COULD Adolf Hitler come to power today? Timur Vermes poses this question in his debut novel “He’s Back” (“Er Ist Wieder Da”). Told in the first person, the plot sees Hitler randomly wake up from a 66-year sleep in 2011 Berlin. There is no explanation for how or why this has happened, but that is hardly the point. Hitler begins to muddle his way through this new Germany, and people can’t help but notice his unusual appearance, his uncanny likeness to the late Führer. Assuming no one would guilelessly decide to look like Hitler, many start to assume he is engaged in some kind of comedic performance art. Sure enough, Hitler begins to develop a following, appears on television, appeals to youth on YouTube and becomes a media star. Eventually he dabbles in politics—with a fervent campaign against dog muck on the streets, for example—and continues his professional advance. “He gets quite far,” says Mr Vermes at a bookstore in Munich's Marienplatz. “You have somebody with no means, no money, he looks like Hitler, he is Hitler. You tend to underestimate him, like he was underestimated back in 1920.”
Mr Vermes has clearly struck a chord: the book has been a bestseller in Germany since its release in late 2012, and it is being translated into 32 languages, with an English-language version due next year. The film rights have been sold.
The book’s fans and critics often point to the same thing: the way in which it humanises Hitler. “People try to see Hitler as a monster. The monster is just an easy explanation for us not to feel guilty,” says Mr Vermes. “The more powerful he is the less chance we had to resist. That is why we want to keep this monster.” By confronting readers with Hitler’s charisma, the author highlights the role that public popularity played in Hitler’s rise to power. 
One chapter sees Hitler make an appearance on a comedy show with an ethnically Turkish host. Told from Hitler’s perspective, an encounter with a female stagehand is a fine example of the kind of awkward social interactions that populate the text. The stagehand’s informality clearly shocks the resurrected German leader:  
“‘You’ve been on television before, Mr Hitler?’ she asked after a while. I noted that first names were no longer on the agenda. She had presumably been awed by my Führer ’s aura.
‘Several times,’ I said, ‘but all rather a long time ago.’
‘Oh,’ she said, ‘anything I might have seen you in?’
‘I suspect not,’ I said. ‘It was here in Berlin, at the Olympic Stadium...’
‘Were you the warm-up man for a headlining-act?’
‘Was I what?’ I asked her, but she had stopped listening.”
Amusing as this may be, the book’s satire has a serious point. “At first it was just fun, but while writing it I realised there is something more in it,” says Mr Vermes. “It’s his side. We have his logic, his explanations. With this you can bring the reader to almost agree with him. You can see how it is to be seduced, to follow, how easy it was to connect with him. You are the only one who can say ‘no’.”
Mr Vermes, a 46-year-old born of a Hungarian father and German mother, formerly worked as a journalist in what he describes as “the yellow press”. It was there that he honed his skills for provoking readers. “In those tabloids you have to attract the buyer every new day,” he says. His idea for a Hitler book came about when he came across a copy of Hitler’s little known “Second Book”, written after “Mein Kampf” in 1928. Mr Vermes was inspired to write a third book by Hitler, and set about studying the man’s speeches and writings to better reproduce the Führer’s voice.
Despite the book’s provocative premise, Mr Vermes figured “He’s Back” would find a niche audience. He was mistaken. It has sold at least 600,000 copies in print and another 200,000 or so in ebook downloads and audio books.
Yet any attempt to delve into the psychology of the Third Reich comes with controversy. Areview in the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung called Mr Vermes “politically naïve” and alleged that his readers may not be fully in on his joke. “Most of the people who have negative reactions haven’t even read the book. That is my experience,” said Christoph Stempl, a manager at the Hugendubel bookstore on Munich’s Marienplatz.
Stacked in the front window of most German booksellers, the book’s stylish cover draws the eyes in. It features a white background overlaid with a slicked black hairdo, its title written to resemble Hitler’s boxy moustache. The price is €19.33, the year the Führer became chancellor 80 years ago. Mr Vermes is facing calls for a sequel, something he finds highly unlikely. “I already thought about sending him to America, but then it is like the movie ‘Terminator 2’ or something. It gives you nothing new to think about.”