Mendelssohn Is On The Roof

Pick it Up: If you are looking for historical fiction and/or a WWII novel, this is an important read (Weil's story stems from his direct personal experience of the Nazi occupation). If you enjoy literature that blends historical events with sharp satire, dark humor, and a unique narrative approach told with shifting perspectives.

"Mendelssohn is on the Roof" by Jiri Weil is a satirical novel set in Nazi-occupied Prague. The story unfolds with a bizarre and symbolic act: SS officers are ordered to remove the statue of the composer Felix Mendelssohn from the roof of the Prague concert hall. But neither the workmen nor the lower level officials know what the composer looked like (the roof has several statues) and they take down the wrong statue based on a bias (the one with the longest nose).

This absurd error sets the tone for a narrative that explores the surreal and often illogical nature of totalitarian regimes and the insidious ways in which they dehumanize and persecute individuals. Through a series of interconnected vignettes, Weil portrays the lives of various characters in Prague during this oppressive period: Jews facing escalating restrictions and fear, Jews who work for the regime but know that someday their usefulness will run out, Czechs navigating the tightrope of collaboration and resistance.

Weil, a Czech writer born in 1900, faked his own death to avoid the "transports" to the internment camps and went into hiding for the duration of the war. In this novel, informed by his own experience of the Nazi occupation, he uses the mistaken identity of the statues as a central metaphor to explore themes of identity, cultural heritage, the loss of innocence, and the quiet acts of defiance and resilience in the face of unimaginable horror. The book is a powerful exploration of a dark period in history, rendered with a unique blend of irony and empathy.