German historical novels

The Tin Drum (German: Die Blechtrommel, ) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass, the first book of his Danzig Trilogy. It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980.

The War of the Oxen (German: Der Ochsenkrieg) is a 1914 historical novel by the German writer Ludwig Ganghofer. It is a drama set against the backdrop of the War of the Oxen in the 1420s.

The Meeting at Telgte (German: Das Treffen in Telgte) is a 1979 novel by the West German writer Günter Grass. The narrative revolves around a fictional meeting for intellectuals hosted by Simon Dach during the Thirty Years' War. The story combines a depiction of leading seventeenth-century literary figures with an analogy for the post-World War II society in Germany, and of Group 47 in West Germany, of which Grass was a member.

The Amber Witch is a German novel published by Wilhelm Meinhold (1797–1851) in 1838. Its German title is Maria Schweidler, die Bernsteinhexe. The novel was originally published as a literary hoax which purported to be an actual 17th-century chronicle. Meinhold later admitted to the hoax but had some difficulty in proving that he was its author. In 1844, it was published in Britain as The Amber Witch in two English translations: one by E. A. Friedlander and another, more enduring, translation by Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon.

Austerlitz is a 2001 novel by the German writer W. G. Sebald. It was Sebald's final novel. The book received the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Jud Süß is an early 19th century novella by Wilhelm Hauff based on the early 18th century German Jewish banker and financial adviser Joseph Süß Oppenheimer. In Hauff's novella, Joseph Süß Oppenheimer is the flamboyant Jewish finance minister of Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg; his policies based on corruption and intimidations made him hated by the Christian community. At the Duke's sudden death, he is arrested and sentenced to be hanged in an iron cage and die a horrible death. His daughter who is left penniless drowns herself in the Neckar. Lion Feuchtwanger characterized Hauff's novella as 'naïvely anti-Semitic.'

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (German: Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Mörders ) is a 1985 literary historical fantasy novel by German writer Patrick Süskind. The novel explores the sense of smell and its relationship with the emotional meanings that scents may have.

Buddenbrooks () is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in the years from 1835 to 1877. Mann drew deeply from the history of his own family, the Mann family of Lübeck, and their milieu.

Die Bertinis is a novel by Ralph Giordano published in 1982. The book tells the story of a German-Italian family from the late 19th century until the end of the Second World War. It is heavily autobiographical, focusing largely on the life of Giordano and his experiences in Hamburg during the period of National Socialism.

Endstufe ("final stage) is a 2004 novel by the German writer Thor Kunkel. Set in a hedonistic version of the Third Reich, it follows a biologist who works for the SS where he oversees the secret production of pornographic films.