The Story of Darkness By Gerhard Roth, Translated by Helga Schreckenberger

"The Story of Darkness tells the real-life story of Karl Berger, a Viennese Jew. Growing up in Leopoldstadt, the second Viennese district, he seems firmly established in his Austrian identity. But in the early thirties, the growing anti-Semitism and the hostilities towards the Jewish population make him realize that his secure identity was just an illusion. After the Anschluss, the eighteen-year-old Berger emigrates to England. He joins the Czech Exile Army and fights against the German troops in France and Germany. After the war, he attempts to settle in England and Israel. In 1962 he returns to Austria only to find out that he has become a stranger in his native country. This work is one of seven volumes that form the cycle Archives of Silence, Roth's examination of Austria's past and present. Karl Berger's story presents a case study of a Jewish fate in this century. Anti-Semitism and National Socialism appear as logical outgrowths of the intolerant, normative social forces that Gerhard Roth criticizes in all of his works. In addition, this work serves as a warning against the dangers of undercurrent anti-Semitism in Vienna today.

Gerhard Roth was born in Graz, Austria on 24 June 1942. After studying medicine at the University of Graz, Roth went to work at the Graz Center for Statistics in 1967 and later became its manager. He published his first novel, the autobiography of albert einstein in 1972 and has been a free-lance writer since 1977. Roth published four plays, fourteen novels, a children's book, several essay volumes and photo features. His works have been translated into Italian, French, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and English. He is the recipient of numerous awards."