne in Germany. He studied German literature, philosophy, and history and then landed a job as a trainee journalist on a regional paper. The job wasn’t quite what Kutscher had hoped for. He had to cover his hometown, which — like every twenty-something — was a place he was desperate to leave.

“It was like being the priest or the mayor, maybe less important, but you were visible and had to be responsible” (The New York Times)

Crime Writing

After seven years of editing the local paper and writing three little-known novels, he handed in his notice. He wanted to focus on crime writing. The result was Der nässe Fisch (The Wet Fish), published in 2008. It tells the story of Berlin Police Inspector Gereon Rath during the 1920s. Ten years later, it was translated and published in English as Babylon Berlin.

“I’m very curious about this time – an important time, not only in German history. I always questioned how a civilised country, a republic like Germany, could change into this dictatorship. There’s no easy answer to this.” (The Guardian)

Historical Accuracy

As a historian, Kutscher researched his work thoroughly. He was often found in the Berlin State Library reading the daily press of the time. He aimed to understand everyday life.

“I didn’t want to put the most newsworthy events that happened back then in the foreground and point at them with my finger, like a history book. The things we read in the papers are on the sidelines. We’re rarely in the thick of the action.” (Deutschlandfunk)

Inspiration and Influences

As well as his historical interest, Kutscher was inspired by television and film. He cites amongst other influences; The Sopranos, the gangster film Road to Perdition, and the 1931 film M – Die Stadt sucht einen Mörder, (M – The City Searches for a Murderer). The latter was an early example of a police drama. It tells the story of a manhunt for a child serial killer by the police and the criminal underworld.

The Gereon Rath Series

Five of the eight Rath Novels have been translated into English. Kutscher has plans to write ten that will chronicle both the Weimar Republic — try The Fatherland Files and the Third Reich — read The March Fallen. He intends to end the series at Kristallnacht in November 1938, just before the start of the Second World War.

Kutcher’s main protagonist, Gereon Rath, is a Rhinelander working as a detective inspector in Berlin.

“[Rath has] some negative Cologne characteristics. He is unreliable and phlegmatic. Unlike the Prussian-Protestant work ethic, he has a typical Cologne-Catholic mental serenity ‘It kütt wie et kütt'” (Köln Reporter)

(‘It comes as it comes’, or more bluntly, ‘shit happens’).

Rath and Gunther?

The obvious comparison to Kutscher’s Gereon Rath is Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther. Both worked in the same city, at the same time and in the same police station. They even had the same (historically accurate) bosses. It isn’t much of a stretch to imagine the two men sharing a beer, but there the similarities end. Kerr’s novels are bleak and gritty, whilst Kutscher strings together more satisfying and complete plots.

Surprisingly, Kutscher doesn’t site Philip Kerr as one of his influences.

“I don’t have a particular great authoring hero that I want to emulate. I like classic American crime novels, Raymond Chandler, but also Patricia Highsmith. Contemporary: James Ellroy and Ian Rankin with the John Rebus novels.” (Köln Reporter)

It is hard to believe that the authors didn’t know each other; their plots trip over each other, but I can’t find any acknowledgement. It is almost as if they shunned one another.

TV Drama

Volker Kutscher’s books are hugely popular in Germany. In 2011 they were awarded the Berlin Krimi-Fuchs Crime Writers Prize. They have subsequently been made into a TV drama – Babylon Berlin – which, at the cost of £36 million, is the most expensive series ever produced in Germany. The show won the first “Achievement in Fiction Series” award at the 2019 European Film Awards, and millions of people have watched it.

Popular Interest

When congratulated on his success, Kutscher puts much of it down to luck. The publication of his books coincided with the time when the German public was ready to take another look at the Weimar Republic. They wanted to understand the roots of Nazism and the destruction of democracy. There is also a worry, amongst some, that history might be repeating itself. Kutscher is quick to dispel this idea, pointing at the vast economic differences between modern Germany and the Weimar Republic.

For all that, Kutscher doesn’t shy away from exposing the past.

“I write fiction, but what is fiction? It’s a way to lie, but it’s a special art of lying to get as close to the truth as possible.” (Waterstones)