Blood Brothers by Ernst Haffner

New York : Other Press, 2015

Blood Brothers, originally published as Jugend auf der Landstrasse Berlin in 1932, was banned by the Nazis in 1933 and disappeared. It was re-issued in the original German in 2013 after it's re-discovery. This English translation by Michael Hofmann is based on the 2013 edition.

Haffner was a journalist and social worker in Berlin from 1925 to 1933 and as a result, his only novel has a feeling of reportage. He shows the reader the underground world of Berlin in the years leading up to Hitler's taking power. Gangs of youth who aren't old enough to work legitimately must survive any way they can through pick-pocketing, prostitution and theft ... relying on each other to survive.

Willi and Ludwig, our main characters, grow uncomfortable with stealing from others in the community who also have nothing, separate from the gang and try to go legitimate in another part of town. This is when the reader gets a glimpse of the wealthier parts of the city as our protagonists are picked up by a couple of wealthy gay men for the evening. After this experience, they decide they don't want to go down the road of prostitution but form a bond of mutual support outside of the gang.