For the first time from the estate: Gabriele Tergit’s novel “That’s how it was” – Culture

Gabriele Tergit has planned to write a novel of the century three times, telling of the end of the world as she knew it. Twice she has been overtaken by the events and could not have known how brutally the milieus, the mentality and the people she was about would be destroyed. The three novels are set in Berlin, their historical pivotal point being the late twenties and early thirties of the 20th century, the epoch that continues to occupy series television from “Babylon Berlin” to “Eldorado Kadewe” to this day. Tergit’s topic is the upper bourgeoisie, especially the Jewish, its customs, generation breaks and, last but not least, the home furnishings, which can only be understood through their prehistory in the imperial era.