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Blame it on the Bauhaus?
The gripping story of a gifted female artist from the modern Bauhaus School of Art and Design who during the 1920s and 30s finds her art and relationships threatened by the rise of Nazi influences.
With its minimalistic approach and emphasis on function before form, the modern Bauhaus School of Art and Design in Dessau, Germany seeks to move the world beyond the ornate styles of the past. When she enters this highly charged atmosphere, Otti Berger enthusiastically looks for her artistic niche. However, because she is a secret Jew in 1920s and 30s Germany, a dark cloud hangs over her love relationship, her joy in creating, and her eventual financial success. While seeking a way out of her precarious position, she tries to figure out how Hitler could win the hearts and minds of so many otherwise good people.
With its minimalistic approach and emphasis on function before form, the modern Bauhaus School of Art and Design in Dessau, Germany seeks to move the world beyond the ornate styles of the past. When she enters this highly charged atmosphere, Otti Berger enthusiastically looks for her artistic niche. However, because she is a secret Jew in 1920s and 30s Germany, a dark cloud hangs over her love relationship, her joy in creating, and her eventual financial success. While seeking a way out of her precarious position, she tries to figure out how Hitler could win the hearts and minds of so many otherwise good people.
224 pages, Paperback
Published June 30, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 13, 2022
About a month ago my wife and I attended the LitFest here in Chicago. It's annual street event held at the south end of the Loop that features all things literary but primarily talks by authors of varied stripes and used and new book sales under tents in the street. It's a great event that has been on Covid hiatus for the last 2 years so we were more than eager to attend. While touring the book tents I encountered a lady selling this book. As a former practitioner of the art of architecture the title caught my eye so I stopped to take a closer look. I now assume the lady selling the book was in fact the author and now I wish I had had the time to discuss the book in more detail because there would have been things to talk about. The book, short as it is at only 209 pages of text, is a historical fiction based on the life of Otti Berger. While the book is based on Otti's short life the book is really one for our time as it is a lesson and warning about the rise of fascism.
Otti Berger was a real person, a gifted artist and weaver that was a student and then a teacher at Bauhaus in Dessau Germany. The story follows Otti's student days and her Bauhaus life in general. In this regard I found it interesting to read about the student life and routine of a school I know only through my studies as an architecture student. The people that inhabit Otti's life are probably well known to many. Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Moholy Nagy, Kandinsky, Klee, the Albers are all there and more and they play varying parts in Otti's story. What is also depicted is the emerging existence of the Nazis and Hitler. It is also interesting to read how this emerging menace is regarded by average Germans in the late 1920's and early '30's. It is this sort of depiction that can hit home with us today as the same behavior is evident in many of our fellow Americans. After the Nazis close the Bauhaus and refuse employment to Jews in most professions and occupations Otti's story becomes much more compelling and interesting. Otti's story is merely an example of what can happen to a person, a people, and a country when hate and bigotry are used by the ambitious to sway the will of the people. Her story is well worth reading whether or not you have ever heard of the Bauhaus or Otti Berger.
While I did enjoy the book and can recommend it I did have one problem with it. I can't say I liked the writing style or the book's format. The book chapters are generally a page or less in length until you get more than halfway through the text. After reading most of the first half of the book dealing with Otti's student life it occurred to me that it was like reading a young woman's journal entries. Each minuscule chapter was simply a snippet of Otti's student routine. While I was interested in learning what it was like to be a student at the Bauhaus the format, to me, seemed to inhibit a comfortable narrative flow for the reader. Once the story shifts from the Bauhaus to Berlin and the Nazis become more of a presence the chapters are longer and there is more of a readable flow. The short, and I mean short, chapters do make the book a quick read but their content felt like an assemblage of fragments of a student's daily life. For many people this might make for a dull read but I can assure you that this doesn't go on for the entire book. I will again recommend the book as the lesson it imparts cannot be repeated often enough. Enjoy.
Otti Berger was a real person, a gifted artist and weaver that was a student and then a teacher at Bauhaus in Dessau Germany. The story follows Otti's student days and her Bauhaus life in general. In this regard I found it interesting to read about the student life and routine of a school I know only through my studies as an architecture student. The people that inhabit Otti's life are probably well known to many. Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Moholy Nagy, Kandinsky, Klee, the Albers are all there and more and they play varying parts in Otti's story. What is also depicted is the emerging existence of the Nazis and Hitler. It is also interesting to read how this emerging menace is regarded by average Germans in the late 1920's and early '30's. It is this sort of depiction that can hit home with us today as the same behavior is evident in many of our fellow Americans. After the Nazis close the Bauhaus and refuse employment to Jews in most professions and occupations Otti's story becomes much more compelling and interesting. Otti's story is merely an example of what can happen to a person, a people, and a country when hate and bigotry are used by the ambitious to sway the will of the people. Her story is well worth reading whether or not you have ever heard of the Bauhaus or Otti Berger.
While I did enjoy the book and can recommend it I did have one problem with it. I can't say I liked the writing style or the book's format. The book chapters are generally a page or less in length until you get more than halfway through the text. After reading most of the first half of the book dealing with Otti's student life it occurred to me that it was like reading a young woman's journal entries. Each minuscule chapter was simply a snippet of Otti's student routine. While I was interested in learning what it was like to be a student at the Bauhaus the format, to me, seemed to inhibit a comfortable narrative flow for the reader. Once the story shifts from the Bauhaus to Berlin and the Nazis become more of a presence the chapters are longer and there is more of a readable flow. The short, and I mean short, chapters do make the book a quick read but their content felt like an assemblage of fragments of a student's daily life. For many people this might make for a dull read but I can assure you that this doesn't go on for the entire book. I will again recommend the book as the lesson it imparts cannot be repeated often enough. Enjoy.
November 13, 2022
I really appreciate the author’s desire to shine a light on the life of a female artist who “dared to try” when women were often forced to stay home or in the background.
Otti Berger’s story was set in a time and a place —and a profession—that I’m not very familiar with and I really enjoyed learning more about!
I felt this story got better and more interesting as the book went along, though it meant her happy life was being changed and challenged by the turmoil of Hitler’s rise.
It took me longer to read than I expected but that was only because so many aspects of her story made me want to learn more and internet investigations were often necessary!
I also appreciated the epilogue and photos at the finish of the story. Both additions made the characters and their story that much more real to me.
Otti Berger’s story was set in a time and a place —and a profession—that I’m not very familiar with and I really enjoyed learning more about!
I felt this story got better and more interesting as the book went along, though it meant her happy life was being changed and challenged by the turmoil of Hitler’s rise.
It took me longer to read than I expected but that was only because so many aspects of her story made me want to learn more and internet investigations were often necessary!
I also appreciated the epilogue and photos at the finish of the story. Both additions made the characters and their story that much more real to me.
December 4, 2022
This is a well-written and informative story of the life of Otti Berger, a woman famous for her innovations in the design and weaving of textiles in the 20s and 30s at the Bauhaus, a school of art and design in Dessau, Germany. She has several patents and a thriving business, but because she is a secret Jew, a dark cloud hangs over her life. I learned a lot about the art movement at the Bauhaus.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews