Enemy in the Country is the first English translation of this fictional book by Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing (1872–1933), who trained and served as a physician in a military hospital in the First World War. Lessing was assassinated by the Nazis during their rise to power. The collection of short stories, satires, novella, and poetry is unique in Lessing’s writings. Set during the1923–1925 French occupation of the Ruhr, they are powerful warnings, on the dangers of threatening a prostrate post-First World War Germany with reparations and occupation. Written ten years before Adolf Hitler became Germany’s chancellor, the work foreshadowed much that was to come in the two decades ahead.
About the translator/editor:
Peter C. Appelbaum, MD, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Pathology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He is the author, editor, and translator of numerous books on Jewish military history and literature, including Broken Carousel: German Jewish Soldier-Poets of the Great War (co-editor), Loyalty Betrayed, Prayers After the Slaughter by Kurt Tucholsky (co-editor and co-translator), and Loyal Sons.
