Maria Leitner: „Hotel Amerika“ – Die Kehrseite des Amerikanischen Traums

In the organizer's words:

The dream of prosperity is still a long way off for most of the characters in Maria Leitner's "Hotel Amerika" - Irish washerwoman Shirley, Swedish chambermaid Ingrid and German kitchen boy Fritz toil under harsh conditions in a luxury hotel in New York. The novel tells the story of a day in their lives, which initially begins quite normally. But then the rebellion is rehearsed in the canteen...

Maria Leitner's debut novel "Hotel Amerika" was a great success in 1930 and was translated into several languages before the National Socialists withdrew it from circulation. With her investigative social reportages, the journalist became a pioneer of this genre. She also reported on her life-threatening investigations in Nazi Germany: in 1936, she used a forged passport to gain access to the then-banned "Heine Room" in the Düsseldorf State and City Library.

The actress Jasmin-Nevin Varul will read passages from the novel. In addition, literary scholar Anna Weber, who researches "German-Jewish Women's Life Writing in Exile", will provide insights into the background of the novel and Maria Leitner's spectacular life.

Moderator: Nora Schön

Registration is requested at anmeldungen-hhi@duesseldorf.de or +49 (0)211-89-95571.

Price information:

4.00 € reduced