Ongoing Trial

• Longlisted for the German Book Prize 2023
• Awarded the Heinrich Böll Prize 2023
• Selected by New Books in German
  

"We are the ones in for a shock" - Kathrin Röggla’s novel on the biggest trial in Germany's recent history

The trial of the members of the National Socialist Underground was described by observers as the most important trial since reunification and a glimpse into the abyss of German society. 9 murders and 58 other racist acts were tried in Munich over a period of 438 days. Resolution, justice, punishment and redemption; the expectations for the trial and the resulting verdict could hardly be met. "No closing the book on this!" That was the demand of many voices from the civil suit after the verdict from the NSU trials. Too little had been explained, while too much had been promised politically. But what exactly happens with a trial whose limits are so vehemently disputed? Kathrin Röggla doesn't talk about a closed case in the past tense (as is customary), and she adopts the deliberately unprofessional perspective of a “we” sitting at the top of seating for the general public. But who exactly are "we" when every "we" is called into question by the trial? With great accuracy, but also with astonishing comedy and musicality, Röggla’s novel tells of the roles and rules of the ongoing trial in order to arrive at a radically open, polyphonic form of resolution. It is a book about the active participation of all the people that make the court a vibrant place of democracy.

Heinrich Böll Prize jury statement: "Kathrin Röggla is a writer who can be described with three adjectives: committed, interested, elaborate. (...) What all her texts have in common, apart from their stylistic and formal brilliance, is their socio-political commitment, which finds its expression not in theory but in documentary-literary observation. An example of this is her current publication Ongoing Trial: a novel about the National Socialist Underground (NSU) trial, which Röggla followed for years. (...) The elegance and precision of her writing set standards."

"A moral picture of society and justice [...] Kathrin Röggla has not put the rule of law and its limits in a nutshell, but in a novel." - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Andreas Platthaus

"Röggla surprises on every page with her sense of language and stylistic richness." - WDR Lesestoff, Moritz Holler

"It is the perspective that makes this book so unique and so special." - hr2 Kultur, Martin Maria Schwarz

"Kathrin Röggla weaves an artfully varied fabric from the many threads of the process." - Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Martin Oehlen

"[...] it is a powerful reminder that this people, in whose name judgement is made, is made up of many voices." - Kronen Zeitung, Franziska Trost

"Rögglas's great novel will stay with us for a long time, long beyond the current book season." - Frankfurter Neue Presse

“A wide-awake observer of our present.” - Jury for the Else Lasker-Schüler Prize 2022

"... one of the most interesting literary books in recent years. And one of the most political. A rare combination.” - Jörg Plath, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, on die alarmbereiten