Bagdad, Berlin, Warschau

The paper examines the motif of Bildungsreise in Sherko Fatah’s post-colonial novel Ein weißes Land (2011). Anwar, novel’s protagonist, grows up 1920s Baghdad under British administration, a diverse but profoundly unequal society rife with religious conflict. Driven by desire for self-development and adventure characteristic European Bildungsroman tradition, Anwar sets out on catastrophic coming-of-age journey. He falls thieves, nationalists extremists eventually ends Europe at cusp World War II. In blurring victim/perpetrator roles, is recruited Waffen-SS takes part conquest Lebensraum Eastern Europe, colonization project Third Reich. Beyond these thematic subversions genre conventions, also explores structural innovations. While classic has been associated circular plot patterns (‘return’ signals accommodation to social expectations after temporary phase youthful rebellion), eschews this conciliatory circularity. It replaced aberrant temporal structures such as repetition regression. As result, Anwar's youth framed process disrupted development context colonialism Nazi regime. Keywords: Fatah, Bildungsroman, travel, colonialism, national socialism,