100 Books From The Last 100 Years

This is one of the 743 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
2013 The Death Ship B. Traven 1926 German German
11060 The Pious Dance Klaus Mann 1926 German German
6286 Dream Story Arthur Schnitzler 1926 Austrian German
1059 The Case of Sergeant Grischa Arnold Zweig 1927 German German
11060 Perrudja Hans Henny Jahnn 1929 German German
201 Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin 1929 German German
1912 Grand Hotel Vicki Baum 1929 German German
11060 Heeresbericht Edlef Köppen 1930 German German
2003 Job Joseph Roth 1930 Austrian German
82 The Man Without Qualities Robert Musil 1930 Austrian German
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
1337 The Artificial Silk Girl Irmgard Keun 1932 German German
2566 In Matto's Realm Friedrich Glauser 1936 Swiss German
11060 The Age Of The Fish Ödön von Horváth 1937 Unknown Unknown
1020 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
11306 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
6304 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
2010 The Greater Hope Ilse Aichinger 1948 Austrian German
11060 Berlin Childhood Around 1900 Walter Benjamin 1950 German German
11060 Effingers Gabriele Tergit 1951 German German
1774 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
996 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1059 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
11060 Murke's Collected Silences Heinrich Böll 1955 German German
11060 Marriage In Philippsburg Martin Walser 1957 German German
11060 B/Moondocks Arno Schmidt 1960 German Unknown
11060 Der Herr Karl Carl Merz, Helmut Qualtinger 1961 Austrian German
3169 The Thirtieth Year Ingeborg Bachmann 1961 Austrian German
1478 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
11060 The Eyewitness Ernst Weiß 1930 German German
11060 Der Weg Nach Oobliadooh Fritz Rudolf Fries 1966 German German
11060 Die Palette Hubert Fichte 1968 German German
1234 Jacob the Liar Jurek Becker 1969 German German
11060 Gesammelte Erzählungen Kurt Kusenberg 1961 German German
577 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
5798 An Ordinary Youth Walter Kempowski 1971 German Unknown
2398 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
2510 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
11060 Franziska Linkerhand Brigitte Reimann 1974 German German
3187 The Aesthetics Of Resistance Peter Weiss 1975 German German
1446 The Tongue Set Free Elias Canetti 1977 Austrian German
3259 Die Reise Bernward Vesper 1977 German German
11195 Guten Morgen, Du Schöne Maxie Wander 1977 German German
11402 Tagebuch Vom überleben Und Leben Hermann Lenz 1982 German German
12015 Charles Bovary, Country Doctor Jean Améry 1992 Unknown German
11282 No Place On Earth Christa Wolf 1979 German German
3429 The Meeting At Telgte Günter Grass 1979 German German
4588 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
11306 Kleinstadtnovelle Ronald M. Schernikau 1980 German German
11306 The Father Of A Murderer Alfred Andersch 1980 German German
11360 Marbot Wolfgang Hildesheimer 1981 German German
1743 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
11402 Vor Feuerschlünden. Erfahrung Mit Georg Trakls Gedicht Franz Fühmann 1982 German German
10161 Insane Rainald Goetz 1983 German German
788 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
10203 Raw Material Jörg Fauser 1984 German German
11538 Hinze Kunze Roman Volker Braun 1985 German German
11060 Die Mördergrube Werner Steinberg 1960 German German
2056 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
11060 Yellow Street Veza Canetti 1934 Unknown German
12015 Still Alive Ruth Klüger 1992 German German
12015 Krieg Ohne Schlacht Heiner Müller 1992 German German
4699 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
12204 The Karnau Tapes Marcel Beyer 1995 German German
12204 Kanak Sprak Feridun Zaimoğlu 1995 German German
261 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
13255 Seltsame Sterne Starren Zur Erde Emine Sevgi Özdamar 2003 German German
13319 In My Brother's Shadow Uwe Timm 2005 German German
11465 Day In Day Out Terézia Mora 2004 German German
6211 Chronicle of Feelings Alexander Kluge 2000 German German
13297 Landnahme Christoph Hein 2004 German German
13297 Wir Schlafen Nicht Kathrin Röggla 2004 Austrian German
13510 Part Of The Solution Ulrich Peltzer 2007 German German
13543 Taxi Karen Duve 2008 German German
1698 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
13686 Atlas Der Abgelegenen Inseln Judith Schalansky 2009 German German
12775 Ich Bin In Der Anstalt Friederike Mayröcker 2000 Austrian German
13749 Blumenberg Sibylle Lewitscharoff 2011 German German
12262 All Russians Love Birch Trees Olga Grjasnowa 2012 German German
13913 Barbarian Spring Jonas Lüscher 2013 Swiss German
13913 Arbeit Und Struktur Wolfgang Herrndorf 2013 German German
13913 Das Verschwinden Des Philip S. Ulrike Edschmid 2013 German German
5791 Kruso Lutz Seiler 2014 German German
12574 Maybe Esther Katja Petrowskaja 2014 Ukrainian German
3561 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
13986 Die Stunde Zwischen Frau Und Gitarre Clemens J. Setz 2015 Austrian German
13986 Chronik Meiner Straße Barbara Honigmann 2015 German German
14012 Erste Erde Epos Raoul Schrott 2016 Austrian German
14099 Am Weltenrand Sitzen Die Menschen Und Lachen Philipp Weiss 2018 Austrian German
14260 Where You Come From Saša Stanišić 2019 German German
14304 Aus Der Zuckerfabrik Dorothee Elmiger 2020 Swiss German
14304 Allegro Pastell Leif Randt 2020 German German
14304 Vom Aufstehen Helga Schubert 2020 German German
14337 Blaue Frau Antje Rávik Strubel 2021 German German
13735 Dschinns Fatma Aydemir 2022 German German
14337 Die Inkommensurablen Raphaela Edelbauer 2021 Austrian German
14508 Die Projektoren Clemens Meyer 2024 German German