Nostalgia and Optimism in Else Ury's Nesthäkchen Books for Young Girls in the Weimar Republic

Habt ihr schon mal unser Nesthakchen gesehen? Es heist Annemarie, Vater und Mutti aber rufen es meistens "Lotte." Ein lustiges Stubsnaschen hat unser Nesthakchen und zwei winzige Blondzopfchen mit grosen hellblauen Schleifen (Ury 1:7).1 So begins the first of Else Ury's Nesthakchen books, a series for girls published between 1918 and 1925. Over the course of ten volumes, readers follow Annemarie Braun, otherwise known as "Doktors Nesthakchen," from the nursery to the schoolroom, the university, and finally to her own home, where she reigns supreme as beloved wife, mother, and grandmother. Also beloved by generations of young readers, Annemarie Braun represents the ideal, middle-class German child and woman of the early 20th century, and the fictional story of her life offers contemporary scholarship valuable insights into the construction of gender, class, and national identity in a time of rapid social change. Not only did Ury's Nesthakchen books prove phenomenally successful during the Weimar Republic (by 1926 over one million copies had been sold), but nine of the ten volumes in the series are still in print today, with a total of over six million copies sold.2 In 1923, Else Ury intended to conclude the saga with her heroine's marriage at the end of volume six, Nesthakchen fliegt aus dem Nest, but after receiving a flood of fan mail from readers begging for more Nesthakchen, Ury obligingly completed four more books (Brentzel 120). In the 1980s, Nesthakchen experienced a popular revival after the ZDF television network broadcast a six-part series based on Ury's first three books. Although it has been decades since the programs aired, one can find on the internet a lively chat room devoted to "Erinnerungen und Kommentare" on the Nesthakchen television series. A typical comment, posted by Christiane (born 1975), reads: Ich war schon als kleines Madchen ein groser Fan; musste unbedingt eine "Gerda" haben [Nesthakchen's favorite doll is named Gerda], habe meine Mutter genervt, mir ein Matrosenkleid zu kaufen und meine Oma hat, um mir einen Gefallen zu tun, mich "Annemarie" genannt... Im nachhinein ziemlich peinlich. ("Erinnerungen und Kommentare") Another chat room guest, Dani (born 1976), wrote: "Es ist der Hammer! Gestern fand ich meine alten Nesthakchen Bucher und wurde wieder total an meine Kindheit erinnert. Und als ich diese Seite hier fand, war ich uberrascht, dass ich nicht die einzige bin, die sooo gerne die Serie gesehen hat und die Bucher mehrmals verschlungen hat" ("Erinnerungen"). The word "verschlingen" can be used to describe the reading experience of many young female readers with regard to the Nesthakchen books and other series of adolescent literature for girls. Knowing that another book awaits, readers can devour one episode after another, one book after another, whiling away long hours in another world. Works such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books (published 1932-1943) and L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series (published 1908-1939) enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) a level of popularity among American adolescent girls similar to the Nesthakchen books. One reason for this may lie in the fact that the story of one heroine's life, as a kind of extended Bildungsroman, offers readers struggling through the "awkward" years between the ages of twelve and sixteen a model for the successful transition to maturity. Although published during the Weimar Republic, Else Ury's Nesthakchen books belong to a late-19th-century tradition of literature written expressly for female adolescents, the so-called Backfischliteratur.3 The best-known example is Emmy von Rhoden's Der Trotzkopf (1885), the story of a stubborn tomboy, Ilse, who is sent to a boarding school to be "cured" of her inappropriate behavior and is eventually transformed into a model wife and mother. This plot finds its way into numerous other Backfischhucher which almost always feature a girl "aus besseren Kreisen," daughter of a doctor, landowner, or officer. …