Ghosts of Berlin: Stories

Berlin's hip present comes up against the city's dark past in these seven supernatural tales by the son of the great filmmaker who "shares his father's curious and mordant wit" (The Financial Times).

In these hair-raising stories from the celebrated filmmaker and author Rudolph Herzog, millennial Berliners discover that the city is still the home of many unsettled—and deeply unsettling—ghosts. And those ghosts are not very happy about the newcomers. 

Thus the coddled daughter of a rich tech executive finds herself slowly tormented by the poltergeist of a Weimer-era laborer, and a German intelligence officer confronts a troll wrecking havoc upon the city's unbuilt airport. An undead Nazi sympathizer romances a Greek emigre, while Turkish migrants curse the gentrifiers that have evicted them. 

Herzog's keen observational eye and acid wit turn modern city stories into deliciously dark satires that ride the knife-edge of suspenseful and terrifying.

Rudolph Herzog is an award-winning writer and director. His BBC/ARD documentary on humor in Hitler's Third Reich became the basis of DEAD FUNNY named a book of the year by THE ATLANTIC. His second book, the critically acclaimed SHORT HISTORY OF NUCLEAR FOLLY was later made into a documentary that streamed on Netflix. He is the son of acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog.

Emma Rault is a translator from the German. She lives in Los Angeles.