The Patrioteer

"Der Untertan" (literally "the subject", translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw", "The Patrioteer", and "The Loyal Subject") is one of the best known novels of German author Heinrich Mann. The title character, Diederich Hessling, a dedicated "Untertan" in the sense of a person subservient to a monarch or prince, is an immoral man who is meant to serve as an allegory of both the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II and German society of his time.



The novel was completed during the July Crisis in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I. Extracts had been published in the satirical magazine "Simplicissimus" from 1912 onwards, causing great controversy. A book edition was not published until 1918 by Kurt Wolff in Leipzig.