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Name: Hubertus von Prittwitz

Occupation: Author

‘From Neuried, a cycle path led through Forstenrieder Park to Pullach, where the BND had its headquarters.’

Mr von Prittwitz, is there really a village of spies?

I only learnt about the ‘village of spies’ as a name for Neuried later, during the years of research for this book about my life. That's what Neuried was called in my circles until the fall of the Berlin Wall. I know that I was only allowed to socialise with a select circle of friends who were vetted by the secret service. Even the cleaning lady - everyone who entered our house was checked by the secret service. It was noticeable that I was not allowed to have anything to do with rich people, such as those who went on holiday to Bora Bora or parked their Formula 1 cars in the driveway. These were images straight out of a Wes Anderson film, the KGB and Stasi spies who monitored and spied on the grey, inconspicuous Western spies disguised themselves as decals of capitalists.

From Neuried, a cycle path led through Forstenrieder Park to Pullach, where the BND had its headquarters.

 Is Victor who I think he is?

Of course, I don't know who you think Victor is. I certainly thought a lot about Donald Trump when I was writing. I have created an extroverted narcissist from various public figures, as I clearly show in Scarab, a ‘star cut’ that the tabloids only report on in selected articles. Victor is therefore Praetorius' capitalist antagonist and a monstrous collage of scandals of the time. For years, one of my best friends was described in the tabloids as ‘one of the most sought-after bachelors in Germany’. He and his family were stalked in a penetrating way. I want to use Victor to point out the stark contrast between the truth and the decal. The tabloid press mercilessly destroys Lady Diana or footballers who come out of the closet. So for me it's not about guessing who might be meant, but rather about the consequences of this kind of press and who we end up with as president. If we constantly misreport the so-called elite as being driven by the basest instincts, greed and arrogance, then at some point we will elect the most incompetent men who actually behave that way because we find them ‘authentic’.

Have you really met George W. Bush?

I have never met George W. Bush. I am preparing my next novels with these people and other things that I introduce in Scarab, in which I try to put myself in his son's shoes, to describe the time after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The end of the Cold War brought the secret service agents to power, and their sons were then allowed to spoon up the soup. In the scene with George W. Bush, it was actually the first female candidate for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party of the USA (at least that's how she was introduced to us) who gave the eulogy for me.

‘The end of the Cold War brought the secret service agents to power, and their sons were then allowed to spoon up the soup.’

I think that part of your book might be of interest to decades-long readers of Bunte, or do you not care?

I'm interested in contemporary history. I've taken a relish in the tabloid press and, being a performative writer, I've booked a luxury cruise to Brazil. I spent days on the Atlantic without the internet, feeling the escape through the Sahara, the burgeoning freedom. In Brazil, I then lived on an island in a 5-star resort that top international stars had bought to make it available for creative people to work in. The resort was cheap because it had gone bankrupt due to Covid. That was my prison camp for the man-eater. This allowed me to capture and process the difficult themes of Scarab in a light and accessible way. So it is quite intentional that the readers of Bunten find themselves in the music of the time or the kitchen furnishings in the modern rich mansion in the middle of nowhere. The scenes with high society actually happened, but were also brought into the book from a boutique cruise ship, for example. The richest man in the world has also brought the pianist from such a cruise with him in Scarab, who plays target group-orientated music: ‘I will survive’ and ‘Do you believe in life after love’.

‘I only realised in my mid-thirties that it was sexual abuse.’

I would like to see the book from a more serious point of view, especially when I think of the chapter with Mrs I.. And I hope it's just fiction.

The scenes with Iris actually happened. I was sexually abused for years on the grounds that my virility had to be tested to ensure the continuation of the family. I only realised in my mid-thirties that it was sexual abuse. The constant repetition of the words and actions then found their way into the book.

In the lines after page 178, it is implied what the consequences often are for the victims of psychological or physical violence. Am I right about that?

Prostitution seems to be a consequence of sexual abuse in many cases. I only felt safe as a toyboy. I had to be promiscuous. I had to have sex under different identities. I couldn't do it any other way. I couldn't love honestly. The consequences of psychological and physical violence start from the first line of the book. It's not about transgenerational trauma, it's about the repetition of violence across generations. There is no more right and wrong. There is no more truth and lies, delusion and reality become blurred for the victim, but also for the perpetrator. In Scarab, the reader therefore often doesn't know whether it is imaginary or not.

‘There is no more right and wrong. There is no longer truth and lies, delusion and reality become blurred for the victim, but also for the perpetrator.’

Basically, it's a serious story of abuse. How was Friedrich able to free himself from it? And do you think you can give your readers any advice on this?

Friedrich frees himself by escaping, but even when he finally succeeds, he fails. He is freed in the end, I don't want to reveal how and by whom, just this much: Scarab is a story in which men play politics and overlook women in the process. When everything has gone wrong again, they only ask the men how it could have happened again. Nobody sees the women. They are invisible.

I've mainly resorted to literature, reading and writing. And I went to the doctor. The rule is: the therapist does the therapy. I still have a terrible illness, cluster headaches, and am 60% disabled. Nevertheless, I was able to lead a self-determined life and find myself. I now advise victims of violence and their relatives and look for suitable doctors and therapists for them. So yes! I have a few tips up my sleeve. Firstly, take a look at your own body, your sleep, your diet and your exercise. Discuss this with a therapist! EMDR works! It makes you roll your eyes and process the horror. I discovered this on a long train journey, which is why every one of my books features a long train journey.

‘I wrote like the devil, flying over my traumas. Sometimes I was very surprised when I remembered what I had suppressed and forgotten, the bestial cruelties.’

The book is written in a breathless style, as if the inner conflicts have been pent up for far too long?

Scarab is written breathlessly, with a certain furore and urgency. This stems from the fact that I wanted to save my children. I wanted my children to have nothing more to do with the family. I was visiting my father and stepmother one last time when my stepmother sneaked off with my son. When I finally realised this, I searched for my son in an ever-increasing panic. I finally found them both in the hobby room in front of the television. She had put the little one on her lap and spread a blanket over him. When I opened the door, she looked at me coo-eyed and said: ‘We're so cold.’

I wrote like the devil, flying over my traumas. Sometimes I was amazed when I remembered what I had repressed and forgotten, the bestial cruelties. It did me good, it kept my children safe from my family's obsessive grip.

May I ask how your family reacted to your book?

That is the greatest miracle. My family is thrilled and has congratulated me. There were also people who said: ‘You've finally done it.’ My aunt on my mother's side is Dagmar von Gersdorff. She writes about strong women in German history, ‘Goethe's Mother’, ‘Caroline von Humboldt’ for example, top books. And this aunt has given me the thumbs up and thinks Scarab is great. I'm relieved and totally proud. The book is a triumph. At last. It took a long time.

‘I wanted to follow the heraldic figure, the black slave on the chessboard, back to Africa, following in the footsteps of Henry-Morton Stanley, and that's what I did.’

To what extent is Friedrich's story fiction or real family history?

Everything about Friedrich actually took place, Scarab is a real experience. And that's why everything is fiction. I had to protect myself and the characters in the novel. There are also other victims. My real family is much bigger; the novel is about a brother and sister who symbolise the division of Germany into East and West. The places have remained the same, as has the course of the escapes. I wanted to follow the heraldic figure, the black slave on the chessboard, back to Africa, following in the footsteps of Henry-Morton Stanley, and that's what I did. That is performative literature, and the result is this book.

Why did you choose the title Scarab?

In a way, Scarab is Kafka's Sisyphus. I have been fascinated by scarabs since I was a small child, as well as by the oil painting of the ancestor of the Prittwitz family: ‘Terror Tartarorum’, which translates from Latin as ‘Fear West-West’, and it was said that this terror was the gatekeeper from Kafka's novels. So I rolled the dung ball of family history over and over again, sending Friedrich in Scarab from gatekeeper to gatekeeper, Haruki Murakami-style. I think the scarab and the dung beetle are beautiful, and then he puts his children in a dung ball so that they eat their way through and grow big and beautiful.

What do you hope readers will gain from your book?

First and foremost, the most important thing for me is to entertain readers. I worked together with Friederike Römhild, who founded frieda r.. Without her, this book would not have been possible. She provided structure and suspense, that blurred, no man's land between delusion and truth. And she created emotions. I used to laugh and say, ‘We've raised Kafka to Rosamunde Pilcher level. The men are like dogs, they all have their own hairstyle and everyone wags their tail!’ Then I'm interested in the relationship between man and machine, man in the maelstrom of progress. I constantly have machines and devices as both a curse and a blessing in Scarab. People no longer understand their world, they become cruel and no longer believe anything except conspiracy theories. That is highly topical. And Scarab does not explain, there is no moralising finger-wagging. The book is gripping and exciting. Top! Thank you Friederike!

Is there anything in your life that you would like to change?

The question doesn't arise for me.

‘I used to laugh and say, ‘We've raised Kafka to Rosamunde Pilcher level.’

What was it like for you to find a publisher for your first book, and what's next for you?

I don't have an agency and I'm a drama queen. It's Kafka year. So I sent the text to Europa Verlag on 1 January 2024 because they published Arthur Koestler. As a young boy, I took an anti-communist book from my spy father's shelf, it was the novel ‘Solar Eclipse’. I thought it reflected my situation very well, I'd write a story like that! I was accepted on 2 January and signed the contract on the 12th, along with a cautious enquiry as to whether I would write another novel. Yes, that's what I'm doing. I'm continuing to roll the dung beetle's ball. It's about the period from 1989 to 1992, reunification and my grandmother Ilse-Erika, Baroness von Richthofen. Her father was called Praetorius, like Friedrich's father in Scarab, and allegedly had the painting of Terror Tartarorum hanging behind him in the entrance hall when he wouldn't let Kafka into his castle. I didn't believe this story, but I was very interested in terrorism, whereas my grandmother found the ‘Tartarorum’ much more important.

The result is an incredible story about Ilse-Erika and the stupidity of men (Goethe and me) who don't want to see women. Ilse-Erika is a direct descendant of Charlotte von Stein, who was very mortally in love with Goethe.

Cover Skarabäus @Hubertus von Prittwitz