100 Books From The Last 100 Years

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Der SPIEGEL, 100 Books

German news magazine Der SPIEGEL published a list of the best 100 books from the last 100 years: 'Die besten 100 Bücher aus 100 Jahren'. The list only comprises books written in German. The books were not ranked, but presented in chronological order. The list was compiled by a jury of four people: Jan Philipp Reemtsma, Eva Horn and Joseph Vogl are professors for german literature; Miryam Schellbach is a literary critic and a copy editor.

This list was originally published in 2024 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
25 The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann 1924 German German
81 The Castle Franz Kafka 1926 Czech German
2019 The Death Ship B. Traven 1926 German German
11092 The Pious Dance Klaus Mann 1926 German German
6296 Dream Story Arthur Schnitzler 1926 Austrian German
1061 The Case of Sergeant Grischa Arnold Zweig 1927 German German
11092 Perrudja Hans Henny Jahnn 1929 German German
201 Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin 1929 German German
1914 Grand Hotel Vicki Baum 1929 German German
11092 Heeresbericht Edlef Köppen 1930 German German
2009 Job Joseph Roth 1930 Austrian German
82 The Man Without Qualities Robert Musil 1930 Austrian German
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
1339 The Artificial Silk Girl Irmgard Keun 1932 German German
2569 In Matto's Realm Friedrich Glauser 1936 Swiss German
11092 The Age Of The Fish Ödön von Horváth 1937 Unknown Unknown
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
11338 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
6314 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
2016 The Greater Hope Ilse Aichinger 1948 Austrian German
11092 Berlin Childhood Around 1900 Walter Benjamin 1950 German German
11092 Effingers Gabriele Tergit 1951 German German
1778 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
997 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1061 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
11092 Murke's Collected Silences Heinrich Böll 1955 German German
11092 Marriage In Philippsburg Martin Walser 1957 German German
11092 B/Moondocks Arno Schmidt 1960 German Unknown
11092 Der Herr Karl Carl Merz, Helmut Qualtinger 1961 Austrian German
3175 The Thirtieth Year Ingeborg Bachmann 1961 Austrian German
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
11092 The Eyewitness Ernst Weiß 1930 German German
11092 Der Weg Nach Oobliadooh Fritz Rudolf Fries 1966 German German
11092 Die Palette Hubert Fichte 1968 German German
1237 Jacob the Liar Jurek Becker 1969 German German
11092 Gesammelte Erzählungen Kurt Kusenberg 1961 German German
577 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
5810 An Ordinary Youth Walter Kempowski 1971 German Unknown
2406 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
2516 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
11092 Franziska Linkerhand Brigitte Reimann 1974 German German
3193 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
1446 The Tongue Set Free Elias Canetti 1977 Austrian German
3264 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
11227 Guten Morgen, Du Schöne Maxie Wander 1977 German German
11433 Tagebuch Vom überleben Und Leben Hermann Lenz 1982 German German
12041 Charles Bovary, Country Doctor Jean Améry 1992 Unknown German
11314 No Place On Earth Christa Wolf 1979 German German
3433 The Meeting At Telgte Günter Grass 1979 German German
4596 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
11338 Kleinstadtnovelle Ronald M. Schernikau 1980 German German
11338 The Father Of A Murderer Alfred Andersch 1980 German German
11391 Marbot Wolfgang Hildesheimer 1981 German German
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
11433 Vor Feuerschlünden. Erfahrung Mit Georg Trakls Gedicht Franz Fühmann 1982 German German
10183 Insane Rainald Goetz 1983 German German
789 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
10228 Raw Material Jörg Fauser 1984 German German
11563 Hinze Kunze Roman Volker Braun 1985 German German
11092 Die Mördergrube Werner Steinberg 1960 German German
2062 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
11092 Yellow Street Veza Canetti 1934 Unknown German
12041 Still Alive Ruth Klüger 1992 German German
12041 Krieg Ohne Schlacht Heiner Müller 1992 German German
4708 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
12232 The Karnau Tapes Marcel Beyer 1995 German German
12232 Kanak Sprak Feridun Zaimoğlu 1995 German German
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
13289 Seltsame Sterne Starren Zur Erde Emine Sevgi Özdamar 2003 German German
13354 In My Brother's Shadow Uwe Timm 2005 German German
11492 Day In Day Out Terézia Mora 2004 German German
6221 Chronicle of Feelings Alexander Kluge 2000 German German
13331 Landnahme Christoph Hein 2004 German German
13331 Wir Schlafen Nicht Kathrin Röggla 2004 Austrian German
13556 Part Of The Solution Ulrich Peltzer 2007 German German
13590 Taxi Karen Duve 2008 German German
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
13735 Atlas Der Abgelegenen Inseln Judith Schalansky 2009 German German
12807 Ich Bin In Der Anstalt Friederike Mayröcker 2000 Austrian German
13800 Blumenberg Sibylle Lewitscharoff 2011 German German
12291 All Russians Love Birch Trees Olga Grjasnowa 2012 German German
13964 Barbarian Spring Jonas Lüscher 2013 Swiss German
13964 Arbeit Und Struktur Wolfgang Herrndorf 2013 German German
13964 Das Verschwinden Des Philip S. Ulrike Edschmid 2013 German German
5803 Kruso Lutz Seiler 2014 German German
9369 Maybe Esther Katja Petrowskaja 2014 Ukrainian German
3565 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
14043 Die Stunde Zwischen Frau Und Gitarre Clemens J. Setz 2015 Austrian German
14043 Chronik Meiner Straße Barbara Honigmann 2015 German German
14070 Erste Erde Epos Raoul Schrott 2016 Austrian German
14164 Am Weltenrand Sitzen Die Menschen Und Lachen Philipp Weiss 2018 Austrian German
14328 Where You Come From Saša Stanišić 2019 German German
14371 Aus Der Zuckerfabrik Dorothee Elmiger 2020 Swiss German
14371 Allegro Pastell Leif Randt 2020 German German
14371 Vom Aufstehen Helga Schubert 2020 German German
14405 Blaue Frau Antje Rávik Strubel 2021 German German
13787 Dschinns Fatma Aydemir 2022 German German
14405 Die Inkommensurablen Raphaela Edelbauer 2021 Austrian German
14586 Die Projektoren Clemens Meyer 2024 German German