by Ulla Lenze
Nonfiction
Bernstein, Arnie. Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013.
Breuer, William. Hitler’s Undercover War: The Nazi Espionage Invasion of the USA. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
Brown, Anthony Cave. Die unsichtbare Front: Entschieden Geheimdienste den Zweiten Weltkrieg? Munich: Desch, 1976.
Carlson, John Roy. Under Cover: My Four Years in the Nazi Underworld of America. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1943.
Duffy, Peter. Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring. New York: Scribner, 2014.
Hynd, Alan. Passport to Treason: The Inside Story of Spies in America. New York: National Travel Club, 1943.
Mader, Julius. Hitler’s Spionagegenerale sagen aus. Berlin: Verlag der Nation, 1979.
Nesper, Eugen. Der Radio-Amateur “Broadcasting”: ein Lehr-und Hilfsbuch fur die Radio-Amateure aller Länder. Berlin: Springer, 1923.
Ritter, Nikolaus. Cover Name: Dr. Rantzau. Edited and translated by Katharine R. Wallace. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2019.
Siedentopf, Monika. Unternehmen Seelöwe: Widerstand im deutschen Geheimdienst. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2014.
Thorwald, Jürgen. “Die unsichtbare Front.” Der Stern, March 1953.
Wighton, Charles, and Günter Peis. Hitler’s Spies and Saboteurs. London: Award Publications, 1973.
Novels
Di Donato, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. New York: New American Library, 2004.
Glaeser, Ernst. Class 1902. Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2008.
Gold, Michael. Jews Without Money. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009.
Miller, Arthur. Focus. New York: Avon Books, 1965.
Roth, Philip. The Plot Against America. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Films and Documentaries
Hathaway, Henry, dir. The House on 92nd Street. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox, 1945. 88 min.
Kirst, Michaela, dir. Zum Nazi Verdammt: Deutsche in amerikanischen Lagern. Munich: Tangram International, 2008. 52 min.
Nitvak, Anatole, dir. Confessions of a Nazi Spy. Los Angeles: Warner Bros., 1939. 104 min.
A Note from the Translator
Every translation requires research, but this translation was unique in that so much of the research was centered around my home, New York City. Given the novel’s historical setting, I felt the need to be as accurate as I could, which meant not only quoting primary sources verbatim wherever possible when referring to real-life events—the German-American Bund’s rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939; the explosion at the Hercules powder plant on September 12, 1940—but also making sure I had a clear sense of the geography of New York at the time. Was the layout of Carl Schurz Park, where Josef meets Lauren for a date, different in 1939, before the FDR Drive was built along the East River? What about Brooklyn Heights before the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was forced through? And how did Lower Manhattan’s street grid look prior to the construction of the World Trade Center?
Resources like Hagstrom’s New York Atlas, The WPA Guide to New York City, and the AIA Guide to New York City were invaluable, as were the New York Public Library’s online databases. It was particularly enjoyable to look through the NYPL’s collection of early 20th century menus, thanks to which I was able to confirm that chop suey was indeed available in New York in the 1930s—in 1938 you could order it at the Shanghai Food Shop on W. 45th St.—and that at least one diner, the Restaurant Longchamps at Madison and 59th, offered “alligator pear”—served on the half-shell, with crab meat and your choice of Russian or French dressing, it would cost you $1.25 in 1936.
It was not just a concern for historical accuracy, however, that made me so intent on capturing Ulla Lenze’s vivid, tangible evocation of New York. The city holds a special place in the heart of the book’s protagonist, Josef Klein. Indeed, though Josef’s thoughts and motivations are so often unclear—most notably his response to the Nazi activity he finds himself enmeshed in—the affection he feels for his adopted home is unambiguous. It may be exceeded only by his devotion to the radio.
The Radio Operator’s original German title is Der Empfänger, “the receiver.” The title has a double meaning, referring specifically to an electronic component—a radio receiver—and by extension to Josef himself, “one who receives.” Josef is a figure uniquely attuned to the activity around him, a sensitive antenna picking up disturbances in the fraught atmosphere of a city on the verge of war. The passive nature of this receptivity has dire consequences, as Josef is unable to assert himself against the negative influence of the Duquesne spy ring.
But there is nevertheless a positive side to Josef’s receptive nature. He maintains a poignant openness to the world around him. The sense of connectivity, of oneness with the world that he experiences at his radio terminal can be seen as well in his deep identification with New York City. Living in New York, Josef doesn’t need to assert himself; the city itself has personality enough for him. Josef’s model for himself—and others’ for him—might be Thoreau in his cabin on Walden pond, but another, more suitable comparison might be Ishmael from Moby Dick, perched on the masthead aboard the Pequod and so entranced, so at one with his surroundings that he is unable to perform his watch duties. Josef is not a heroic character, but his openness to the world makes him a sympathetic one—and in the end, his receptivity gives him a chance at redemption.
—Marshall Yarbrough
About the Author
ULLA LENZE was born in Germany in 1973. She studied music and philosophy at the University of Cologne. In 2020, she was awarded the Lower Rhine Literature Prize for The Radio Operator. She currently resides in Berlin. The Radio Operator is her first novel available in English.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE RADIO OPERATOR. Copyright © 2020 by Klett-Cotta–J. G. Cotta’sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Translation copyright © 2021 by Marshall Yarbrough.
Originally published as Der Empfänger in Germany in 2020 by Klett-Cotta.
Cover design: Sara Wood
Cover photograph: © Rodney Smith/Trunk Archive
FIRST HARPERVIA EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2021
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lenze, Ulla, 1973- author. | Yarbrough, Marshall, translator.
Title: The radio operator : a novel / Ulla Lenze ; translated from the German by Marshall Yarbrough.
Other titles: Empfänger. English
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : HarperVia, 2021 | “Originally published as Der Empfänger in Germany in 2020 by Klett-Cotta”
Identifiers: LCCN 2020049993 | ISBN 9780063018389 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780063018396 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780063018402 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939–1945—Fiction. | GSAFD: Historical fiction. | Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PT2712.E59 E4713 2021 | DDC 833/.92--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020049993
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Dig
ital Edition MAY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-301840-2
Version 03252021
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-301838-9
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