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The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum examines, as Heinrich Blls subtitle suggests, how violence develops and
where it can lead. The novel, narrated in what purports to be responsible journalistic prose, begins by
objectively describing Katharina Blums murder of Werner Totges, a reporter for the irresponsible News, and
then attempting to account for that murder by exploring the four days between Katharinas meeting with
Ludwig Gotten, a suspected terrorist, and Totges murder. As a responsible journalist, the narrator carefully
identifies the sources of his report: doctored transcripts of police interrogations and the testimony of Hubert
Blorna, an attorney, and Peter Hach, the public prosecutor. In the course of his narrative, he also quotes
extensively from stories in the News, which bears a strong resemblance to the Bild-Zeitung, a German masscirculation tabloid with which Bll had feuded about journalistic practices.
After listing his sources and explaining his narrative method, the narrator presents the brutal facts: Four days
after meeting Ludwig Gotten, Katharina killed Totges in her apartment and turned herself in to Walter Moeding,
the crime commissioner. The balance of the novel concerns not the murder, the lowest of all levels, but the
higher planes of motivation and meaning that transform a so-called political murder into an act of integrity.
The story begins with Katharinas attendance at a carnival party at the home of her friend Else Woltersheim;
there she meets Ludwig, the subject of police surveillance and, after dancing exclusively with him, takes him to
her condominium, where they spend the night.
The next morning, the police storm her apartment and when they cannot find Ludwig, they interrogate her,
search the apartment, and take her to the police station for further questioning. As she leaves with the police, a
photographer from the News takes several pictures of her (the least flattering and most suggestive of her
criminality is the one subsequently printed in the News), and the narrator uses the occasion to introduce the
recurrent theme of collaboration between the press and the police.
After making her statement and being interrogated by the police, Katharina is escorted to her apartment by a
sympathetic Moeding, who cautions her not to use the telephone (it has obviously been bugged) or to look at
the news (or the News). His warning proves justified; her later conversation with Ludwig is tapped, and
the News indicts and convicts her of being Ludwigs mistress and accomplice, though Ludwig has not yet been
convicted of a crime. By distorting Hubert Blornas answers to seemingly innocuous questions and by using
innuendos about Katharinas gentlemen visitors and the purchase price of her condominium,
the News successfully converts Katharinas virtuesher desire to protect Alois Straubleder, a wealthy
industrialist, and her diligence and thriftto vices.

When Katharina returns for more interrogation, the police commissioner, Erwin Beizmenne, confronts her with
two tangential items gleaned from an exhaustive search of her apartment: inordinately large gasoline receipts,
which she dismisses accurately but unconvincingly as having been the result of aimless driving, and an
expensive ruby ring, which she refuses to identify (it is a gift from Straubleder, who is pursuing Katharina
unsuccessfully). Beizmenne also interrogates Else Woltersheim and some of her guests at the Wednesday night
party.
While there is no official police case against Katharina, police collaboration with the press provides an
unofficial case against her. TheNews tries her in the press, convicts her, and, as Huberts wife, Trude Blorna,
predicted,ruins her life.
Totges visits Katharinas sick mother, manufactures damaging statements, and quite possibly causes the old
womans death, which the News ironically blames on Katharinas behavior. The unscrupulous and resourceful
Totges also uses derogatory comments from Katharinas loutish ex-husband to defame her further.
Because, as Katharina states, everyone reads the News, the events that follow the lurid newspaper accounts are
predictable: She receives obscene calls and letters, some of which allude to her Communist views, and she is
shunned by her neighbors. In response, Katharina proceeds, methodically, to smash the contents of her
immaculate apartment, a symbol of her life which has now been invaded and destroyed by the press. The
Blornas, her friends, also suffer from theNewss coverage of Katharina because they refuse to abandon her.
Trude, known as the Red because of her hair, is referred to as Trude the Red, with Communist implications;
Hubert, a lawyer for Straubleders companies, loses money, prestige, and position because he and Trude support
Katharina and because Trude insults Straubleder.
The police, who have traced Ludwigs call to Katharina, finish interrogating her and capture Ludwig at
Straubleders resort home, where he has been hiding. (Katharina gave him the key that Straubleder had given
her.) Nevertheless, Katharina becomes more composed. When she meets the Blornas in the afternoon, they
unsuccessfully attempt to dissuade her from going through with her planned Sunday interview with Totges.
Unfortunately for Totges, Katharina reads his Sunday News story, which blames Katharina for her mothers
death. The story triggers Katharinas decision to get a gun and to find Totges. When she cannot find him, she
returns to her apartment and waits. He enters, calls her Blumikins, and asks for a bang; she pulls out the
pistol and repeatedly shoots him, ironically giving him the bang he has requested.
Blls novel, which begins with an objective murder, concludes appropriately with Katharinas first-person
subjective account of her emotions, attitudes, and motives at the time of the violent crime. The violence of
Katharinas act is not, however, the only violence suggested by Blls subtitle, though her violence certainly

does have both personal and political repercussions. The violence to which Bll alludes also refers to Totges
attack on Katharina, for his persecution of her effectively destroys her honor in almost a sexual sense: He
penetrates the innocent Katharina psychologically and emotionally, and when he attempts to make his
metaphorical rape literal, his violent action leads to his own destruction.
Blls title suggests that Katharinas lost honor is an individual example of how people are destroyed by the
violence in contemporary German society, and his subsequent disclaimer about the similarity between the
fictional News and the Bild-Zeitung implicitly identifies the press as the source of that violence. The press not
only collaborates with the police and with business but also serves to express the neo-Fascist views of a
repressive coalition dedicated to maintaining, through repressing dissidents, the status quo. That control may be
exerted through the misuse and abuse of language will come as no surprise to those familiar with George
Orwells Politics and the English Language, an essay that demonstrates how government may use language to
mask reality and discourage critical thought.
By calling attention to Katharinas lost honor, Bll also relates sex to violence and language, and he develops
this idea early in the novel. When he first questions Katharina in her apartment, Beizmenne uses language to
attack her: Well, did he f--you? Such language is not intended to elicit information, but to offend, to hurt, to
dehumanize. Totges unwittingly duplicates Beizmennes linguistic aggression when he asks her, How about us
having a bang for a start? Katharina is aware of the irony when she pulls out the pistol and thinks, Bang, if
thats what you want. Since feminists have shown how pornography and obscenity are related to violence
against women, Katharinas response is practically self-defense, an act of integrity and independence.
Because Totges is so cavalier with language (at one point he explains his lies as an attempt to help simple
people express themselves more clearly), the narrator attempts to demonstrate proper journalistic prose. By
beginning with a factual account of the murder, the narrator, unlike Totges, spares his readers the lurid details;
as the narrator continues his account, he identifies his sources, checks secondhand information, corrects himself,
and uses the word allegedly when he is not certain of his facts. Knowing the story is complex, he advises his
readers that the story should flow but that certain blockages, like tensions or pressures, may interfere. Those
blockages do occur as the narrator is drawn, almost against his will, into Katharinas plight, and he does
modify his objective tone as he becomes scathingly ironic and bitterly attacks such governmental methods as
wiretapping. In effect, the narrator is compelled to abandon reportage for propaganda and to become the
novelist.
Katharina Blum
Katharina Blum (ka-tah-REE-nah blewm), a twenty-seven-year-old certified housekeeper who has been in
charge of the Blorna household for four years. Katharina is a very private and proper person and an almost

compulsive worker bent on improving herself. When she meets a fugitive, Ludwig Gtten, at a party, she
immediately falls in love with him. After he spends the night with her in her condominium apartment, Katharina
tells him how to avoid the police by crawling through the heating ducts, which, along with the whole complex,
had been designed by her employer, Trude Blorna. She subsequently expresses no regret over her murder of the
sensationalist reporter Werner Ttges and looks forward to life with Gtten at the end of their eight-year prison
terms.
Erwin Beizmenne
Erwin Beizmenne (EHR-veen BITS-mehn-neh), the chief crime commissioner. After Gttens escape,
Beizmenne, through a series of insensitive interrogations, attempts to establish a connection between Katharina
and Gttens crimes.
Werner Ttges
Werner Ttges (VEHR-nehr TEHT-gehs), a reporter for the sensationalistNews. Ttges, disgracefully attacking
Katharinas character and honor, accuses her of involvement in Gttens crimes. Katharina, distraught by the
viciousness and lack of integrity of this man who has destroyed her privacy and reputation, invites him to her
once-beloved apartment, purportedly for an interview, and shoots him.
Ludwig Gtten
Ludwig Gtten (LEWT-vihg GEH-tehn), a twenty-six-year-old army deserter who absconds with army funds.
Gtten, who is accused of being a radical bank robber and murderer, is under police surveillance when he meets
Katharina. He is later wounded when apprehended by the police. He affirms Katharinas innocence.
Hubert Blorna
Hubert Blorna (BLOHR-nah), a forty-two-year-old corporate attorney. Katharina works for Blorna and his wife,
Trude. Blorna and his wife depend on Katharina to bring order to their household and lives. Blorna, who is in
love with Katharina, agrees to serve as a lawyer not only for her but for Gtten as well. He is distraught over the
course of events and, in his despondency, neglects his appearance and physical hygiene. The scandal has
undermined his association with Lding and Strubleder Investments and has left him and his wife in serious
financial difficulties.
Trude Blorna
Trude Blorna (TREW-deh), an architect and the wife of Hubert Blorna. Trude Blorna is an outspoken person
whose student radicalism is capitalized on by Werner Ttges, who refers to her as Trude the Red. The
architectural firm with which she is associated attempts to dismiss her because of the Blum scandal, and she is
blacklisted by firms that believe that her reputed radicalism and association with Katharina will alienate
potential customers.
Alois Strubleder
Alois Strubleder (AH-loh-ees STROYB-leh-dehr), an influential businessman who is Hubert Blornas friend
and client. Strubleder, a married man with four children, had made a pass at Trude Blorna and is infatuated
with Katharina. Although Katharina did not respond to his interest, he had driven her home from a party at the

Blornas home and forced his way into her apartment. He is the mysterious gentlemen visitor remembered by
neighbors. Strubleder, in futile expectation, had given Katharina a key to his country place and a valuable ring.
He desperately sought Blornas assistance to avoid any implication in Katharinas police troubles.
Else Woltersheim
Else Woltersheim (EHL-zeh VOHL-tehrs-him), Katharinas godmother, friend, and confidant. A former home
economics instructor who now runs a catering business, the forty-four-year-old woman had encouraged
Katharina to better herself. She attempts to provide moral support to Katharina during her ordeal.
Konrad Beiters
Konrad Beiters (BI-tehrz), a textile agent and intimate friend of Else Woltersheim. Beiters is a congenial fiftysix-year-old former Nazi. He stands by Katharina and Else when Katharina is accused of consorting with and
assisting a violent criminal. It is with Beiters gun, which Katharina had taken without his knowledge, that
Ttges is shot.
Walter Moeding
Walter Moeding (MEH-dihng), a crime commissioner, Beizmennes assistant. Moeding is a friendly policeman
who takes pity on Katharina and treats her kindly. Katharina goes to his apartment to confess her murder of
Ttges.
Adolf Schnner
Adolf Schnner (AY-dolf SHEH-nehr), a press photographer for theNews. Schnner is found murdered in a
wooded area on Ash Wednesday. His murder is at first falsely ascribed to Katharina.
Hertha Scheumel
Hertha Scheumel (SHOY-mehl), a salesgirl and distant cousin of Katharina. She is a seventeen-year-old blond
who dresses in flashy clothes. She picks up Gtten at Caf Polkt and takes him to a party at Else Woltersheims
apartment.
Karl
Karl, an undercover police agent who had been shadowing Gtten. Karl, disguised as a carnival reveler in a
sheikhs costume, made a point of dancing with Herthas friend, Claudia Sterm, and invited himself to
accompany them and Gtten to Woltersheims party. He informed the police on the outside when Gtten and
Katharina left the party together.
Wilhelm Brettloh
Wilhelm Brettloh (BREHT-loh), Katharinas former husband. After six months, Katharina left Brettloh, a
conservative and sycophantic textile worker, toward whom she had developed a tremendous aversion. Brettloh
is not surprised that Katharinas irreligious and ambitious nature has led her to consort with a criminal.
Mr. Fehnern

Mr. Fehnern (FAY-nehrn), a certified accountant for whom Katharina worked after her divorce. Before he was
sent to prison for embezzlement and forgery, Fehnern made it possible for her to complete an adult education
course to become a certified housekeeper.
Mrs. Blum
Mrs. Blum, Katharinas elderly mother, confined in a rest home. She is recovering from cancer surgery when
her death is precipitated by an importune, and subsequently distorted, interview by Ttges.
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum The Characters (Literary Essentials: World Fiction)
In order to elicit the sympathies of his readers, Heinrich Bll presents Katharina Blum, his protagonist, as an
innocent victim of press and police collaboration. She is the nun, linked through her name and superficial
similarities to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, but she is a saint in a post-Christian world marked by secularism
and materialism. The exemplar of her capitalistic society, she is the independent career woman whose industry,
thrift, and independence are rewarded by the condominium that is the symbol of her economic success. She
gains sympathy as a victim, but she also forfeits sympathy because she is an uncritical participant in the society
that destroys her. Despite her incarceration, for example, she has plans for investing her accumulating capital in
a restaurant; she seems to have learned little about the society that persecuted her because of her loyalty,
independence, and political vulnerability (neither the Christian businessman Straubleder nor the former Nazi
Konrad Beiters is attacked).
Although she seemsuntil she kills Totgespassive in the face of the relentless persecution, her passivity is,
Bll suggests, caused by her faith in justice and in the system. Appropriately enough, her only resistance is
semantic, for she shares the narrators emphasis on linguistic precision and what he calls reportorial
obligations. Katharina insists that gracious rather than nice be used to describe the Blornas conduct, and
she distinguishes between advances and becoming amorous when speaking of her ex-husband. Like
the Newsreporter, the police do not share her linguistic sensitivity and are cavalier about the relationship
between language and meaning.
To her persecutors, Katharina is a potential object of exploitation: Straubleder wants to exploit her sexually,
Beizmenne wants to use her politically, and Totges wants to exploit her both journalistically and sexually. Their
actions are brutal, violent, and insensitive; Straubleder repays her loyalty to him by stating that she stole the
key, Beizmenne attacks her honor by referring to her relationship with Ludwig in graphically obscene terms,
and Totges (his name derives from the German toten, meaning to kill) destroys her reputation before
attempting to seduce her. In fact, he causes his own death through his deceitful manipulation of language; so
successful is he in distorting Katharinas image that he mistakes Katharina for his media creature and acts
accordingly. Like Straubleder, he is an opportunistic capitalist intent on exploitation.
Katharinas allies are simply no match for her adversaries. Ludwig is actually a thief, not a romantic terrorist
allied with a revolutionary movement. The Blornas, who seem to belong to the capitalistic class allied to press
and police, find that their position is quite tenuous, given their leftist orientation. Since they initially pose no
real threat to the system, their radical views are accommodated, but when their intervention on Katharinas
behalf threatens Straubleder, they find that they are, like Katharina, expendable. They are social liberals who
cannot confront their incompatibility with the system intellectually. (Bll may also be suggesting that they are
not really incompatible with that system.)

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum has its immediate origins in Blls own battles with the Bild-Zeitung, which
he had censured for its irresponsible reporting on the Baader-Meinhof Group, the object in Germany of a
national manhunt in 1971. Bll was attacked for his defense of the Grouphe had really only defended justice
and harassed by the police. Another victim of the Bild-Zeitung was Professor Peter Bruckner, who was falsely
accused of aiding the Group and was subsequently subjected to Katharina-like treatment by the media. Because
Bll wrote the novel in response to governmental attacks on individual civil liberties, it is regarded as the most
overtly political of his novels, and when it was successfully adapted to film by Volker Schlondorff and
Margaretha von Trotta in 1975, it became his most controversial work.
Despite its topicality, The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum does resemble Blls other work; his criticism of
governmental exercise of power has continued throughout his career. Having experienced National Socialism at
first hand as a soldier in Adolf Hitlers army, Bll, in writing about the present, is affected by the past, which he
sees reflected in what he regards as contemporary Fascism, with its totalitarian emphasis on the rights of the
state over the rights of the individual. Of Blls other novels, many concern the Fascist legacy in German
life:Haus ohne Huter (1954; The Unguarded House, 1957; also asTomorrow and Yesterday), Ansichten eines
Clowns (1963; The Clown, 1965), and, most notably, Gruppenbild mit Dame (1971; Group Portrait with Lady,
1973), which traces, through its protagonist, events in Germany beginning in 1922. The Lost Honor of
Katharina Blum, however, has come to be regarded as his most successful novel.