German Irony: The Satirical Fiction of Hans Hellmut Kirst

Hans Hellmut Kirst (5 December 1914 – 13 February 1989) was a German novelist and the author of 46 books, 23 of which were translated into English. Kirst is best remembered as the creator of the "Gunner Asch" series, which detailed the ongoing struggle of an honest individual to maintain his identity and humanity amidst the criminality and corruption of Nazi Germany, and for the Edgar Award nominated "The Night Of the Generals", which chronicled the search for a serial killer in the midst of the madness of WWII. All of his novels feature the devastating use of irony and a surprising deadpan humor as he savages the German character, including his own. He explained his membership in the Nazi Party by saying he'd "confused National Socialism with Germany"; when asked about German initial denial of Hitler's atrocities, he said, "it's hard to admit one had joined a club full of murderers." Admit it he did, and for the rest of his life he wrote about it, often with great success.