The novel "Lay Down Your Arms!" by pacifist Bertha von Suttner (1843 - 1914), published in 1889, is highly topical. It describes and reflects patriotic and militaristic thinking in the second half of the 19th century. In a number of cleverly argued conversations, the logic of war, enemy thinking, martial prowess and death for the fatherland on the field of honor are subjected to critical scrutiny. Since then, even after the Americans entered the war, New York has been seething. Anti-Semitic and racist groups vie for the sympathy of the masses, German nationalists celebrate Hitler. The German emigrant Josef Klein lives relatively untouched by this: his world is the multicultural streets of Harlem, his great passion is amateur radio. This is also how he meets the young activist Lauren. But his skills attract the attention of influential men, and even before Josef realizes what is happening, he is a cog in the wheel of the spy network of the German two world wars, something changed? In the reading, excerpts from the peace novel are contrasted with political and media texts from the time of the wars in Syria, Ukraine and Gaza. Has thinking changed or just the language? A question that can also be asked of Remarque's "Nothing New in the West", which was considered the most important work of anti-war literature until its publication forty years later.
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