Die schwarzen Brüder
First edition | |
| Author | Lisa Tetzner Kurt Held |
|---|---|
| Language | German |
| Genre | Novel, Young adult literature, Children's literature |
| Publisher | Sauerländer |
Publication date | 1940 (1st volume) 1941 (2nd volume) |
| Publication place | Switzerland |
| Pages | 251 + 287 |
Die schwarzen Brüder (English: The Black Brothers) is a young adult novel and the best-known story of German-Swiss writers Lisa Tetzner and Kurt Held.
The book was published in two volumes between 1940 and 1941, and tells the story of Giorgio, a boy from Sonogno in the Verzasca Valley in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Tetzner had read of a ferry disaster drowning some thirty chimney sweep boys (Italian Spazzacamini) who were sold to the City of Milan in the middle of the 19th century.
The novel was started by Lisa Tetzner, and finished by her husband Kurt Held (actually Kurt Kläber), though the latter remained uncredited, being a political refugee in Switzerland to escape from Nazism.