Ostend: 1936, Summer of Friendship and Sadness

In 2014, the biographical novel “Ostend. 1936: Summer of Friendship and Sorrow” was published. The story takes place at the prestigious seaside resort of Ostend, where in 1936 writers, journalists, publishers, and poets such as Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, Arthur Koestler, and Ernst Toller gathered. They ended up there because in Nazi Germany there was no place for them. The picturesque setting with sun, the sea, and drinks could have been nothing more than vacation with friends—if the worsening political climate hadn’t been chasing them, if their books hadn’t been banned, and if they hadn’t lost their homelands. These immigrant poets and writers, expelled from their country, are experiencing one of the last peaceful years. Volker Weidermann describes this unusual summer on the eve of World War II with precision and emotion, when the German cultural elite celebrated life in despair, knowing it might soon end.