Landgericht

Richard Kornitzer is a judge by profession, and the Nazi era has torn a rift through his life. After the war he returns from exile to Germany, hoping to pick up where he left off. He finds a country swinging between depression and new beginnings, and a homeland that has become almost foreign to him.

The demands he makes of the state go unanswered, and his trust in the new Germany begins to crumble. Even the reunion with his family does not quite succeed. The expectation that the new beginning will turn everything for the better slowly gives way to deep bitterness.

The story follows a man who never truly arrives, and a family scattered between Lake Constance, Mainz, and England. The novel tells, with linguistic gentleness, of justice that comes late and often not at all, and at the same time of the founding years of a republic.