Plot Introduction
The novel portrays actor Hendrik Höfgen's rise from the Hamburger Künstlertheater (Hamburg Artists' Theater) in 1926 to nationwide fame in 1936. Initially, Höfgen flees to Paris on receiving news of the Nazis' rise to power because of his communist past (learning from a friend that he is on a blacklist). A former co-actress from Hamburg, Angelika Siebert, travels to Berlin to convince Lotte von Lindenthal, the girlfriend (and later wife) of a Luftwaffe general to have him pardoned. On returning to Berlin he quickly manages to win over Lotte and her general and with his support has a wonderful career. On obtaining the role of Mephisto in Faust Part One he realizes that he actually made a pact with evil (i.e. Nazism) and lost his humane values (even denouncing his mistress "Black Venus"). There are situations where Höfgen tries to help his friends or tells the prime minister about concentration camp hardships, but he is always concerned not to lose his Nazi patrons.
Read more about this topic: Mephisto (novel)
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