Nostalgia and Optimism in else Ury's Nesthakchen Books for Young Girls in the Weimar Republic‪.‬

Else Ury's ten-volume Nesthakchen series for girls (published 1918-25) tells the story of a doctor's daughter from Berlin, beginning with the heroine's childhood and ending with her life as a grandmother. Although the novels offer an idealized picture of Wilhelmine Germany, they also reflect the tension between traditional gender expectations and newly conceived roles for women in the Weimar era. At the same time, the conservative, middle-class German virtues embodied by Nesthakchen and her family may have functioned for readers as a bulwark against economic uncertainty and the transformation of social mores after 1918. The Nesthakchen books offered readers an escape from the pressures and anxieties of the day through a nostalgic depiction of the past, as well as a hopeful vision of the future with a guaranteed happy ending. **********