Das Material ordnen und ohne Ambitionen aufzeichnen. Hermann Ungars ,,Die Ermordung des Hauptmanns Hanika. Tragödie einer Ehe'' (1925)
Organizing the information and recording it without ambition. ''Die Ermordung des Hauptmanns Hanika. Tragödie einer Ehe'' (1925) by Hermann Ungar

Summary/Abstract: Herrmann Ungar’s text, which deals with the topic of the murder of a captain in Brünn (the murder mentioned in the title) appeared as part of the series ''Außenseiter der Gesellschaft. Verbrechen der Gegenwart'' (Outsiders in Society). In this series, which was published between 1924 and 1925 by the Berlin publishing house Die Schmiede, various authors deal with criminal cases of the time. They closely examine the court cases in order to throw light on the complex convergence of the individual and the judiciary. We see that, in doing so, most of the authors, who were principally writers of literature, consciously reflect upon the difficulty of writing about the stories. A central question (for them) is whether it is possible to arrange the facts and the preconditions for the crimes. An entirely fact-based and unbiased account of the criminal case is evidently not possible, however. Owing to the situation concerning the facts and the convoluted nature of the circumstances, Ungar is unable to work with unambiguous, logical or rational concepts (or opposite concepts like guilt / innocence) and resorts to suggestive narration in order to formulate an alternative narrative in contradiction of the court verdict. The essay firstly intends to point out difficulties in differentiating between fictional (fictionalizing) and factual narration in the context of literary criticism of the law. Consequently, the text transcends the conventional, recognized genres. The approach of the authors of the series, as the example of Ungar illustrates, is moving towards new paradigms, but at the same time various forms of emotionalism are involved, either consciously or unconsciously. In all, both findings suggest that this corpus is still as difficult to assign to a particularly recognized genre, literary tradition (as for example “Neue Sachlichkeit”) or type of journalistic (factual) writing as it ever was.

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