Mary,and befriends the communist Max Grothe as his fellow worker and mentor;
aromantic subplot involving Mary,Grothe, andSukrow remains undeveloped.
Instead the novel focuses onatriangulation of the class struggle that placesSuk-
row between the proletarian Grothe and the bourgeois Gisela.The trainee’spre-
cariousposition between classes becomes painfullyobvious after his promotion
from millwork to lab work; the arrival of Gisela asacoworker–part ofasecret
rightwing intrigue–introduces further complications.
Throughout the novel, the emotional and rhetoricalexcesses surrounding
the fascist femme fatale serves twofunctions: to pathologize sexual desire as
an obstacle to successfulparty work and,atthe sametime, to utilize these erotic
energies in the making of the ideal communist worker.The sight of Gisela in the
factory lab sets up the basicvoyeuristic scenario fromSukrow’spoint of view:
“In the shinywhitelab coat,with herrosy cheeks and sparklingdeep-blue
eyes framed by blond double buns, she appeared to him likeaheavenly
being.[...]The warm light of the dimmedlamp surrounded thegolden parting
of this graceful apparition likeahalo and was reflected in the fine silkyhairs
that curled around the beautiful nape of her neck.”¹⁹
Sukrow’shallucination of the woman as an angelic creature soon givesway
to an equallyhyperbolic description of her witch-like characteristics.The dynam-
ics of attractionand revulsion are harnessed for the class struggle through the
tension between two seemingly incongruent iconographies. Tired of Gisela’s
bait-and-switch tactics,Sukrow triesto forgether duringanevening of drinking
and dancing with other women. That night,hehas anightmare that,through this
wish fantasy ofawedding,attests to deep feelingsofclass shame andguilt:
Then theywere sittinginabridal carriage.Totheir feet layheavy sacks filled with shimmer-
inggold coins. This was the dowry provided by his father-in-law. When he touched the
sacks with his feet,large red spotsappeared.“No, this is human blood,Imust have
shot the workerslast night on Ratinger Street,”he cried out in fear.But Gisela consoled
him:“Whoever wants to lovememust beable to shootworkers.”(BR,68)Karl Grünberg,Brennende Ruhr(Bochum:RuhrEcho,1999), 58–59.The originalversion was
published inRudolstadtbyGreifenverlagin1928and reprintedbythe same publisher in 1948.
TwolaterWest German editions (1974 as part of the Kleine Arbeiterbibliothek and in 1999 by
RuhrEcho) confirm the novel’sroleinthe West German discoveryduring the 1970 of workers’
literatureand regional history.Inthe GDR,Brennende Ruhrwas reprinted several times from
the 1950stothe 1980s and became the inspiration for the 1969two-part television featureBren-
nende Ruhrproduced by the DFF (DeutscheFernsehfunk).Henceforth all quotes from the 1999
Bochum edition will appear in the textinparentheses (BR).
186 Chapter9